Cocoposts

Coyote in the Schoolyard - Oil and Gas

The metaphor of the fox in the hen house is overused. Self-policing by the oil and gas industry is more like a coyote in the school yard. He pays for the place. He can go where he wants and do what he likes.

Loosely regulated and in the driver’s seat of the economy, oil and gas dominates the Roundhouse. Efforts to restrain, regulate or alter New Mexico’s relationship with the industry are met with a collective moan from lobbyists who swat at bills like antagonizing flies. They use terms like, ‘industry economics demand’ and have some ‘business friendly’ Democrats on their side.

The problem with being ‘business friendly’ is that it nearly always means being unfriendly to someone or something else. Like employees or the environment.

Senator Soules bill SB 547 to ban fracking was tabled in Senate Conservation on 8-2 vote. Opponents to this and other ‘unfriendly’ bills testified there are ‘no verified cases of drinking water contamination’ and that oil and gas are the ‘lifeblood’ of the state and crucial to our economy and schools in particular. Dependence on tax revenue from non-renewables is never posed by industry advocates as regrettable. It’s a fact of life. A fact that conveniently dampens criticism.

We are further led to believe by the oil and gas industry proponents that frantic unregulated drilling is absolutely necessary to heat our homes. This is getting a little harder to dish out in light of renewables, but it is easy to consume without thinking. We do it with water too. We are sheltered from costs we don’t pay. Again, this is not a bad thing for oil and gas.

Fine Fine New Mexico - HB286

The Texas Legislature is considering raising their penalties for oil and gas violations from $10,000 per day to $200,000. New Mexico's HB286 would raise the daily maximum penalty from $1000 to $10,000. I dislike Texas comparisons as much as the next New Mexican, but come on. That makes a fine of $1000 per day for violators that pollute land and water a new new low.

HB286 is scheduled to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee this morning.

Roundhouse Bill Stalker

What could possibly be more riveting than scanning proposed state legislation? If you can't find some bill in there to follow you have a life bereft of excitement associated with the mechanics of bill processing, the mystery of deal-making, the hidden meaning behind nearly every vote. Or, maybe you just have a life. Few lists contain so much to alternately horrify, delight and bore depending on your view and mood.

Bill stalking is an art. Of course the New Mexico Legislature website provides the Bill Finder and Bill Locator but I prefer my title. 'Stalking' reflects the thrill of the hunt and how killing bills is actually as big a part of the game as passing them.

You can tell a lot by who introduced the bill. To get irritated, start with members of the party with whom you most often disagree. If you want to find hope and optimism, it's in there too. And sometimes bills aren't about party but are about doing the right thing, like SB63, Mary Kay Papen's bill on racehorse testing standards for example.

Some bills beg for questions. Like what the devil is behind SB70? Pete Campos's bill would change all State Monuments to 'historic sites' which just seems downright wierd and unneccessary. Why rename the Camino Real International Heritage Center? And what about historic sites that aren't historic because they're prehistoric or paleolithic?

See what I mean?

Discovering the context, history and purpose of bills is a hunt worthy of full-time journalists and lobbyists. Wording can be misleading or only hint at the impact. Existing law can be confusing, making bills that amend them even more so. Something that may at first glance look awful could represent a real improvement over what's already on the books. And visa versa. Take all that and inject new personalities into the mix of legislators and it's a recipe for a political feast - or at the very least, messy sausage-making and good stories.

Roundhouse In-Between Time

Among the most interesting Roundhouse traditions is that of waiting.  The 'in-between times' after something and before something else are a little magical in how subjectively we experience them.

I took a comfortable train on a cold day to Santa Fe for the opening of the 2013 New Mexico Legislature and arrived perfectly on time for the wait. The Governor was scheduled to speak at 1:00pm and started at about 2:00pm. But this is not considered late at the Roundhouse where time is warped by various necessities that defy regular clocks.

The fact of waiting obscures how much is going on in the in-between. The members of the legislature are  famously overwhelmed with constant activity. Of course those employed during the session are dancing fast with specific responsibilities and divisions of labor. They are counted on to learn and repeat their steps with increasing speed in a sort of red shoes dance until the end of the session when they all fall down exhausted. 

Much in-between time is consumed by countless small proprieties and ceremonies that change very little from year to year. The portentous gavel knocking, endless introductions, prayers and pledges are all part of the historic choreography. As are the pretentious announcements of decisions made during other in-between times.

Changing tradition is hard, including the tradition of bill-making. Opening legislative committee meetings to webcasting - adding a public eye into previously sparsely attended late- night committee meetings is not how it's always been done. Progress is slow. Senate restrictions on archiving in particular are likely to limit effectiveness.

Webcasting is likely to change the committee meeting tradition and improve transparency and public awareness. But back room deals will never be made in the front of the room. A consequence of increased committee transparency may be that agreements are made outside of committees. While we wait in the in-between time.

Turtleback Mountain Diary 4

These days enlightened professionals in government stand out like big bass in a shrinking desert lake - leaping out of the water because they can't take the pond full of stupid anymore.

This is one quirky-ass little town.

One of the latest movidas involves a city vote to shorten the municipal runway to benefit a developer named Greg Neal who says he'll build a truck stop there any day now.

This is what's become of the "premier commercial and industrial zone" anchored by a "motorplex" promised in the 7,388 acre State land swap completed by former State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons with chest-thumping pride in 2008.  Then NASCAR said they'd never heard of Greg Neal.

Now the Airport Director and somebody else has resigned.

Economic development: they'll say it's about jobs but it's all about real estate speculation.

Largest Landowners

The names apparently include a New Mexican. Here's the Land Report 100 - Largest Landlowners list.* This is not by weight.

A person with same name as one of them, Number 72, is presently requesting public funds through a LEDA grant from the Bernalillo County Commission to build another set of big boxes in an alfalfa field he owns at Coors and Rio Bravo Boulevards.

The zoning for the site was approved years ago when Teresa Cordova, stalwart protectress of valley values, was in office. As I recall, one of the arguments at the time was how the County needed its own retail development.  That huge Walmart right next door was in the evil City. (Say it with a hissss.)  So Wal-Mart didn't count except as a "changed community condition" that bolstered the argument for the conversion of more prime farmland into yet another speculative real estate venture. Sad but true.

 

 

* In spite of my much coveted position as primary steward of Whitelodge and Weed Ranch, I'm not on the list.

 

Swear Never to Blog About Palin

But  The Des Moines Register shows the power of repeated rhetoric and how anger gets deflected away from our corporate masters sponsors.  "Government" is ill-defined and varied - difficult to grasp at once.  It's hard to understand and easy to over-simplify. The term is used in broad swipes at federal, state and local agencies, employees and programs. It's all about government.

"Palin slipped easily into the role of the voice of a movement that feels chained down by taxes, the federal deficit and an out-of-control government."

Sorry, but where does corporate greed fit in?  I feel chained down by bank fees and utility rates, the intelligence deficit and an out-of-control Wall Street.

Step Into The Light

Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson opines in the Albuquerque Journal about the county's  new openness and transparency moves, which appear to rely somewhat heavily on website access to previously obscure information.

Particularly unsettling is how good Commissioner Johnson says he thinks the most important provision of the new ethics resolution is the part where everyone will get to know how much money everyone else makes. 

In every job that I've ever had, my boss knew exactly what I earned and how much it actually cost to pay for my services. That boss was charged with determining whether or not my productivity warranted the cost to the company and my continued service. Governments are no different. 
     

In his view apparently we're direct supervisors.  Thanks, but no thanks.  I'm retired.  I don't want to be the judge of whether every single person in the bureaucracy is worth a paycheck.  That's a supervisor's job in a professionally managed government.  Although I would be interested in disclosure of commissioners' investments, not just their income.  That information would be relevant to my vote, and to their votes.  Otherwise, who gets hired and fired is not my job. 

Stepping into the light, reminds me of Poltergeist and little Carol Anne who was told, do NOT go into the light. Don't even look at it, then told something completely different, run to the light, baby. Mommy is in the light. This was a lie, of course, intended to trick ghosts.  But what got them into this dilemma of light or no light was that the developer moved the cemetery but left the bodies.  It was enough, they thought, to put up the headstones for people to see.  Everything else was left below the surface.  Yeah, the county is a little like that. 

Just shoving information toward the light without context or responsibility isn't ethics.

 

Sine Die

"The past is never dead.  It isn't even past."  William Faulkner

In twitter time the Roundhouse legislative session is ancient history.  At the risk of sounding melancholic, I miss the time when last Saturday wasn't ages ago. If this was the nineteenth century, the legislators (all men) would still be drunk.

At the gavel banging Sine Die they would have emerged from the old capitol building into similar spring sunshine.  The capitol in those days was an ornate domed affair* with broad steps descending northward toward the Santa Fe River and the town.  From the steps speeches were delivered to assembled crowds and the Governor at the time may have spoken.  Legislators may have stopped to listen or snubbed the Guv and continued on to waiting carriages.

There'd be more hats and facial hair and less bathing. The scent of pomade, horse poop, cigar smoke and body odor would be on the wind and in the hotel bar.  La Fonda was precursor to the Rio Chama as primary legislative watering hole - a designation that endured well into the twentieth century. 

Fabian Chavez, in the book, Taking On Giants by David Roybal, describes a 1963 confrontation in La Fonda with a liquor industry lobbyist.  The powerful liquor lobby was like the oil and gas industry of the day. Chavez had attempted reform legislation that angered some.  (No telling if they stormed out of committee hearings en masse.)  The lobbyist got drunk and grabbed the Senator by the lapels saying, "I elected U.S. Senator Dennis Chavez.  I elected Senator Clinton P. Anderson, and I own the legislature.  I bought you a thousand times."

Fabian later said, "they thought that if they contributed to us, they owned us."

Ah, tradition!

*The capitol was later stripped of these embellishments and renamed for an unhappy war event.

Roundhouse Showdown

Last night Representative Andy Nuñez tried to put a controversial bill up for a vote on the House floor and Speaker Lujan swept it out the door.  The Santa Fe New Mexican has the story. Reporters expected it and the Governor's staffperson had been waiting to film the stunt all day.  Watch dizzycam here.  It captures all the R's gesturing at the press after the Speaker left the chambers.  They're all looking up and saying, "Did you see that Trip?"  He did.

Before this staged drama came the long contentious debate about the film bills.  And before that came the long contentious debate about the budget.  And before that came a lot of tedious talk about cowboys.  I can boldly speak for cowpeople everywhere when I say no one really wanted to stay in that room a second longer. No one but those itching for the Nuñez drama.

Earlier in the afternoon Representative  Thomas Garcia had taken obvious pleasure in hours of verbal evisceration on budget amendments.  He grilled until well-done and the time limit was up.  This limit is called "Rule 20" I understand.  If they debate any longer, unicorns start dying.