New Mexico’s Leaders Need to Put Our Energy Workers First!

March 30, 2020

As New Mexico’s families are still reeling from the realities of dealing with a public health emergency, a big part of the disaster that is killing jobs is man-made.

Layoffs are already underway in the Permian Basin and New Mexicans need to look no further than China and Russia for the reason. In New Mexico, unemployment claims have skyrocketed to about 38,000 in the past two weeks. The dramatic drop in the price of oil is devastating New Mexico’s economy and our elected leaders can do more to help.

Power The Future is calling on Congress and all state elected leaders to support a boycott of oil that comes from Russia and Saudi Arabia. Currently, the United States receives roughly 12% of our oil imports from these two countries who have flooded the global market with their product in order to put New Mexicans out of business.

The devastating loss of jobs may be the worst part, but it’s far from the only consequence. In New Mexico, the oil and gas industry delivered more than $3 billion dollars to the state budget last year. Put another way, nearly 40 cents for every dollar spent on our roads, our public safety and our schools came from the energy industry. Now, newspapers are calling for a special session to make the hard choices about declining revenue.

Here is what we’re asking:

1. New Mexico’s congressional delegation to support a federal boycott on oil from Russia and Saudi Arabia.
2. New Mexico’s Governor and Legislature to immediately voice their support for a federal boycott.

Leaders in Washington, DC have quickly delivered critical Coronavirus relief, we believe they can do this immediately as well. New Mexico’s workers and our economy depend on it.