How America’s “Most Powerful Lobby” Is Stifling Efforts to Reform #Oil Well Cleanup in State After State
In #NewMexico, oil companies agreed to work with regulators to find a solution to the state’s more than 70,000 unplugged wells. After months of negotiations, the industry turned against the bill it helped shape.
As we learned from an irresponsible financial services industry in 2008, "Profits are private, losses are public. It's the taxpayers problem."
As we know from an irresponsible fossil fuel industry "Drilling profits are private, environmental cleanups from oil drilling is public. It's the taxpayers problem."
Voted in #SantaFe#NewMexico today, a place where the Democratic primary determines some of the ultimate races. One race really struck me as emblematic of the future, assuming constitutional democracy survives in the U.S. 1/
In one contest for county commissioner (municipal legislator, for non-Americans), three candidates vied for the Democratic nomination. One of them, though, was, until very recently, a registered Republican. Even before I knew this, it was apparent to me that she was the most conventionally pro-business candidate. Then, I read a column she wrote explaining her change of party. 2/
With the Republican Party having degenerated into a cultish, criminal, evangelical Christian organization, it is no longer a meaningful participant in U.S. democratic politics. So, the Democratic Party is going to absorb many people into its right flank. My prediction: if U.S. constitutional democracy survives, the Republican Party will not, and the Democratic Party will eventually split into two parties, one more to the left and one more to the right. 4/4
Early voting started last week in New Mexico for the upcoming primary on 4 June.
So...how is early voting progressing?
Don't stay in the dark - get on the distro list for the 'dailies'!
How?
Contact your county clerk and fill out a voter data request form.
Zero cost.
Here are some summary tables after one week of early voting in Otero county.
Here are the 50 data fields (spreadsheet columns) that are in the dailies:
County
Election
VoterID
Status
Status Reason
LastName
FirstName
MiddleName
Suffix
YOB
Gender
Party
ResidenceAddress
HouseNumber
PreStreetDir
Street
StreetType
PostStreetDir
City
State
Zip
BallotMailingAddress
Address Line 2
BallotMailingCity
BallotMailingState
BallotMailingZip
Ballot Style
<precincts & districts...>
Absentee Voter Type
Application Sent
ApplicationReceived
Application Source
Application Status
Application Rejection Reason
Ballot Delivery Method
BallotSent
BallotReceived
Ballot Status
Ballot Rejection Reason
Vote Type
@KrajciTom If you go to Vote411 (https://www.vote411.org sponsored by the League of Women Voters), it's a one-stop-shop to check your registration and to get information on all of the candidates in your district.
Yes, Vote411 is a good resource. I have helped encourage candidates to answer the online questionnaire, and also review/update map boundary data that is in the back end of the website.
I'm active with the League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico.
New Stanford-led research shows that U.S. oil & gas facilities are emitting more than 6 million tons of methane per year, 3 times the level predicted by the U.S. government ... fewer than 2 percent of emitters are responsible for 50 to 80 percent of emissions in nearly all regions surveyed.
"The #NewMexico portion of the Permian Basin was by far the highest emitter, with nearly 10% of total methane volume produced in 2019 going straight to the atmosphere." #Climate
@cjpaloma@GottaLaff Our head election official made it clear that if we see anything at all that makes us uncomfortable, we are to call 911. Election security is taken very seriously in this county, thankfully.