Hobbs News-Sun (May 18, 2021) – Lea County officials want New Mexico, the nation’s third highest oil production state, to join other states fighting President Joe Biden’s moratorium on federal oil leases.

Lea County is the nation’s No. 1 oil producer among counties, with more than 50 percent of oil production coming from federal lands.

At a recent meeting of the board, county commission chairwoman Rebecca Long said, “All of the western states are very up-in-arms about this because it’s very harmful to their counties and it’s very harmful to their states.”

A total of 14 U.S. states, not including New Mexico, filed lawsuits in March against the administration, challenging Biden’s moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, according to the news agency Reuters.

“I think we’re all in agreement on this,” Long told her fellow commissioners after reading a proposed resolution urging New Mexico’s involvement in the lawsuits.

“Oil and gas is important. Even Gov. (Michelle Lujan) Grisham is pushing back against the Biden administration on this moratorium,” Long concluded before the unanimous vote to approve the resolution.

Lea County Urges N.M. to Fight Oil Lease Ban