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Anti-Industry Politics

Anti-Industry Politics

As the voice of Independent producers in New Mexico, IPANM’s mission is protect, defend, and promote the work of our members and all of industry. New Mexico’s future and America’s future needs to be shaped by a policy of energy freedom. This “all of the above” approach is fundamental to ensuring all sources of energy–including fossil fuels–can compete to produce safe, reliant, and affordable energy to better the human condition. However, dangerous forces are pushing against energy freedom. Local, state, and federal governments are under the thumb of disingenuous environmental groups who want to pick-and-choose energy winners, under the guise of climate change. With governments already mobilized to kill the oil and gas industry in favor of unreliable and expensive renewable sources, New Mexico & America stand to lose jobs and domestic security. Furthermore, reducing fossil fuel supplies disproportionately hurts those in poverty (18% of New Mexicans). The “Green New Deal” and other progressive policies must be exposed for what they are: a pathway to self-inflicted, socio-economic suffering. With a weakened domestic energy landscape, Americans will beholden to nefarious foreign governments (such as Russia and China). As already demonstrated, these foreign powers do not have the best interests of the people or the planet at heart.

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Anti-Industry Politics

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Report Say PFAS in Frack Fluid; Industry Pushes Back
IPANM (May 20, 2023) - An environmental watchdog group contends that New Mexico fossil fuel companies are using cancer-causing chemicals
Veto Threat To HR 1 Is "Capitulation To Environmental Left"
Power The Future (March 28, 2023) - In response to President Joe Biden’s threat to veto H.R. 1 (Lower Energy
State Legislators Push Back on Radical Green Agenda
Santa Fe New Mexican (March 26, 2023) - Clips from the attached article.  Click below to read full story. This
IPANM Joins 24 Others In Support of HR1
IPANM (March 23, 2023) - IPANM has joined 24 other oil & gas industry associations in a letter sent to
Southeast NM Lawmakers Defend Industry in 2023 Session
Carlsbad Current-Argus (March 22, 2023) - Southeast New Mexico’s Republican lawmakers said the 2023 Legislative Session could have been worse
IPANM Files EPA Methane Rule Comments Through Consortium
IPANM (Feb. 14, 2023) - IPANM joined 20 other producer associations today in filing comprehensive comments that represent many concerns
Report: Curbing US Oil & Gas Production Would Hurt the Environment
Institute for Energy Research (Feb. 14, 2023) - Environmentalists seeking to halt U.S. oil and gas production in the name
Lane: Natural Gas is a Lifeline for the Poor
IPANN at the 2023 Legislative Session in Santa Fe (Feb. 1, 2023) - Republican House Minority Leader Ryan Lane addressed
IPANM Files Comments on BLM's Waste Rule
IPANM (Jan. 30, 2023) - Today IPANM filed comprehensive comments on BLM's proposed Federal Waste Prevention Methane Rule. In its
Nibert: Economic Diversity Won't Replace Oil & Gas Dollars
Santa Fe New Mexican (January 15, 2023) - Within today’s political arena, New Mexico’s progressive policymakers and advocates are constantly
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Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico

IPANM Administrative Offices
P.O. Box 6101, Roswell, New Mexico, 88202
Bus. - 575-622-2566 | Fax. - 575-622-2566

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Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico

IPANM Administrative Offices
P.O. Box 6101, Roswell, New Mexico, 88202
Phone 575-622-2566

Search

Website designed by Siarza Social Digital

Natural Gas

WTI Crude Oil

IPANM (May 20, 2023) – An environmental watchdog group contends that New Mexico fossil fuel companies are using cancer-causing chemicals to aid in their fracking operations called PFAS. IPANM and industry groups say the so-called study is flawed and unsubstantiated.

Santa Fe New Mexican:  Report Say PFAS in Frack Fluid; Industry Pushes Back

 

 

Power The Future (March 28, 2023) – In response to President Joe Biden’s threat to veto H.R. 1 (Lower Energy Costs Act), Daniel Turner, Founder and Executive Director for Power The Future, issued the following statement:

“For all the Beltway chatter about his purported triangulation heading into his re-election, Joe Biden is starting the second half of his term in an identical fashion to the first: utter and complete capitulation to the extreme environmental left that funded his campaign and runs his administration. The new House Republican majority deserves great credit for the Lower Energy Costs Act, which represent a roadmap to the energy independence Biden so foolishly squandered. Reliable, affordable and domestic energy has powered America’s greatness for generations, and it’s incumbent on all elected representatives, Republican and Democrat, to advocate for the industry and its workers.”

Power The Future’s March 28, 2023 News Release

Santa Fe New Mexican (March 26, 2023) – Clips from the attached article.  Click below to read full story.

  • This year’s legislative session showed that a blue majority isn’t always green.
  • The oil and gas bills that fell through underscore how the strong Democratic majority in the Legislature is not monolithic but has a fairly wide and diverse spectrum — from green-minded progressives to more conservative leaders who are wary of imposing too much regulation on an economic mainstay, Long said.

    “New Mexico has always had … a pretty big tent in that majority party,” he said. “There’s a variety of views. And we definitely saw that in play this session.”

    Jim Winchester, executive director of Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico, applauded the failure of what he called legislation that disproportionately targets smaller oil producers in the state.

    “We are grateful to the legislators who rejected these radical bill proposals and understand the benefits of our industry to education, public safety, and the human condition in New Mexico,” Winchester wrote in an email.

  • Winchester, the industry advocate, rejected the characterization of oil operators being anti-environment.

    “IPANM supports environmental stewardship from our industry when proposed in balanced, reasonable, and practical legislation,” Winchester wrote. “However, there are groups who continue to push anti-oil-and-gas legislation without any thought to the consequences on everyday, hardworking people in our state.”

  • In an email, a political analyst wrote some Democratic lawmakers’ reluctance to push through climate bills this session is in line with what can be seen at the federal level: President Joe Biden drawing fire from progressive Democrats for not moving more aggressively toward the clean-energy transition.

    “This to me is reflective of the political challenges in energy production policy,” wrote Gabriel Sanchez, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico. “The oil and gas industry is a very powerful industry, especially in New Mexico. And given how important oil and gas revenue has remained to our state’s economy, this makes more aggressive climate change policy a challenge for progressive Democrats.”

State Legislators Push Back on Radical Green Agenda

 

 

IPANM (March 23, 2023) – IPANM has joined 24 other oil & gas industry associations in a letter sent to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives on HR1 Lower Energy Costs Act.

In the letter, the associations write, “The bill [H.R. 1] is a welcome answer to government-imposed distortions to energy markets that have decimated the energy independence that America enjoyed just a few short years ago. Make no mistake, we wholeheartedly believe in producing energy in an environmentally responsible manner that protects the nation’s air,
water, land, wildlife, and cultural resources while providing billions in taxes and royalties that sustain
communities and vital public services at every level of government.”

HR 1 will likely get a House floor hearing during the week of March 27th in Washington, D.C.  IPANM strongly encourages New Mexico’s Congressional Delegation to support HR 1.

Associations’ Letter Regarding HR 1

 

Carlsbad Current-Argus (March 22, 2023) – Southeast New Mexico’s Republican lawmakers said the 2023 Legislative Session could have been worse as the GOP was able to block several bills aimed at reducing pollution and tightening regulations on oil and gas producers.

The state was working with a $3.5 billion budget surplus this year, a surge largely attributed to booming oil and gas production in the Permian Basin region, and Republicans chided Democrat-led initiatives they said either spent too much to threatened to stymie the state’s leading revenue source.

A series of environmentally focused bills during the session that ended Saturday were either voted down in committee or stalled during the session and didn’t receive the needed votes to go to the desk of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to become law.

Southeast NM Lawmakers Defend Industry in 2023 Session

IPANM (Feb. 14, 2023) – IPANM joined 20 other producer associations today in filing comprehensive comments that represent many concerns over EPA’s proposed Federal Methane Rule, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317. IPANM has participated in the “Producer Associations” consortium for the past few years, and many concerns voiced by IPANM were included in the final comment documents submitted today.

The comments include the following overview:

“The message the Producer Associations have consistently conveyed since 2011 is “one size does not fit all.” Generally speaking, EPA’s response has been to regulate exploration and production (“E&P”) emission sources to the extent that EPA believes it can “survive”/continue to exist – that is not the “best system of emission reduction” (“BSER”) as required by Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). [The Producer Associations] T comments are intended to identify the most detrimental and unsupported proposals by EPA and provide alternatives that
provide the equivalent or nearly the equivalent environmental benefits as substantially less cost and confusion to the Oil and Gas Industry, in particular the small business that are disproportionally impacted by these proposed regulations.”

To read the full text of the Producer Associations 48-page comments, please click below.

Feb. 14, 2023 Producer Associations Final Comments on Federal Methane Rule

 

Institute for Energy Research (Feb. 14, 2023) – Environmentalists seeking to halt U.S. oil and gas production in the name of combating climate change are undermining their own agenda and risking greater damage to the planet, according to a new report.

The Institute for Energy Research (IER) released a paper showing that the U.S. is the most environmentally friendly major energy producer and arguing that, like it or not, because petroleum products are here to stay, limiting U.S. production would have a devastating effect on the environment.

IER’s report writes, “The great irony is that this political movement – which purports to be about protecting the environment – results in oil and natural gas production moving from countries with the highest environmental standards to countries with lower, or even functionally zero, environmental standards.”

The Environmental Quality Index

Fox News: Curbing US oil, gas production would hurt the environment, report finds

 

 

IPANN at the 2023 Legislative Session in Santa Fe (Feb. 1, 2023) – Republican House Minority Leader Ryan Lane addressed the full House floor this week to point out the need to take care of the must vulnerable in our state. Without access to Natural Gas as a cheap and reliable energy source, those struggling to heat homes will turn to dirtier forms of energy production that are far more hazardous to personal health.  Please see the video clips below to hear his testimony.  Among his statements:

  • “The poorist among us desperately need access to affordable and reliable energy.  If we are serious about the environment, which I believe this body is, then I think we also need to be serious about delivering affordable and reliable energy.”
  • “New Mexico is actually positioned incredibly well.  We have access to some of the cleanest natural gas in the entire world.”

Download Video of Rep. Lane’s Testimony

 

IPANM (Jan. 30, 2023) – Today IPANM filed comprehensive comments on BLM’s proposed Federal Waste Prevention Methane Rule. In its filing, IPANM fully endorses the joint comments filed by Western Energy Alliance (WEA) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). Furthermore, IPANM highlights three areas of major concerns as expressed in our filing:

Duplicative Regulation

The BLM is proposing regulations addressing oil storage controls in Section 3179.203, pneumatic controllers in Section 3179.201 and Section 3179.303 Leak Detection and Repair.   These aspects are already addressed by either the EPA or the state air quality agencies.   BLM’s regulation of air quality aspects, particularly those which are under the jurisdiction of the EPA or state agencies is duplicative and should not be included in the final rule.

Provisions for Unavoidably Lost 

Section 3179.4(b) provides a list of “unavoidably lost” gas.   IPANM is concerned that the BLM has thoroughly evaluated the different types of hydraulic fracturing techniques being used by operators.  In some cases, during flowback after hydraulic fracturing, depending upon the technique used, some gas may have impurities that make it not salable to the gas gatherer.   Such an example would be when nitrogen foam fracs are performed.  In these cases the flowback gas will have more nitrogen making it not possible for the gas gatherer to accept it.  In these cases, the gas must be flared until it can meet pipeline specifications.   For this reason, IPANM suggests an additional category in this subsection (b) which allows “Flaring of gas due to impurities in the gas that make it non-saleable to a pipeline”.

Well Completion and Related Operations 

In Section 3179.102 the BLM is proposing that only 10,000 Mcf of gas that reaches the surface may be flared royalty free for new completions.  This is far too low a volume.  IPANM recommends this volume be doubled to 20,000 Mcf which was in the BLM proposal in which was proposed by BLM in the 2016 rule.   This volume threshold is much more equitable and provides the necessary flexibility for higher volume wells.

A copy of IPANM’s full filing can be found below.

IPANM Files Comments on BLM’s Waste Rule

 

Santa Fe New Mexican (January 15, 2023) – Within today’s political arena, New Mexico’s progressive policymakers and advocates are constantly saying how necessary it is to diversify our state’s economy. These statements are related to the budgetary and economic dilemma progressives are creating by continuing their “long game” of destroying New Mexico’s oil and natural gas industry, while also ultimately eliminating billions of dollars in state revenues this industry generates.

Of course, progressives are more than happy to spend these revenues to push New Mexico toward their socialist nirvana. Therefore, to solve this inevitable budget predicament, progressives have to champion the diversification message to justify the worthiness of their efforts to eliminate New Mexico’s fossil fuel industry, yet still have state money to spend in the future.

Unfortunately, the reality of this diversification mantra is that it is a complete fallacy. There is simply no reasonable economic growth strategy that will be able to replace the magnitude of state revenues created by the oil and natural gas industry. These revenues now account for about 45% of state government’s operating budget — approximately $4.5 billion per year — and there is no industry or economic miracle looming on the horizon that can come close to generating this amount of money annually.

Further, when consideration is given to New Mexico having the worst public education system in the nation and a long-standing reputation of being anti-business, there is no reason a future Bill Gates or Elon Musk is going to locate their high-tech business in our state. Nor can progressives enact enough tax increases in the future to replace all of the oil and natural gas revenues currently being collected. For example, to produce an additional $4.5 billion each year, taxes would have to be increased the equivalent of more than $2,100 for each man, woman and child in New Mexico year after year.

Of course, progressives will argue the successful diversification of our economy is already underway with the growing presence of the movie industry and the recent legalization of cannabis. However, what these progressives will not say is that taxpayers already subsidize the movie industry to the tune of $110 million per year, and where will these millions come from once oil and natural gas revenues dry up? Will the movie industry stay in New Mexico if subsidies are eliminated? In regards to cannabis, progressives will likely not point out recent revenue estimates are showing the cannabis excise tax will generate only $34.8 million in state revenue by fiscal year 2027. That’s right, the great revenue generator rationale for legalizing cannabis will result in nothing more than a preverbal “drop in the bucket” of future state revenues.

New Mexicans need to ask progressive policymakers and advocates how this future $4.5 billion (and growing) budget hole is going to be filled. Not surprisingly, they have no real answers to this question, except wishful dreams of offering more government subsidies to somehow lure businesses to our state. Yet, they are marching in lockstep deciding how to spend every penny of the newly estimated $3.6 billion in surplus money the oil and natural gas industry has helped provide for next year’s state budget. Apparently, making promises of free child care, free school lunches for every student, free college educations, and more government spending for health care, housing and anti-poverty programs is a lot more fun than being honest with the people as to who is going to pay for all of these new government benefits once the oil and natural gas industry is shut down.

State Rep. Greg Nibert is a Republican from Roswell.

Nibert: Economic Diversity Won’t Replace Oil & Gas Dollars