New Mexico Environment Department is Raising Gas Prices

October 4, 2023

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s (D-NM) Environment Department recently announced they are cracking down on the state’s energy industry. Lujan Grisham’s Environment Secretary even bragged how they had already imposed “record fines” on New Mexico’s energy workers. 

The announcement states,

“Despite record fines levied and collected against the oil and natural gas industry – many operators are not taking compliance with federal and state air quality rules and permits seriously,” said Environment Department Cabinet Secretary James Kenney. “From July 2022 through July 2023, the Environment Department found a dismal 50.0% compliance rate for air quality requirements.”

This comes at a time when families across New Mexico are paying even higher gas prices than last year. Additionally, New Mexicans are paying over 58 percent more for gasoline than when Governor Lujan Grisham took office.

“It’s clear Governor Lujan Grisham’s Environment Department is more concerned with getting money than getting things right,” said Larry Behrens, Communications Director for Power The Future. “These moves will do nothing but raise prices further and it’s despicable for Secretary Kenney to brag about record fines while he takes in massive raises in his own salary. New Mexico’s energy industry already provides billions to Santa Fe but it’s clear the Lujan Grisham administration has an insatiable appetite for more money.”