No More Environmentalism For New Mexico

The state of New Mexico is commonly called the "Land of Enchantment". There's a good reason for that. It's a very beautiful state with delicate ecologies ranging from desert to mountains. It also has a history that stretches over many centuries, and an interesting mix of cultures. When all of this ccomes together, it truly becomes an enchanting place -- both for residents and visitors.

But if you haven't enjoyed the beauty of that special state, you might want to do so quickly. It looks like the new Republican governor, Susana Martinez, is going to turn over the state to the giant oil and gas companies. And she's going to turn those companies loose without supervision or regard to what they will do to the environment. If you've ever seen what the oil and gas companies can do to the environment when they aren't strictly regulated, then you'll know how bad that can get.

Governor Martinez has appointed Harrison Schmitt to head the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. This is the state agency that is supposed to protect the environment in New Mexico. She wants Schmitt to immediately begin reviewing regulations on the oil and gas industry put in place by her predecessor, Governor Richardson.

And Schmitt doesn't need any encouraging. He is an avid opponent of the idea that global climate change is happening, and he believes all environmentalists are communists. Governor Martinez could not have picked a worse person to head up that state agency. Just listen to this piece of an interview Schmitt gave to right-wing radio:

"Number one we’ve been concerned with the misuse of science, but I think more fundamentally, this misuse of science has lead to politicians and ideologues to try to gain control of the American economy, and indeed the global economy, by scaring people….I think that there are individuals, [Obama science czar John] Holdren apparently among them, a very large number who have taken — shall we say captured the environmental movement and turned it into what was previously considered the communist movement. And that’s just something that people of common sense are going to continue to have to counter and wake up enough so that they can take control of their government again. [...]

I think the whole trend really began with the fall of the Soviet Union. Becausethe great champion of the opponents of liberty, namely communism, had to find some other place to go and they basically went into the environmental movement. That’s not to say there aren’t some major and significant environmental issues, particularly at the local level, but they converted environmental activism to a political movement and some would say a religious movement."

I fear for the environment of our beautiful sister state of New Mexico -- which is just a few miles west of where I live.