New Mexico
GOP warns of higher gas prices as Lujan Grisham signs ‘clean fuel standard’ bill to law
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham singed a bill Tuesday intended to curb air pollution, but Republicans and fossil fuel industry supporters said the measure could raise gas prices for New Mexico drivers up to 50 cents per gallon.
House Bill 41, Clean Transportation Fuel Standards, would incentivize producers of high-carbon fuel like oil and gas to buy credits from generators or importers of low-carbon fuels to offset the overall pollution intensity of fossil fuel production.
It was intended to cause fossil fuel producers to invest in “cleaner” forms of energy and would call on the Environmental Improvement Board to devise regulations for lowering air pollution from cars and trucks. The legislation targeted reductions in such carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2030 and 30 percent by 2040 from 2018 levels.
More: Tax package could expand renewable energy in New Mexico; Fossil fuels also supported
The bill was supported by Lujan Grisham and her cabinet, including the New Mexico Environment Department which would carry out its requirements, throughout the 2024 Legislative Session despite strong disapproval from the Republican Party.
New Mexico GOP Chair Steve Pearce upon the bill’s signing said it followed similar efforts in other left-leaning states like California and would unfairly burden New Mexico consumers at the pump. He argued the governor and her followers intended to curb the use of fossil fuels in favor for electric vehicles.
“Once again, Gov. Lujan Grisham is leading from behind California,” Pearce said. “How out-of-touch is this governor and the Democratic legislature to expect New Mexicans to pay $4 a gallon for gas when so many can barely afford to feed their families? Is the governor’s strategy to make gas so expensive that New Mexicans start accepting her electric vehicle mandate?”
More: New Mexico capital outlay: Here’s what your county and city gets
Lujan Grisham said the bill would address pollution and help New Mexico meet its goals of addressing climate change, while stimulating the economy and creating new jobs in the “clean energy” by increasing investments in that sector.
“Clean fuel standards not only decrease emissions and move us toward our climate goals, but also diversify our economy and attract new businesses to our state,” she said in a statement after signing the bill into law.
The NMED estimated the program would create 1,600 full-time jobs and 2,300 construction jobs, generating $470 million in wages and bringing $240 million in capital investment to the state from companies supporting by the credits.
More: ‘Renewable’ geothermal energy boosted by bill passed by New Mexico House
Transportation was the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, according to NMED, following only oil and gas production.
The administration touted its efforts to reduce such emissions, adopting various regulations throughout Lujan Grisham’s tenure that were aimed at curbing transportation emissions and propping up the state’s electric vehicle network
“This program establishes a market-based approach to reward those entities that decide to produce and import clean fuels here in New Mexico,” said NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney. “In order to receive a clean fuel credit, you must reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
More: ‘Clean fuels’ bill advances in New Mexico Senate, to make oil companies pay for pollution
Larry Behrens with oil and gas advocacy group Power the Future said the bill would stymie the fossil fuel industry in New Mexico. He argued New Mexico was the second-highest oil producer in the U.S. and its leaders should bolster the industry that accounted for almost half of the state’s revenue in the last fiscal year.
“As a national leader in oil production, New Mexico’s leaders should do all they can to support our energy industry,” Behrens said. “Instead, Santa Fe politicians want to copy failed policies that punish families by driving up prices.”
Environmental groups were quick to celebrate the bills passage, arguing on the day of the signature that the clean fuel standards would take meaningful action to limit environmental damage believed the result of fossil fuel pollution.
More: 2024 Legislative session wrap up: Here’s how energy and environment bills fared
“The introduction of low-carbon alternative fuels, like biodiesel, is a key step in reducing carbon emissions in the transportation industry and will deliver cleaner air and improved health outcomes in real time for New Mexico communities,” said Samantha Kao with Conservation Voters New Mexico.
“We still have a lot of work to do in combating climate pollution and decarbonizing our transportation sector, but this bill is a critical steppingstone in helping us get to a 100% clean energy future.”
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.
SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
CLINES CORNERS, N.M. – The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
The fire is burning just east of Clines Corners, south of Interstate 40.
It forced the closure of eastbound Interstate 40 at Clines Corners on Tuesday night. I-40 reopened Tuesday night. I-40 is back open but smoke still affects visibility.
“We’re on the side of I-40 so drivers have to be pretty cautious. As far as our establishment itself we’re pretty isolated by the freeway itself as a nice fire break,” said Lincoln Tarantino, Clines Corner general manager.
The fire has burned around 852 acres, up from just 20 at this time Monday.
Crews say the fire is not contained and wind farms in the area are threatened.
New Mexico
Feds allowed millions of fentanyl pills to ‘walk’ on New Mexico streets: DEA Whistleblower
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