UPDATE, March 7: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham used a line-item veto to strike the stripper well tax exemption from this year’s omnibus tax bill. It was the only veto in a package that legislators hoped would be veto-proof after Lujan Grisham slashed large swathes of last year’s tax bill. In a signing message Wednesday, she said, “This [section] would disproportionately benefit larger companies, substantially decrease state revenues, and work counter to my Administration’s climate change goals.” She also asked lawmakers to work with her office to draft a similar, narrower bill for next year’s legislative session that addresses those issues.
Days after this story originally ran, a coalition of 29 groups signed a letter asking Lujan Grisham to veto the exemption. In a press release sent after the veto, Kayley Shoup, community organizer for Citizens Caring for the Future, said, “Oil and gas operators — not the public — should pay the compliance costs of reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations.”
