Due to the reality of a stark economic slowdown and oil prices crashing amid a price war in the middle east, the governor has vetoed a spending bill intended to improve road conditions in NM’s oil field regions. Senate bill 232 would have allocated $50 million to county road projects across the state with particular focus on the oil producing counties in the Permian Basin. However, the Governor’s decision to veto the bill was influenced by a projected downturn in production for the region even before the massive impacts of Coronavirus and OPEC nations flooding the markets with cheap prices.
“With this veto, I have added these monies back into our reserves, which helps counteract the potential impact of fluctuations in the oil market” Lujan Grisham said. Lea and Eddy counties have the highest production rates for oil and gas and are largely responsible for the massive influx of state revenue this year. Unfortunately the two most southeastern counties are also the ones in dire need of road infrastructure repair and improvement. Read more HERE.