Clean fuel standards heads to Senate but not without a fight
Feb. 13—A Farmington Republican's lengthy tirade against years of environmental reforms and anti-fossil fuel sentiment ultimately didn't hold back a bill that aims to curb vehicle pollution in New Mexico.
House Bill 41, which would pave the way to establishing clean transportation fuel standards and reduce "carbon intensity" levels of transportation fuels over time, passed the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday en route to the full Senate floor.
To meet those goals, producers of high-carbon transportation fuels like oil would be forced to either curb their pollution or buy clean-fuel credits from low-polluting utilities or other clean fuel producers.
Though committee members passed the measure 6-4, it didn't escape a lambasting from Sen. Bill Sharer, who decried it as a an attack on rural New Mexicans that he believes will raise the price of gasoline.
"Who are we harming there?" Sharer asked. "We're not harming people in the Northeast Heights of Albuquerque. ... We're harming all those rural people."
Co-sponsor Rep. Kristina Ortez, D-Taos, said the notion the measure would raise gas prices was "fear mongering," adding there isn't evidence to support Sharer's accusation.
Sharer spoke mainly about his anger over the closure of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station in northwest New Mexico.
"I'm never going to get over this because I think it was just the stupidest single thing the state of New Mexico has ever done," Sharer said.
He also defended the fossil fuel industry in general.
"Oil and gas and coal have moved us from being cave people to living inside, to having cleaner air, cleaner water, longer life spans," he said. "... There are still plenty of places on the planet today, in Asia and Africa and some even here in New Mexico, where people heat their home with a chunk of coal like a rock, sticks and dung. You burn that right in the middle of your house to stay warm or in the middle of your hogan."
Sharer's comments quickly circulated on social media, drawing criticism from the activist group NM Native Vote, which called them an "insane, racist tirade."
Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, who along with Sharer voted against the bill, said he, too, was worried that the legislation placed too high a burden on the poor.
"We're shoving something down their throat instead of helping them fix what they have," he said.
Ortez and Michelle Miano, director of the state Environmental Protection Division, said the law will help New Mexico stay competitive in the burgeoning clean-energy sector and with companies that themselves have clean energy mandates.
Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, who voted in favor of the bill, said he thinks it will be a positive both from environmental and health standpoints.
"It's an existential threat we face with climate change, not to mention ... this is a public health bill as well," he said.
The measure was being heard by the full Senate Tuesday evening.
