OPINION: New Mexico’s Path Forward: Unleashing Energy and Natural Resources to End Poverty and Build Our Communities

New Mexico has long stood at a crossroads — blessed with extraordinary natural resources but burdened by entrenched poverty and underinvestment. The recently released 2024 New Mexico Kids Count Data Book paints a sobering picture that illustrates this.

While the report emphasizes the positive impacts of government assistance on poverty reduction, the hard truth remains: New Mexico still ranks last in the nation for child poverty under the Official Poverty Measure, with 27.4% of our children living below the poverty line between 2021–2023. This should sound the alarm.

The report also makes it clear: most of these gains happened through temporary federal programs — not structural economic improvement. Once those programs scale back, the cracks will show. We cannot build a sustainable future on short-term fixes.

In New Mexico, 22% of children live in food-insecure households. Two-thirds of kids live in families where at least one parent lacks secure, year-round employment. Median household income is more than $16,000 below the national average.

These are not numbers. These are our neighbors, our students, our communities.

What New Mexico needs is a durable path to prosperity — one that begins by unleashing our energy and natural resource sectors to fund education, services, infrastructure and most importantly, local autonomy and opportunity.

Across much of the state, the cycle of generational poverty continues, especially in tribal and frontier areas. These communities, often rich in land and culture, are poor in investment, infrastructure and opportunity. Meanwhile, our young people leave in search of a better life elsewhere.

We are sitting on a well of opportunity. New Mexico has one of the nation’s most robust, diverse portfolios of energy and natural resources. From oil and gas to solar, geothermal and hydrogen — and from potash to copper, rare earth elements and other critical minerals — we hold the raw ingredients to power the nation and drive a new economy.

We are already national leaders in oil and gas production, with the Permian and San Juan basins anchoring our state economy and school funding. The San Juan Basin is also emerging as a prime location for hydrogen development and carbon capture and storage. Our geology supports geothermal. Every Native community here sits on geothermal potential — resources that could bring heat, power and economic sovereignty to the very communities that have too often been left out.

But responsible development means more than just regulatory checkboxes. It means working in true partnership with the people who live closest to these projects. It means acknowledging the deep skepticism that exists in many communities — especially tribal communities — that remember the environmental harms and broken promises of decades past.

That's why today's developers — whether in mining, energy or infrastructure — must be thoughtful, transparent and committed to long-term community well-being. Local engagement must be there from day one. Environmental protections must be enforced and projects must deliver real benefits: jobs, infrastructure, education and support for the next generation.

We also have to stop thinking small. For too long, New Mexicans — especially in rural communities — have been forced to be conservative with what little they have. I understand that deeply, because I come from one of those places. We know what it's like to drive an hour for groceries, to wait months for a medical appointment, to live without the infrastructure that others take for granted. We don't complain — we adapt. But it's time we stop just surviving. It's time we start building.

We need to be the generation that says enough with scarcity. Let's build schools. Let's build broadband. Let's build power lines and pipelines and housing and hospitals. Let's build a state that works — for everyone.

And let's be the generation of equity — real equity. That means making sure every community has a seat at the table, and that affordability is always front and center. Because when a quarter of our kids live in poverty, it's not enough to say what we wish the world could be — we have to consider how our policies land in the real world.

New Mexico is ready. The talent is here. The resources are here. The moment is here. All that's left is for us to decide what kind of future we want. The Kids Count report reminds us that poverty is a policy choice. So is prosperity. If we're bold, if we prioritize rural and tribal inclusion, and if we respect the land while unleashing its potential, we can turn this ship around — and we can do it together.