Writer nails it on importance of oil and gas to New Mexico’s economy

It never ceases to amaze me how many “environmental” groups there are in New Mexico and that constantly get their anti-human, anti-modernity messages out in the Albuquerque Journal. As an aside for those who harp on the number of times RGF gets its message in the paper, it would be interesting to compare environmental groups to any other special interest in the amount of coverage they receive.

A piece by a group called “Bold Visions Conservation” is just the latest article straight out of left-field. Thankfully, New Mexico’s oil and gas industry upon which this state is so reliant, decided to respond. So, the head of IPANM, Richard Gilliland, published his own article detailing the many benefits provided by the hated (by a radical few) oil and gas industries.

Gilliland didn’t break any new ground. Those who actually study the industry and the environment carefully are aware that even “environmentalist” radicals benefit from the oil and gas industries on a daily basis in terms of transportation and products with oil and gas as major inputs, not to mention the $1.7 billion paid into NM’s General Fund and additional billions paid into the permanent funds. And, of course, while the self-proclaimed environmentalists want people to believe that the environment is falling apart, by most any reasonable measure the environment is cleaner today than it has been in decades.