A view from New Mexico
Can we afford President Bill Richardson?
Saturday,
December 29, 2007
Bill Richardson wants to be President of the United
States. If you’re thinking about voting for him, consider what kind of governor
he’s been.
Richardson touts his experience. He’s been a U.S.
Representative, Ambassador to the UN, Bill Clinton’s Energy Secretary, and now
Governor of New Mexico. No argument with that.
He also touts his fiscal responsibility and free market
nature: “As Governor, I have to balance budgets. I’ve balanced five.” He also calls himself “a market
Democrat.” Big argument there.
As governor, Richardson did cut the top income tax rate
from 8.2% to 4.9% over five years. He also halved capital gains taxes. However,
Richardson increased other taxes and fees, including motor-vehicle
registrations, hunting and fishing licenses, cigarette taxes, truck fees and
tire-recycling
fees. His tax cuts simply offset those increases.
The tax cuts did help improve the state’s poor economy:
during his term, the state’s personal income levels rose from #47 in the nation
to #45. However, spending rose by nearly 11% between FY 07 and FY 08 – and by a
7% average prior to that. Only New Mexico’s revenue flow from the mining, oil
and gas
industries helped compensate for Governor Richardson’s
out-of-control spending.
Now that flow is threatened, as he is doing everything
possible to slaughter the cash cows that balanced his budgets. Governor
Richardson backed a federal law that kicked
oil
and
gas development out of the state’s energy-rich Valle Vidal –
but not out of Ted Turner’s ranch next door, with its 500 working oil wells.
Down went future tax revenues.
He also signed a state bill ceding control over energy
operations on government lands to ranchers who don’t even own the lands, but
just have grazing permits. This imposed hefty cost increases on oil and gas
companies, and will send
tax
revenues further downward.
Richardson imposed stringent state renewable energy
mandates. He supports pushing automobile mileage standards to 50 mpg and
requiring utility companies to derive 30% of their electricity from renewable
sources, supposedly to protect the environment, reduce imports and prevent
global
warming.
However, coupled with his anti-drilling campaign, the mileage rules would mean
every gallon saved is offset by a gallon not produced here in the US. We’ll end
up importing more oil. Worse, the higher mileage will come from smaller, less
safe cars that cause more injuries and fatalities.
Only 6.9% of America’s
energy came from renewables last year, and nearly all of that
was biomass (mostly wood wastes) and hydroelectric. Wind and solar combined
produced less than 0.5% of our energy – and they only work a third of the time.
Moreover, wind turbines and
solar
panels require huge land areas. Just meeting New York City’s
electricity needs eight hours a day would mean blanketing Connecticut with
turbines.
Governor Richardson’s “alternative” energy is actually
only minuscule supplemental energy. Killing off real fossil fuels before we have
true alternatives is economic suicide, not responsible government.
Thanks to policies like these, New Mexico’s economic future is in doubt. The
Speaker of the House, Secretary of Economic Development, Legislative
Finance Committee Executive Director and other key legislators
realize we need rural economic development and additional tax revenue.
About half of New Mexico’s general fund, and much of its
public school permanent fund, once rolled in from oil and mining industries. But
the old mines are mostly played out, the oil and gas wells are drying up, and
the governor’s policies all but ensure that no new ones will take their place.
When they’re gone, New Mexico will remain one of the poorest states in America –
worse than Juarez.
Some think the revenue shortfall can be made up by
uranium mining, with its high salaries, significant
capital
investment, severance taxes and royalties, and related
economic spin-offs. But the Governor’s Office is not keen on this either.
In fact, Bill Richardson is playing energy and revenue
killer in other ways, too. He says he doesn’t think “oil and gas drilling can be
conducted in the Galisteo Basin without placing our environment and water
quality at risk.”
He’s talking about purely speculative harm from tiny
amounts of chemicals in drilling fluids that are 95% water and clay. He supports
new regulations for handling fluids that would add up to $300,000 to the cost of
a single well. Meanwhile, he’s silent about policies that turn forests into
tinder boxes and cause monster fires that have destroyed millions of acres of
soil, streams and habitats.
State Representative James Strickler represents the
natural
gas-rich Farmington area. He has been sharply critical of the
new regulations.
“As a freshman legislator and 30-year veteran in the oil
and gas industry,” Strickler said, “I know the regulations are poorly thought
out, ineffective and a huge threat to our state economy.” If they are
implemented, “legislators will be pressured to raise income, property and gross
receipts
taxes in an effort to replace lost revenue. Governor
Richardson is trying to over-regulate us out of business – for no environmental
gain, and with no cost benefit analysis.”
Energy experts say 30-50% of the price of gas at the pump can be directly traced
to environmental regulations. With gas at $3.00 a gallon, up to $1.50 of the
price you
pay
at
the
pump is the result of regulations like these. Add in an
average of $.50 per gallon in local, state and federal taxes, and as little as
$1.00 of the pump price is really for gas! The governor’s proposals would raise
energy costs even further.
We who live here know Governor Richardson’s policies are
due to his ties to national
environmental
groups and their multi-million-dollar campaigns. One such
example is a collaboration to eliminate fossil fuels – a campaign they call “No
Dirty Oil and Gas,” or NoDOG. He wants their vocal support, and their
cash, phone bank and canvassing contributions. And we’re
paying the price.
The endless agency hearings on the new drilling rules
were so discouraging that independent producer Tom Mullins said, “I’m no longer
looking to invest here. I’m looking to cut my losses.”
A company thinking about
investing in New Mexico commented that Richardson’s policies
send “a strong anti-business message to ALL industry and employers (both current
and prospective).”
We’re hearing that all over New Mexico because of
Governor Bill Richardson. How would you like to hear that all over America
because of President Bill Richardson?
Paul Gessing is President of the Rio Grande
Foundation, a non-partisan,
tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to
promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government,
economic freedom and individual responsibility.
http://www.riograndefoundation.org
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