Yates Petroleum Corp. is putting up big money to help establish the Domenici Public Policy Institute at New Mexico State University.
The company has given $500,000 to the effort, the university announced in a news release. The institute’s aim is to provide a location for scholars to research the work of the retiring Sen. Pete Domenici and to help advance issues on which he has worked.
“Sen. Domenici has been a dedicated public servant to the nation, to the people of the state of New Mexico and to those in Artesia and Eddy County,” Peyton Yates, a director on the board of Yates Petroleum Corp., an Artesia-based energy company, said in the news release. “The Domenici Institute will be an advocate for the issues central to the senator’s beliefs and will be a resonating force for the application of sound science to national environmental policy. The Yates families in Artesia are backing the institute to help assure its success and the legacy of the fantastic public service of Sen. Pete Domenici.”
The institute will give researchers from universities around New Mexico access to the Domenici archives to study the senator’s contributions to economic development, energy, the federal budget, national security, natural resources, behavioral health, nuclear nonproliferation and other topics.
“We are hopeful that our contribution to the Domenici Institute will encourage others to do likewise,” said John Yates Jr., who also is a director on the Yates board.
Other elements of the Pete V. Domenici Legacy include digitizing, preserving and processing Domenici’s archives; constructing the Pete V. Domenici Building on campus; and hosting the annual Domenici Public Policy Conference. The inaugural conference was held this year.