FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Santa Fe, N.M. – Today, candidate for governor Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a commitment to implementing a state-level methane pollution capture rule in New Mexico. In response, Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM) Executive Director Demis Foster, Board Member Kent Salazar and member Don Schreiber released the following statements:
“We commend Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s leadership on methane pollution capture, an important environmental and public health issue in our state,” says Demis Foster, CVNM Executive Director. “Thousands of CVNM members and other New Mexicans have demonstrated support for a strong rule to protect the air we breathe from methane pollution. Methane pollution is connected to health issues such as asthma and other respiratory ailments, as well as a key contributor to climate change, which is already impacting our communities directly. As the federal government attacks bedrock environmental laws, we will look to our state leaders to protect our air, land, water and communities. It is refreshing to see a leader so clearly reflect the long-standing conservation values that New Mexicans share.”
“As a lifelong New Mexican and outdoorsman, I can say that wasting our natural resources such as methane by the oil and gas industry is not consistent with New Mexico’s cultural values,” says Kent Salazar, CVNM Board member. “We are losing critical dollars that could be applied to our children’s education while at the same time dealing with the health impacts of this pollution on our local communities, and we are failing in our commitment to address climate change. Rep. Lujan Grisham’s commitment today displays a pragmatic solution to all these problems.”
“Michelle Lujan Grisham understands that capturing methane emissions is essential to protecting the health of New Mexicans,” says Don Schreiber, San Juan Basin Rancher and CVNM member. “The reality of communities like mine that are surrounded by oil and gas wells is one of relentless toxic pollution – Michelle’s plans for a sensible state methane rule, similar to Colorado’s, will create a safer, healthier environment for my community and create much needed jobs for my neighbors.”
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Media Contact: Liliana Castillo 505-992-8683 or liliana@cvnm.org