Jerry Redfern

A number of proposals aimed at reforming how the oil and gas industry works in New Mexico have stalled out in this year’s legislative session with the help of key Democratic lawmakers.

Capital & Main's Jerry Redfern talks about his recent report on large oil and gas companies giving to New Mexico Democrats, contrary to where they overwhelmingly put their money nationally.

The data is clear: The village of Loving in the Permian Basin has been hit hard by waves of pollutants from Big Oil, yet the EPA hasn’t acted to force a cleanup.

With the EPA hamstrung by the Supreme Court and shaky state funding, New Mexico could face a future with reduced protections.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced at the U.N. climate summit that New Mexico will invest $500 million into reusing brackish and produced water to boost green energy production while withstanding drought. Reporter for Capital & Main Jerry Redfern told KUNM that, at this point, all we know about what the program would look like are the "broad strokes."

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) will be holding a rapid hiring event next Saturday September 23, 2023 hoping to fill over 40 positions. This comes after the department has rallied for months for more money to hire staff and now has a new mandate to test wastewater at schools.

A grant process meant to help the Four Corners region recover from the closure of the San Juan Generating Station and reduce reliance on jobs from the oil and gas industry has resumed after a long hiatus caused by the world-wide pandemic.

Oil and gas money is all over the New Mexico Roundhouse. It accounts for 35% of the state budget proposal this year, according to the Legislative Finance Committee. It’s also in the campaign coffers of politicians on both sides of the aisle. It’s within this landscape that debates around expanding or restricting fossil fuel production take place.

An attack ad by a Republican support group claims that Democratic Congressional candidate Gabe Vasquez would kill 62,000 New Mexico oil and gas jobs. Journalist Jerry Redfern at Capital and Main has dug into that claim and spoke to KUNM reporter Alice Fordham.

Since 2020 the state has allowed oil and gas producers to temporarily stop running pumps because the pandemic economy was particularly bad for business. But despite the rebound in oil prices, there are still more than 1,000 wells sitting idle.