A top New Mexico lawmaker is renewing a push to codify the state’s climate targets after affordability concerns from fellow Democrats sank last year’s effort.
Sen. Mimi Stewart, president pro tem of the upper chamber, on Thursday reintroduced the “Clear Horizons Act.” The bill would require state regulators to craft new rules for meeting a 2030 target of cutting emissions 45 percent below 2005 levels, followed by 75 percent by 2040 and net zero by 2050.
New Mexico’s emissions were 21 percent below the 2005 baseline in 2023, according to the state’s most recent climate action plan. New Mexico is one of the top oil- and gas-producing states, and recent years saw a boom in production — though that’s expected to slow amid lower prices.
The legislation echoes emissions targets that Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham set in 2019 via executive order.
