I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The chances of Jeff Bingaman’s “energy only” bill passing the Senate aren’t very good, according to The New York Times. The bill, the Times says, has bipartisan support but also bipartisan opposition, a rarity in this hyper-partisan Congress.
The political essence of the Bingaman bill is a deal to trade drilling off the coast of Florida for a “renewable energy standard,” or RES, ordering utilities to use more renewables. The deal is that environmentalists and industry both get something they want but not everything.
It sounds workable in principle. The bill passed out of committee with four Republican votes.
But six Republicans voted against it for reasons as varied as nuclear power and property rights
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., voted against the bill because he opposes offshore drilling. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., voted against the bill because she didn’t believe the bill allowed enough drilling. Other Democrats only would support an expansion of offshore drilling if there were some revenue-sharing with states; meanwhile, other Democrats, including Bingaman, oppose revenue sharing.
Complicating any offshore drilling expansion is the recent explosion of an oil rig that “continues to belch out about 1,000 barrels — or 42,000 gallons — of crude oil each day” into the Gulf of Mexico.
