Oil giant helped bring about reforms to New Mexico’s regulators

 

A New Mexico investigative website, New Mexico In Depth reports Exxon Mobil Corporation was one of those firms that contributed to a dark-money group last year, a group that supported reforms of the state’s Public Regulation Commission.

The investigative site admitted it wasn’t much…only $10,000 but its story left readers with the opinion that Exxon Mobil can now influence the PRC. However, the reforms were easily approved by voters and the money was contributed to a non-profit formed by environmentalists.

Together, environmentalists and ExxonMobil worked to make reforms in the regulatory commission.

Click here for the story from New Mexico In Depth.

 

 

Exxon Mobil Corporation contributed to a dark-money group that supported a successful November referendum reforming the state’s Public Regulation Commission (PRC), according to a campaign finance report filed by one of its lobbyists.

One of the largest oil and gas producers in New Mexico, the multinational conglomerate gave at least $10,000 to the “Committee to Protect New Mexico Consumers,” a nonprofit that spent a quarter of a million dollars touting the merits of a constitutional amendment, which eventually passed handily. The contribution can be found in an Oct. 7 report filed by Exxon Mobil lobbyist Deanna Archuleta.

The Committee to Protect New Mexico Consumers refused to disclose its donors when the State Ethics Commission (SEC) demanded it do so despite new campaign disclosure laws requiring groups like it to say where the money they spend on political campaigns comes from. Eventually, the group agreed to disclose its spending but not who funded the campaign.

Thanks to the October lobbyist report, it appears at least o