Are we nearing the end for Virgin Galactic (the company for which New Mexico taxpayers built and maintain Spaceport America). The brainchild of then Gov. Bill Richardson and costing NM taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the years, the Spaceport was “purpose built” to host Virgin Galactic’s space tourism operations.

Now, according to The Telegraph UK: 

On Wednesday night it said it had received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange that its shares had traded at an average price below $1 – the Wall Street minimum – for 30 days, putting it in potential breach of listing rules.

It means Virgin Galactic is at risk of being kicked off the New York Stock Exchange unless it can boost its share price.

The company last month asked shareholders to approve a “reverse stock split”, in which shares are merged to increase the value of each individual unit. Investors will decide whether to approve the measure at the company’s annual meeting in June.

RGF recently highlighted the fact that New Mexico’s elected officials continue to spend our tax dollars funding losers

The Albuquerque Journal should be commended for its in-depth series on abandoned oil and gas wells throughout New Mexico. This kind of journalism is a dying breed. The bad players past and present in oil and gas need to be held to account, but if plugging and remediating these wells (some of which have been around for decades) is a priority for the State, the industry has generated plenty of money to address the issue.

According to the article there are 1,600 wells that need to be plugged in New Mexico. The total cost of plugging all the wells that need to be plugged is $240 million. That’s a lot of money, but the industry has paid taxes for decades to pay for remediation and restoration of the land. Of course, for the past two years oil and gas has generated surpluses of $3.5 billion. And the industry paid a total of $13.9 billion in taxes in FY 2023 alone. 

So, we applaud the Journal, but we think there are even more pressing needs for in-depth journalism. Here are a few:

1. Why are New Mexicans so poor when they have so much natural wealth around them?
2. Why is New Mexico’s education system an unmitigated disaster despite massive infusions of funding? Are there real solutions?
3. What would it actually take to successfully achieve MLG’s EV mandate? How many chargers? How much electricity? What will the added weight of EV’s do to the roads?
4. How much is the “Energy Transition” really going to cost (including subsidies) and will “renewable” replacements be able to keep the lights on? What are the environmental impacts of those “renewables?”
5. How does the gross receipts tax impact New Mexico businesses and those that might locate here?
6. What could be done with the billions in oil and gas money tied up in numerous government funds? How could those funds be used to bring prosperity to New Mexico?
7. Why does New Mexico perform so poorly on nearly all social and economic measures relative to our neighbors?

What questions do YOU wish New Mexico media outlets would explore? Email us at: info@riograndefoundation.org

Housing costs have risen dramatically since Joe Biden became president. The monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home has more than doubled, from $979 to $2,075. Now, it appears that the Biden Administration (and his allies like Sen. Martin Heinrich) may be pushing for even further price hikes.

According to this article from ClimateWire:

“The Biden administration is considering a new federal mandate that would require millions of newly built homes to have efficient heating and cooling systems, in a policy shift that could transform the nation’s housing market.

The administration has said it will decide within weeks whether to require a large number of homes to be built according to the latest international standards for energy efficiency.”

This is nothing new for so-called “progressives” like Biden and New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham. In fact, earlier this year Lujan Grisham imposed new regulations which will increase the cost of housing.

You can bet that Heinrich whose number one priority is “electrifying” our economy is in the background cheerleading for the Biden Administration’s latest economically-destructive policy.

At Rio Grande Foundation we talk about New Mexico’s abysmal workforce participation rate regularly. The Legislative Finance Committee has also addressed the issue with some regularity and has touted increasing participation as helping reduce crime, increase economic growth and productivity and drive expanded tax revenues while lowering expenditures on supplemental income programs and other kinds of government assistance.

The problem is that reducing government benefits is tough. It’s certainly not the kind of policy Rep. Melanie Stansbury would support:

The new Farm Bill has problems–for our climate, our farmers, and our families.

New Mexico families will lose $340M in SNAP benefits if this version of the bill is passed.

Support families.
Support farmers.
Support climate resiliency.
Change this bill. https://t.co/mF6FpcVxSv

— Rep. Melanie Stansbury (@Rep_Stansbury) May 23, 2024

But, as a new report from the Economic Policy Innovation Center notes, a majority of able-bodied food stamp (SNAP) recipients don’t work. 

Furthermore, just under half of all recipients remain on the program for more than 20 months.

It is one thing to go on food stamps if you cannot work or as a temporary stopgap between jobs. But most Americans and New Mexicans don’t want food stamps to be a way of life. Unfortunately, food stamps and other so-called anti-poverty programs seem to be preferable to work for many.

On this week’s Tipping Point interview Paul talks to Sammy Chioda. Sammy is a leader of the Gallup community. He owns a fantastic sports bar (Sammy C’s Rock N’ Sports Pub & Grille) with one of the largest memorabilia collections in America. Paul and Sammy discuss the challenges he has in finding workers, the hard-hit area’s recovery from the COVID 19 pandemic, deteriorating road conditions on I-40 and more.

Our friends at the Center to Unleash Prosperity have put together this excellent chart (below). It shows whether states have increased/decreased/stayed constant (those at 1) in terms of jobs since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic in March of 2020.

The good news for New Mexico is that after lagging badly on jobs during much of the pandemic and recovery New Mexico has more jobs today than it did in February of 2020. It is also right in the middle when it comes to jobs created over that time frame.

The bad news is that New Mexico’s middling result comes as the State is benefitting from a massive boom in oil and gas. This boom is happening only in New Mexico, not its neighbors. Yet, New Mexico lags behind ALL of its neighbors. Here are the rankings:

Utah: 2nd
Texas 3rd
Arizona 6th
Colorado 12th
Oklahoma 16th
New Mexico 25th

Generally speaking “red” states (those controlled by the GOP) continue to outpace “blue” ones. Colorado outpaces all of the other “Democrat trifecta” states (including NM).

New Mexico SHOULD be close to leading the nation in job growth considering its favorable geography and weather. Unfortunately its political leadership is unwilling and unable to use the unique opportunity created by the oil and gas boom.

A proposal now moving through Albuquerque City Council put forward by Councilors Dan Lewis and Klarissa Peña would put a measure on the ballot allowing voters to decide whether to revamp the procedures for electing candidates in the City. Instead of an outright majority, candidates for city offices would simply need to get above 40%. This would eliminate MOST of the special elections we’ve seen in recent years where candidates don’t get an outright majority in a 3 or even 4 way race. Those runoffs are expensive with a recent runoff election in a single Council seat costing $750,000.

A recent article by Democrat Sen. Katie Duhigg attacks the idea as “anti-democratic,” but it is hard to see why. Rather, it seems like liberals and their aligned groups simply want to preserve their own political power and not have another RJ Berry election (see below).

Generally speaking, runoff elections achieve much lower overall vote totals than do regular elections. For example, in the District 6 2023 general election the results were as follow:

Nichole Rogers: 2,974 votes,
Jeff Hoehn 2,400 votes
Kristin Greene 1,329 votes
Abel Otero 706 votes (even though he’d dropped out of the race)

Total votes cast: 7,409

In the runoff Rogers received 2,416 votes and Hoehn received 2,209 for a total of 4,629 votes cast. So, there were just over 60% of the votes cast in the runoff relative to the General. Rogers achieved 40% in the initial round of voting anyway. And, the cost to taxpayers was 3/4ths of a million dollars.

Strangely, but not surprisingly, Duhigg and the “progressive” Democrats prefer the current system since it maximizes their power. Duhigg even claims that the plan is some kind of attack on “democracy.” She correctly notes that RJ Berry (a Republican) won without hitting 50% in his first election in a three-way race (his win spurred Democrats to change the system). Of course, Berry won reelection with more than 68% of the vote which Duhigg fails to mention. Clearly, while Berry’s record is tarnished now by police misconduct and his ill-advised ART bus system, Berry’s win with less than 50% of the vote only caused “problems” for Democrats annoyed that a Republican won the Mayor’s race.

The proposal is P-24-1 and is being voted on at the June 3, 2024 City Council meeting. You can contact council here.

Albuquerque City Council recently adopted a $1.4 billion budget. Unfortunately, as RGF’s President tells KOAT Channel 7 in this interview, the budget is “status quo.” Nothing in it indicates that public safety and hiring more police officers is a top priority. You can see the story including Gessing’s comments here.

Gessing also told KOAT TV (not included) that the City has enough resources to spend on Zero Bus Fares and a new “free” ride share program. It should instead spend those to hire police officers and boost public safety.

Check out the full City budget for yourself here.

Back in the mid-2000s the City of Albuquerque spent $4.2 million to build a BMX track. The facility is next to Isotopes Park. As the 2007 article from The Alibi noted, the project at the time was not particularly popular with neighbors. We have also seen no analyses on the economic impact of the facility or how much activity takes place there.

But, the City is now going to build a second BMX track, this one at the revamped Los Altos Park, for $10 million. The difference is that the new bike track is a “pump” track meaning that you “pump” the bike back and forth to gain momentum.

Is this a priority for the City? I’ve never used the existing BMX track, but I’ve also never played pickleball in a city park. It does seem strange that the Mayor would not fund food for zoo animals in his original budget or $400K for IT at City libraries at the same time he’s pushing for another BMX track.

Government priorities are often based on the “squeaky wheel principle.” Making noise with politicians can get you what you want. But with crime still a major issue in Albuquerque, the latest budget does not prioritize hiring more police or taking on the City’s crime issues.

There is a lot of discussion about why Americans no longer trust “the institutions.” It would be great if the institutions would stop lying to us as a starting point. I happened to see this old social media post from Sen. Heinrich from April of 2020 which highlighted the “importance” of now-disproven recommendations like face masks and social distancing. BTW, the video Heinrich links to is a (since removed) video from the CDC which (based on context and link) shows people how to make home made face masks.

We stumbled upon the Heinrich post at the same time as the following post below shows NIH Director Francis Collins admitting that no “science or evidence” supported social distancing policies.

We aren’t really blaming Heinrich here except to say that he knew nothing beyond what the so-called experts were telling him. At the Rio Grande Foundation we questioned the lockdown and school closure policies imposed by MLG and we continue to work for reform of New Mexico’s absurdly broad public health emergency laws. At no time in American history has being skeptical of government pronouncements been more important than during COVID.

BREAKING: Former NIH Director Francis Collins admits no “science or evidence” ever supported social distancing policies. pic.twitter.com/5JgYJRzKsw

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) May 16, 2024

To say that we at Rio Grande Foundation don’t often agree with Sen. Martin Heinrich would probably be an understatement. More importantly, we don’t think he does a very good job of representing the people of New Mexico. He was recently taken to task by the Albuquerque Journal editorial board (and several letter writers). While we don’t have any particular position on Puerto Rico statehood, like the Democrats’ desire to replace the Electoral College with a National Popular Vote, the impetus behind the proposal has nothing to do with representation or “democracy.” It is 100% political and, if adopted, statehood for Puerto Rico would negatively impact New Mexico, potentially costing us a seat in Congress.

More importantly, what does Puerto Rico bring to the table for the United States (besides more political power for Democrats in Washington)? According to the US Census Bureau “41.7% of Puerto Rico’s population lives in poverty, which is higher than the US rate of 11.5%. Puerto Rico has the highest poverty rate of any US state, with Mississippi being the next highest at 19.7%.” Thanks to our “anti-poverty” programs Puerto Rico would be a massive new burden for US taxpayers and the federal government which already faces a $35 trillion debt. Puerto Rico’s economy is unhealthy and people are leaving the island (even as they pay no US income tax). 

Heinrich’s other bill (equally misguided) would subsidize the cost of home purchases by teachers up to $25,000. Teachers are important, but by no means are they the ONLY important profession. But, why is a heavily-indebted federal government involved in handing out this new subsidy? Shouldn’t local school districts be required to pay teachers adequately? And why just teachers? How about medical workers? Farmhands and agricultural workers? Police/Firemen?

The chart below highlights how administration and management continue to eat up more resources that could otherwise be used to hire teachers:

Expanded early voting is going on now. You can find all the potential places to vote early between now and the June 4 primary here. What’s at stake in the primary election? Since Democrats control the Legislature, the most important races are on Democrats’ ballots. The most important races are on the House side where moderates, many of whom bucked the “progressive” push for paid family leave in the last session or the Gov. on guns (and other issues) are facing well-funded challengers put up by “progressive” groups or the Gov. or some combination of the two.

As is often the case you can find details on the voting records of ALL incumbent candidates at our Freedom Index. Most of the moderate Democrats have scores in the Zero range since positive votes and their points are offset by negative votes. “Progressive” Democrats tend to score closer to -50. Check the scores out for yourself. If “moderates” lose their primaries it could mean that New Mexico’s ongoing shift to the left is not complete. If the “moderates” win, that means that perhaps the “progressive” politics in New Mexico have hit their high water mark (at least for now).

On the GOP side there are some interesting races, but given their minority status nothing they do will fundamentally shift New Mexico. Ironically (but typical in GOP politics) while there is a lot of friction among the candidates running in the primaries the fundamental nature of the GOP won’t change dramatically. Here’s what WILL change:

1. While their numbers will be determined in November, the Senate Republicans will be more conservative than before as conservative house members replace Senate moderates (this is not contingent on primaries as most of the races are settled);
2. Replacing Rep. Harper in District 57 and Bill Rehm in District 31 are the top races on the House side;
3. On the Senate side, the District 12 race between Jay Block and Candace Gould is hotly-contested, so is the race to replace Mark Moores in District 21. The race in District 42 between Rep. Larry Scott and Sen. Steve McCutcheon is both extremely heated and expensive.

In summary, the ideological “action” is among House Democrats in this primary, but there are numerous primaries of importance on the House and Senate GOP side (and a few others on the Democrat side). Regardless, go vote!

I happened to walk by the beginning of a gathering of food trucks in downtown Albuquerque off Civic Plaza. It’s a great idea and lots of fun. I also couldn’t hep but notice that having a food truck also means having a powerful gas-powered vehicle to tow it around (some are self-driving, but also rely on fossil fuels).

In addition a quick look at each of the trucks highlighted the fact that they run on generators.

I bought something from one of the food trucks. It was delicious. I support food trucks and their big trucks and even their generators. Hopefully the Biden/MLG/Keller effort to cram electric vehicles and supposedly “green” energy fails to destroy these food providers.

Gov. Lujan Grisham continues with her headlong push for electric vehicles. The Gov.’s Environment Department recently touted the purchase of a “zero emissions” firetruck along with Bernalillo County. The problem is the truck has a diesel engine as has been pointed out by both The Center Square and the Albuquerque Journal. NMED’s press release makes no mention of the diesel engine.

The new Pierce Volterra truck will cost $2.1 million which is MUCH more than the lightly used traditional fuel Pierce Pumper that we found online at a cost of $749,000. What would a brand new equivalent to an electric (with diesel engine) firetruck run? We’ve never price checked firetrucks before, but we suspect it would be MUCH cheaper. Also, we certainly wonder what the overall weight of a firetruck with an electric battery AND diesel engine (and all the engine components for both) must weigh and weather this will really be “green” and how long it will last.

On the left is a photo of a Pierce Volterra “electric” truck at a cost of $2.1 million. On the right is the 2021 Pierce Pumper for $749,000.

An opinion piece in Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal by Bernalillo Schools’ superintendent represents only the second known person who supports the Gov.’s 180 school week mandate. In it he argues, “The reality is that our students desperately need more high-quality instructional time in the classroom. New Mexico students lag far behind their peers in almost every other state in the number of days they spend in school.”

Is this true? I set out to find out. According to the Education Commission of the States New Mexico students actually spend a good deal of time in the classroom. According to the regulation passed in 2023 New Mexico students spend 1,140 hours in school annually. Very few states spend more time, but lets focus on our neighboring states (remember, all of these states spend less and achieve better results than New Mexico):

Arizona:
Grades 1-3: 712 hours
Grades 4-8: 890 hours
Grades 9-12: 720 hours

Colorado:
Half-day Kindergarten: 450 hours
Full-day Kindergarten: 900 hours
Grades 1-5: 990 hours
Grades 6-12: 1,080 hours

Oklahoma:
1,080 hours

Texas: 
75,600 minutes (1,260 hours)

Utah:
990 hours

This data is from 2023 and New Mexico adopted the 1,140 hours requirement in 2023, but we don’t think many states changed their laws at the same time. ONLY a few states had more time in the classroom mandated. Those included Texas and Maryland which required 1,260 and 1,170 hours (Maryland’s was only for public high schools).

New Mexico is dead-last in education. A lack of hours in the classroom is simply not the issue. Even more shocking is the fact that while American students spend MORE time in the classroom than their peers in other nations the US lags badly in most academic performance measures. 

According to the latest Wallethub report New Mexico ranks as the 46th best state for doctors. Considering the fact that New Mexico remains in a medical provider shortage policymakers should be focused on making the state as attractive as possible for doctors and other medical providers. Some factors contained in the study are easier to address than others. And, during the 2023 session both the gross receipts tax and medical malpractice issues were at least partially addressed.

However, New Mexico clearly still has a long way to go to be more attractive for doctors. While the variables in this report are solid, doctors want good schools and low crime. Low taxes especially on income would also be attractive for doctors. New Mexico could and should be addressing all of these issues, but isn’t.

When a doctor looks at the Southwest and sees: AZ at 25, CO at 21, TX at 17, OK at 15, and UT at 4, New Mexico is going to struggle to attract doctors.

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Christopher Erickson a professor of economics at NMSU. Chris and Paul discuss a recent interview he gave to Newsweek about a report that New Mexico has seen a decline in immigrants. They discuss economic issues in New Mexico and what is holding its back. Then, the discussion shifts to immigration policy. Where are people coming from who are crossing the border? Why are they crossing? What would a sensible immigration policy be? You don’t want to miss this informative conversation!  You can find out more about his work here.

The Institute of Education Sciences publishes annual data on how much taxpayer money is being raised and spent by education systems nationwide. The bad news is that the data are from FY 2022 but we are almost in FY 2025 (it starts on July 1). So, the information below is a bit out of date especially for New Mexico where education spending has exploded (as the student population has declined).

But, it does show that New Mexico’s education system has more resources available to it than that of any of its neighbors. And, of course we already know that New Mexico is dead last in education outcomes.

A few weeks ago Gov. Lujan Grisham visited Farmington, NM. Farmington is a conservative oil and gas community in Northwest New Mexico. While we don’t have video or audio recordings of the event, we have it on good authority that the Gov. told the group that New Mexico’s oil and gas boom is going to continue for at least another 5 years.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean that production will continue to grow at the near-exponential rates seen in recent years, but that New Mexico’s oil production is nowhere near “hitting a wall” and declining. You can see for yourself in the chart presented here (and in the data from the Energy Information Administration) that New Mexico oil production has grown 12X since just 2010. That has generated unprecedented revenues including $3.5 billion annual surpluses in recent years.

Unfortunately, due to both bad advice and their own ideology (ignorant of economic development and believing that oil and gas are “yesterday’s fuel source) the Legislature has been unwilling to embark upon needed tax and broader economic reforms that would diversify New Mexico’s economy for the eventuality when oil production DOES decline (we have no idea when that will be, but we agree with MLG it will be at least 5 years from now).

The motto of New Mexico’s Legislature appears to be:  Pile up hoards of cash and sit on it until the situation inevitably turns more negative when your state will have done nothing to diversify or grow and will instead have to rely on piles of money to get government (not necessarily the people) through tougher times. Call it the Scrooge McDuck strategy.

Surprising absolutely no one who pays attention to these things New Mexico ranked an absolutely pitiful 49th (out of 50) in the latest US News and World Reports “Best States” index which was just released.  You can see the variables and read the report for yourself, but New Mexico ranks 50th in education, 48th in crime, a shockingly poor 44th in infrastructure, and a surprisingly poor 32nd in natural environment.

While historical data from US News are hard to find, New Mexico has never performed especially well in the report. We did find a 2019 version of the report (Michelle Lujan Grisham’s first year as Gov.) which ranked New Mexico 46th overall. Notable was that in 2019 the State’s infrastructure ranked a respectable 17th. By 2024 New Mexico has fallen to an abysmal 44th.

There has been a spate of reports recently about soaring property tax assessments in Sandoval County. The Rio Rancho Observer had a detailed report and so did KOB TV. According to Sandoval County Assessor Linda Gallegos, “some properties were underassessed.” That MAY be the case, but the following assessment increases are unaffordable for many businesses:

Gallegos defended the increases saying, “Increased demand and higher sales prices in Sandoval County are the primary drivers of assessment valuation. Our role is to analyze the market in estimating the market value of the property. We also are aware that nonresidential property owners are alarmed by significant increases. This is why we encourage any property owner who feels that their property value is incorrect to file a protest and come forth with evidence to help us determine the correct assessment.”

Jerry Schalow, President of the Rio Rancho Chamber, said in response, “I’ve heard a lot of concerns around this. Based on the sample review, we see anywhere between 30% to 600% increases in the value. The small businesses that have already experienced 20% inflation over the past two years on top of wage inflation, a commercial property that is assessed at a higher value will also include higher property insurance rates.”

At RGF we have seen several dramatic increases including one of 240%. Commercial property owners are NOT protected by the same laws as are residential property owners. Unfortunately, it DOES seem like the assessor Linda Gallegos has taken it upon herself to “stick it” to the commercial real estate taxpayers of Sandoval County. Outside of an appeal which needed to be filed by May 1, there is not much that one can do. Highlight the issue and find a more pro-business assessor in the future.

Furthermore, the assessor operates largely on their own. This is yet another elected office with tremendous power to make what amount to life-and-death decisions for businesses. You MAY not think these down-ballot races matter, but they do.

Soon-to-be retired ultra-“progressive” legislator Gail Chasey did her best to compare left-wing Democrat US senator Martin Heinrich in Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal. The likelihood of RGF agreeing with ANY defense of Heinrich wasn’t great, but her defense really wasn’t about Heinrich’s political philosophy or his defense of New Mexico values or even specifying what he’s done to help victims of the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fires.

Chasey’s column is hyper-focused on Heinrich’s ability to “bring home the bacon” (federal funds) like Domenici. Needless to say, we don’t see New Mexico’s outsized reliance on federal spending as a good thing. For decades New Mexico has relied disproportionately on federal dollars flowing to the State, but it remains among the most impoverished in the nation and all of those “pork” projects haven’t moved the needle.

The major difference between today and when Pete Domenici was in Washington is New Mexico’s massive oil and gas boom driven by fracking. New Mexico COULD be in the midst of a massive economic boom right now, but politicians like Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democrats who dominate the Legislature share Heinrich’s leftist ideology, resulting in little economic growth. Naturally, Heinrich and MLG support the same radical environmentalist agenda at different levels of government.

And that’s where Domenici (both Pete and his daughter Nella who is running for the US Senate) and Heinrich differ. Heinrich cares about the radical “green” agenda like ridding America of gas stoves and ramming unwanted power lines (needed to provide “renewable” energy through Native lands. Even when Heinrich’s predecessor Democrat Tom Udall stood up for clean burning natural gas produced here in New Mexico, Heinrich has been silent because Heinrich really represents the radical environmental movement, not New Mexicans.

It is widely rumored that Heinrich plans to run for Governor of New Mexico to succeed Lujan Grisham. While Heinrich’s radical agenda has been somewhat hidden as one of 100 senators in Washington, his influence is likely to grow if reelected as he MAY be chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee w/ Sen. Joe Manchin retiring. If elected Gov. of New Mexico his influence (at least on NM policy) would be even more profound and negative.

Whether you think “climate change” is a clear-and-present crisis, a myth, or somewhere in between, there are effective ways to reduce CO2 emissions and their are ineffective ones. As it turns out, switching from coal to natural gas reduces CO2 emissions more effectively than do wind and solar. It ALSO:

• keeps the lights on;
• doesn’t require completely reworking the entire electrical grid at a cost of billions;
• doesn’t require subsidies;
• can happen more quickly than wind, solar, etc. including overseas in Asia where emissions are growing quickly;
• strengthens rather than weakening the US (and New Mexico economies). See below:

Natural gas is responsible for most (61%) of the decline in U.S. electric power carbon dioxide emissions since 2005, which is also the leading driver in total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions reductions. pic.twitter.com/RD4ig9D2x0

— Richard Meyer (@RichardMeyerDC) April 29, 2024

We didn’t come up with that title. In fact it is from The Center Square article here.

New Mexico’s Economic Development Department announced plans this month to spend millions of dollars on “energy transition” projects with the goal of meeting climate change metrics and creating jobs. The only problem is she doesn’t know how much they will help in meeting those goals or how many jobs they will create.

According to a statement from the department, it has funded nearly $6 million for “four projects that will diversify the economy and create jobs unrelated to fossil fuel development or use.

Unfortunately, as the article notes: “In three of the four projects, a spokesman for the department admitted to The Center Square that it does not have an estimate of the amount of clean energy that will be created by the effort. Nor does the department know how many jobs will be created by any of the projects.”

Nothing to see here. Just New Mexico government pouring $6 million into a variety of “clean energy” projects for which the State doesn’t know how much energy or how many jobs will be produced.