American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2023 - 38

ConventionSec tion: Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico
gas emissions program;
· SB 418, which contained onerous
amendments to the state's Oil and Gas Act;
· HB 121, which complicated the effective
date for water rights leases;
· SB 164, which aimed to increase
royalty rates for production on state lands
to 25%;
· SJR 6 and HJR 4, which proposed
amending the state constitution by adding
a section on environmental rights, dubbed
" the Green Amendment; " and
· HB 276, which would have authorized
the New Mexico Oil Conservation
Division to require proof of insurance
and fiscal solvency with applications for
permits to drill.
Moderating Influence
Seeing cooler heads prevail reassures
Campbell that common sense is not
extinct. " People are tired of intolerance, "
he assesses. " They recognize that oil and
gas are necessary and will be here to stay
for a long time to come, and I hope the
ship is slowly turning. "
One reason for that progress, Winchester
suggests, lies with anti-oil-andgas
ideologues' inflexibility. " The ultra-progressive
groups were their own
worst enemies, " he comments. " Unlike
oil and gas representatives, the environmental
progressives were unwilling to
negotiate on a lot of these unreasonable
and unfeasible bills. They self-sabotaged
their own bills, insisting there was no
middle ground. "
For the industry, Winchester and Campbell
reflect, the session demonstrates that
moderate Democrats know oil and gas
fuel the state's economy and way of life,
and are unwilling to hurt an industry that
provides about 40% of a state budget
that in 2023 enjoys a $3.6 billion surplus.
" They are finally starting to recognize
our industry's dramatic impact on the
people of New Mexico, " Campbell says.
" It benefits the citizens of New Mexico
every day. "
Press accounts indicate many in the
party's progressive wing are grousing
that the failure of measures such as SJR
6 and HJR 4, the proposed " green amendments "
to the state constitution, only
shows that the moderates are too beholden
to the industry. Noting those reactions,
Campbell says it is unlikely the extremists
will reconsider their goals or tactics.
" They do not want to face the impracticality
of what they put forward, " he
maintains. " The amendment was never
going to work. There is no practical way
to apply it and I think those with common
sense recognize that the negative consequences
of extremism outweigh any positive
effects. "
Seeking Cooperation
As for what the evidence reveals about
the governor's stance toward the industry
and her place on the ideological spectrum,
Winchester suggests they are not fixed in
place. " The governor has to balance her
identity as an environmentalist with her
knowledge that the bulk of the state's
revenue comes from our industry, " he
reasons. " She knows how to speak to
whichever audience is before her. "
" We continue to be optimistic that she
understands money and jobs and-while
it may be unpalatable for her-she sees
a need to work with us, " Campbell relates.
" We see it too. We try to go out of our
way to work with the governor.
" We all strive to be the best stewards
possible, " he adds. " We live here and
work very hard to do the best we can. We
have 78 employees who get up every day
proud to contribute to New Mexico and
do the best they can. "
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" Kickin up Dust since '77 "
38 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
was established on March 27, when the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided
to add the lesser prairie chicken to the
list of protected species under the federal
Endangered Species Act. The bird's range
covers parts of New Mexico, Colorado,
Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, with USFWS
classifying the LPC as " threatened "
in the northern part of its range and " endangered "
in the southern part of its
range (AOGR, April 2023, pg. 18).
Although the prevalence of federal
lands in New Mexico's portion of the
Permian Basin may make the listing particularly
problematic for industry activity,
Winchester assures that the association
has not been caught flat-footed. Since
the Biden administration announced its
intent to list the bird late last year, IPANM
urged its members to join conservation
agreements before the late March deadline
so they could continue development as
long as they committed to specific measures
for protecting the bird and its habitat.
" We certainly worked very hard in
the last couple months to make sure our
members got into conservation agreements
if they weren't already, " Winchester says.
" We pushed really hard and saw an uptick
in participation, which we see as a
win/win. "
Since such conservation agreements
merely soften the listing's negative effects,

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2023

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