Consumer Report: New Mexicans Saved over $3.4 Billion over 10 Years Thanks to Low Priced Natural Gas

Thanks to increased production and safer, state-of-the-art technologies
– which together have decreased the price of natural gas –New Mexico
families and businesses saved more than $3.4 billion between 2006 and
2016, according to a report from Consumer
Energy Alliance (CEA).

Per the report, titled “Energy
for New Mexico,” residential users saved nearly $1.6 billion and
commercial and industrial users saved more than $1.86 billion. The
report is being released today at a CEA Affordable Energy Forum at Rio
Bravo Brewing Company in Albuquerque.

The analysis details how the national, and local, energy revolution –
particularly the one that is now unfolding in the Permian Basin and Four
Corners regions – has helped local energy consumers increase disposable
income, job growth and economic investment, plus revitalize communities.

CEA’s analysis also found that New Mexico’s oil and gas industry has a
$12.8 billion total economic impact and provides more than 100,000 jobs
statewide, employing one in every eight New Mexicans, directly or
indirectly. In addition, New Mexico receives about $2 billion annually
via severance and property taxes, royalties from production on state and
federal lands, and rental income included, the Legislative Finance
Committee reports.

Additional highlights from the report include:

• Sales and income taxes on oil and gas drilling and service activity
  generate an additional $300 million for the state.
• Based on the production in any given year, oil and gas production
  revenue make up 15 to 25 percent of New Mexico’s total general fund
  revenue and is used to fund state environmental improvements and
  municipal services including public schools and hospitals.
• In FY 2017, the state’s oil and gas sector provided $711 million to
  public schools and almost $223 million to colleges and universities.
• The agricultural industry spent nearly $90 million for fuels and oils
  and $49.6 million on electricity to power farm equipment, manufacture
  fertilizer and transport products.
• On average, each New Mexico resident spent $3,088 on energy-related
  needs like fuel and electricity in 2016. These expenses ate up at
  least a quarter of take-home pay for the roughly 19.6 percent of New
  Mexicans living at or below the poverty marker.

“Despite these benefits – which help residents affordably light and heat
their homes and power and charge their electronics and allow farmers to
fertilize and harvest their crops cost-effectively – New Mexico’s energy
resources and critical pipeline network remain under attack by
out-of-state activists, despite cleaner-burning natural gas’s well-known
environmental benefits,” CEA President David Holt said. “These
anti-development efforts lack solutions to help meet consumer demand and
threaten our environmental goals.”

Holt added: “With the savings that have occurred in recent years, New
Mexico policymakers, regulators and leaders must continue to come
together in support of local energy production and infrastructure that
will help the state thrive and ensure hardworking families, seniors,
households, and small businesses have the low-cost energy they need to
reduce expenses, find work and improve their communities.”

To view the report, click
here.

About Consumer Energy Alliance

Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) brings together families, farmers, small
businesses, distributors, producers and manufacturers to support
America's energy future. With more than 500,000 members nationwide, our
mission is to help ensure stable prices and energy security for
households across the country. We believe energy development is
something that touches everyone in our nation, and thus it is necessary
for all of us to actively engage in the conversation about how we
develop our diverse energy resources and energy's importance to the
economy. Learn more at ConsumerEnergyAlliance.org.

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