By Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main |
January 9, 2021
Later this month, New Mexico lawmakers will have another chance to fix an economic problem that has plagued the state for decades.
“For at least 40 years people in the state government and the Legislature have known that they are overly dependent on oil and gas for state revenue,” says Jim Peach, regents professor of economics at New Mexico State University.
Right now, more than 40 percent of the state’s income relies on the boom-and-bust fortunes of oil and gas. Now, according to a trio of New Mexico’s leading economists, the time has come to change course.
Later this month, New Mexico lawmakers will have another chance to fix an economic problem that has plagued the state for decades.
“For at least 40 years people in the state government and the Legislature have known that they are overly dependent on oil and gas for state revenue,” says Jim Peach, regents professor of economics at New Mexico State University.
Right now, more than 40% of the state’s income relies on the boom-and-bust fortunes of oil and gas. Now, according to a trio of New Mexico’s leading economists, the time has come to change course.
“Like it or not, we’re at the tail end of the fossil fuel age,” Peach says. “We really are.”