EIB Damage Being Preserved

Capitol Report New Mexico - While both gubernatorial candidates came out against instituting cap and trade regulations — as well as a number of lawmakers (click here for an example) — bills looking to curb or reverse the effects of rules adopted by the previous members of the Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) have gone nowhere in the current 60-day legislative session. And with just five days left in the session, it looks like none will. On Monday (March 14), another bill was sent into legislative oblivion when House Bill 579, sponsored by Rep. Tom Taylor (R-Farmington), failed to get a “do pass” motion in the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee when all six Democrats voted against the bill and all six Republicans voted for it.

It takes a majority of a committee to move legislation along. HB579 would prevent the EIB from making rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico. Instead, the federal government’s Air Quality Act would govern the state’s regulations. “My reading of this bill is that it would equate to a repeal of what the EIB did,” committee chairman Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) said. “We talk a lot and hear a lot in this chamber about states’ rights and how the federal government’s reach needs to be reduced but in this one area we don’t want any state control and this bill, as I read it, takes state control away.” Read full story here: News New Mexico

EIB Damage Being Preserved