Creating Energy

New Mexico Business Journal, August, 2001

Another one of New Mexico's abundant energy resources is coal. Nationwide, about 55 percent of our electricity is generated from coal-fired power plants. In New Mexico, this figure is much higher, around 85 percent. We are fortunate that much of the coal we mine in the state is relatively clean. Also, New Mexico has made substantial progress in reducing certain harmful emissions from coal use, most notably NOX emissions.

But we have a long way to go. SOX emissions continue to rise (although not as rapidly as the rate of energy use), as do carbon dioxide emissions. As such, New Mexicans have a direct interest in supporting the development of additional clean coal technologies to help ensure the health of our children and, at the same time, lower the costs associated with environmental protection.

MINIMIZE GLOBAL WARMING

On a larger scale New Mexicans should be supporting policies to minimize global climate change. The endless debates about the validity of worldwide changes in climate resulting from human activity is the real-life equivalent of fiddling while Rome is burning. The recent report from the National Academy of Sciences, requested by President Bush, was very clear in its conclusion--delay in action means risk and potential damage to the health and safety of the human race.

It is imperative that we stop studying and start acting--and we can do so right in our own backyard by supporting additional investments in technologies such as carbon sequestration to capture greenhouse gas-producing carbon emissions before they enter the atmosphere. The state's vast coal resources ensure that New Mexicans and those in surrounding states have abundant and affordable electricity; we need to make certain that in receiving the benefits of this energy abundance, we are also doing everything possible to reduce the harmful environmental impacts of its use.

JEFF BINGAMAN

CALIFORNIA'S ROLLING BLACK-outs coupled with an expensive heating season and high prices at the pump have all converged to give energy issues center stage in our national debate. Probably at no time since the 1970s have Americans used the words "energy crisis" so often as they have in the past six months.

Certainly, the situation in California constitutes a crisis for that state and has had significant repercussions for other Western states where the price of electricity has skyrocketed due to a broken power market. But it would be unfair to say the entire nation faces an energy crisis. It is more accurate, in my view, to say our country faces several energy challenges. As always, New Mexico will have a vital role to play in helping meet those challenges.

New Mexico is a major oil and gas producing state. Not only do we significantly contribute to meeting our nation's energy needs by extracting oil, New Mexico also has a hand in refining oil for the marketplace. Navajo Refining Co. and the Giant Refining Co. are very important contributors to our state's energy sector.

There has been a lot of rhetoric about the fact no new refineries have been built in recent years. At a recent Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, industry executives testified that the primary reason new refineries are not built is a matter of economics. The reality is that the industry has actually expanded capacity over the past decade as it optimized production capacity at existing locations. Those refineries currently in operation provide larger volumes of cleaner fuels with a smaller "footprint."