The article’s revelations are at once shocking and not surprising, with lobbyists who have spent years fighting against regulations to reduce methane waste and pollution admitting the problem is real. And if you suspected the industry is more concerned about its image than protecting your health, you’re right. Its answer to out-of-control methane emissions? More image polishing and public relations advertising.
"Senator Bennet’s two bills are a good step towards holding oil and gas companies accountable for pollution created during the extraction of oil and gas. They will also make sure we don’t find ourselves in this situation again."
“While it’s always great to see improvement, we know that the COVID-19 pandemic has likely wiped these gains away for many New Mexicans. We know that the pandemic hasn’t hit every New Mexican in the same way.”
“We know that going into the pandemic, low-income children in our state and the children of color in our state were facing bigger challenges than many of their peers,” Wallin said. “What we see is that those challenges have been exacerbated, that COVID has really increased racial and ethnic disparities and disparities along income lines."
But according to New Mexico Voices for Children, 51 percent of adults in households with children in New Mexico have lost employment since March. “We were really surprised to see how high that number is, but we know it points to a weakness that already exists,” she said.
Fact sheet COVID-19 and the resulting recession have caused great hardship for many New Mexico children and their families. This fact sheet looks at some of the areas where children have been impacted, including their economic and food security, and education. (State-level data on various indicators of child well-being)
Instead, we should repeal the failed trickle-down tax breaks that were handed to the well-connected and big out-of-state corporations over the past two decades. Not only would this make us far less dependent on revenue from oil and gas, it would make our tax system more equitable for everyday working New Mexicans and more stable.
Nevertheless, New Mexico continues to improve in many of the indictors that measure child well-being, and Wallin credits the commitment of policy makers and “investments in programs to benefit kids and families.”
“The skeptics and the challengers are loud. But we have the facts and the families on our side,” Lujan Grisham said, calling for a renewed commitment to investing in “a system that continues its focus on children and families” during the 2021 legislative session.
"That investment is the only way to begin to equalize-- making sure that every child, in every family, in every place in the state of New Mexico has an equal opportunity to succeed, and the truth is we should not stop fighting," the governor said.