CAGW Names Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham June 2019 Porker of the Month | Citizens Against Government Waste

CAGW Names Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham June 2019 Porker of the Month

Porker of the Month

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) June 2019 Porker of the Month for collaborating with green energy firms to enact a “Mini-Green New Deal.”

On March 22, 2019, Gov. Lujan Grisham signed the Energy Transition Act into state law.  Observers dubbed the measure a “Mini-Green New Deal.”  The new law mandates that New Mexico’s electricity grid be 100 percent carbon-free by 2045.  While the law received rave reviews from environmentalists, it surely will not be embraced so warmly by New Mexico’s citizens.  An April 2019 study from the University of Chicago found that mandating “a certain percentage of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources,” increases electricity prices by 17 percent and, “consumers in the 29 states studied had paid $125.2 billion more for electricity.”  Worse yet, these policies, “are inefficient in reducing carbon emissions.”

In another wrinkle, emails obtained through an open records request revealed that Gov. Lujan Grisham’s energy secretary, Sarah Cottrell Propst, coordinated legislative specifics with several environmental groups and green energy firms, including a firm she used to head prior to taking her position with the state.  The group that requested the emails, Power the Future, says that scheming to write legislation with the same firms that would benefit from it represents, “a conflict of interest,” and is, “insider politics at its worst.”

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Gov. Lujan Grisham is taking New Mexico down a dangerous road that will result in massive costs to taxpayers and consumers.  Adding in the ethical blunders makes this bill even more problematic.  The radical Green New Deal would bankrupt the country if it were adopted nationally; and this pint-sized version in New Mexico threatens that state with the very same fiscal calamity.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

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