{"id":178921,"date":"2016-08-24T07:17:59","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T13:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=178921"},"modified":"2016-08-24T07:17:59","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T13:17:59","slug":"land-commissioners-im-for-the-kids-guise-is-easy-to-see-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/08\/land-commissioners-im-for-the-kids-guise-is-easy-to-see-through\/","title":{"rendered":"Land commissioner&#8217;s &#8216;I&#8217;m for the kids&#8217; guise is easy to see through"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>Aubrey Dunn, commissioner of New Mexico State Land Office, has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/news\/local_news\/state-land-commissioner-s-fund-proposal-draws-quick-rebuke\/article_efda48b6-7119-5626-8c65-063fe8817d8e.html\" target=\"_blank\">proposed a controversial land-grab bill<\/a>\u00a0under the guise of helping New Mexico\u2019s children.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_178923\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-178923\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Saeger-Chris.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Saeger\" width=\"336\" height=\"289\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Saeger<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Under the Early Childhood Education Land Grant Act, Dunn wants Congress to transfer millions of subsurface mineral rights to the state, which the State Land Office would lease for mineral development. The generated revenue would be put into a trust for early childhood education.\u00a0There are several problems with Dunn\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n<p>First, the proposal takes an act of Congress to implement, which would most likely never happen.<\/p>\n<p>Next, basing an economy almost entirely on oil and gas revenue has already proven detrimental for New Mexico, as a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/krqe.com\/2016\/07\/21\/lawmakers-new-mexico-facing-budget-shortfall-calls-for-special-session\/\" target=\"_blank\">$150 million budget deficit<\/a>\u00a0exists after the prices of oil and gas tumbled to historic lows over the past year. The State Land Office\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mrt.com\/business\/oil\/article_ccfef7cc-5285-11e6-ac4d-77c6552cc23f.html\" target=\"_blank\">itself saw<\/a>\u00a0a 37 percent decline in mineral royalties within the 2015 fiscal year, and over the 2016 fiscal year it saw a 32 percent drop in overall state land revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it\u2019s time for New Mexico to diversify its investment portfolio.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, the BLM already has legislation on the table that would bring millions to New Mexico, which is specifically earmarked for\u2026 you guessed it, childhood education. BLM\u2019s rule reduces natural gas waste from oil and gas development on public lands. Each year, an estimated\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/westernvaluesproject.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/WVP_NM_Royalties_Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">$100 million<\/a>\u00a0worth of natural gas is wasted on public lands in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>And as oil and gas producers aren\u2019t required to pay royalties on the natural gas they waste, New Mexico loses an additional\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/westernvaluesproject.org\/millions-in-royalties-are-wasted-each-year-funds-which-could-go-towards-new-mexicos-state-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\">$50 million<\/a>\u00a0in royalty revenue each year.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Dunn\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/news\/local_news\/land-commissioner-opposes-federal-plan-to-curb-gas-flaring\/article_45686c2d-e235-591c-bb15-05c3dee1cd51.html\" target=\"_blank\">opposes<\/a>\u00a0BLM\u2019s methane waste rule. As a fiduciary steward for New Mexico, it is Dunn\u2019s official duty to embrace commonsense economic opportunities for the state, instead of inventing a wild goose chase to appear to be doing everything possible to fix the state\u2019s dire economic situation.<\/p>\n<p>Why would Dunn propose such a ridiculous act while opposing a real-time, actual solution to the state\u2019s revenue shortfall?<\/p>\n<p>Dunn has been in the pocket of the oil and gas industry for years, as they have generously\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/westernvaluesproject.org\/hypocrisy-alert-big-oil-ceos-rake-in-big-bucks-while-fighting-to-pay-their-fair-share\/\" target=\"_blank\">donated nearly $100,000<\/a>\u00a0to his past election campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t let\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmstatelands.org\/uploads\/PressRelease\/7c63bfca932547d89f9afbbc8739d0aa\/Web___Release_and_Bill_Draft___Commissioner_Dunn_Responds_to_Attacks_on_Early_Childhood_Proposal.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Dunn\u2019s ruse<\/a>\u00a0of \u201cI&#8217;m for the kids\u201d fool you &#8212; because if he was, he\u2019d support the BLM rule and the millions it would generate for the children of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p><em>Chris Saeger is the director of the <a href=\"http:\/\/westernvaluesproject.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Western Values Project<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t let Dunn\u2019s ruse of \u201cI&#8217;m for the kids\u201d fool you &#8212; because if he was, he\u2019d support the BLM rule and the millions it would generate for the children of New Mexico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[234,119,3278,107],"class_list":["post-178921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-children","tag-energy-policy","tag-public-lands","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}