New Mexico’s share of revenues from energy development on federal lands within the state tops more than $434 million this year.
The U.S. Interior Department released figures for this year’s dispersals Monday. In all, nearly $2 billion went to 37 states as their share of revenues collected from oil, natural gas and mineral production on federal lands within their borders.
New Mexico trailed Wyoming, the top state with more than $971 million in revenues.
New Mexico’s share of the revenues has gone up and down with the price of oil and gas over the last decade.
Last year, the state’s share was $380 million. That was down from a high of nearly $615 million in 2008.
EIB Rule Hearing Under Way Today
The Environmental Improvement Board hearing on a petition to repeal the New Mexico cap-and-trade regulation begins at 9 a.m. today in Apodaca Hall in the PERA Building, 1120 Paseo de Peralta, in Santa Fe.
The hearing will continue Wednesday and Thursday, then resume on Monday and continue through the week as needed, according to hearing officer Felicia Orth.
The public will be able to comment on the issue at 6:30 p.m. each day of the hearing.
The cap-and-trade measure is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions many believe contribute to global warming. Adopted by the previous EIB in 2010, it would large emitters of carbon dioxide to cut emissions by 2 percent a year, starting in 2012, through 2020. It contemplates New Mexico’s participation in a regional program in which those unable to achieve the reductions could obtain allowances or offsets from other sources.
Public Service Company of New Mexico, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association and and others that seek the rule’s repeal say climate change should be addressed at the national level.
Embezzler Pleads Guilty to 4 Counts
A former employee of Jemez Physical Therapy in Los Alamos who stole more than $160,000 to support her gambling addiction pleaded guilty to two counts each of embezzlement and tax evasion, the state Taxation and Revenue Department announced in a news release.
Rebecca Serrano, also known as Becky Serrano, 46, of Española, last week was ordered to pay nearly $165,000 in restitution and back taxes and placed on five years’ probation.
