Critics of oil and gas are claiming that nearly $800,000 in campaign contributions from the industry in New Mexico were responsible for the state legislature’s recent move to weaken new regulations targeting oil and gas.
It was last week when a House committee stripped a bill of new regulations that would have required oil and gas infrastructure to be set back more than a third of a mile from schools, health facilities, multifamily housing, occupied homes, and at least 300 feet from waterways reported New Mexico in Depth.
It was reported the $800,000 from large oil and gas companies was given in the past year to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, state lawmakers and some partisan legislative political action committees. New Mexico in Depth reported it revealed how the industry uses wealth to influence lawmakers. Yet the same can be said of any industry, whether it’s environmental activists, teachers unions or contractors.
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