Together, we must ensure that our economy, our utilities, our water, land, and resources serve the people of New Mexico

As we close out this milestone year—our 20th anniversary—we are reflecting on our mission, what we have accomplished, what remains ahead, and the extraordinary moment we are living through. The climate crisis is accelerating, and the fossil fuel industry is responding not with restraint, but with unprecedented expansion - doubling down on oil, gas, a suite of dangerous “advanced energy” schemes that threaten our water, health, and democratic rights, and threats of war in Venezuela to gain access to new oil fields.

AI technocrats envision a world in which computers and robots perform nearly all work, sacrificing a functioning climate on the altar of "technological progress," and as Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in a recent op-ed, utterly failing to answer the most basic questions concerning care for each other as human beings. Elon Musk recently bragged that "AI and robots will replace all jobs. Working will be optional," but offered no answer to how humans will earn an income, or be able to afford healthcare, housing or food. 

Here in New Mexico, where extraction in the Permian Basin now represents one of the largest climate threats on the planet, we are witnessing a rapid convergence of fossil fuel, private equity, and state power in ways that will shape the future for generations. After decades of legislative advocacy, renewable project development, legal intervention, and public education, the promise of solar, wind, and battery storage is no longer theoretical—it is proven, practical, and popular. But as the fossil fuel industry fights to maintain its grip and the impacts of climate disruption deepen, the struggle to ensure that the energy transition serves the people rather than exacerbates extraction, inequality, and corporate control is peaking.

In the face of powerful interests and rampant corruption, WE, the people, have worked together and won in 2025:

• We defeated the Governor’s plan to advance fracking waste reuse for the third year in a row at the legislature.

• We ensured that our victory for 100% renewable replacement power for the closure of the San Juan coal plant included 450 MW of located IN the impacted community in order to facilitate a JUST transition and provide replacement tax revenue and economic benefit for the Consolidated School District in San Juan County.

• We won an historic victory before the Water Quality Control Commission after years of organizing, and legal advocacy, to protect our water from discharge and reuse of toxic fracking waste. We won, and then when Oil & Gas and the Governor’s Office subverted the system to try once more, we won again. 

In Kevin Young's Abolishing Fossil Fuels: Lessons from Movements that Won, the author reviews historic fights for justice and makes the case that electoral politics is not the answer to change. Instead change comes from targeting the enablers. The banks, financiers and insurers of fossil fuels, and the legal rulings and regulators that allow fossil fueled destruction to continue. Boycotts, strikes, mass disruption and legal action can force one sector of the ruling class to confront the other, forcing change where politicians lack the will do do so. 

So now, as we confront the looming threats to New Mexico - the private equity investors eyeing control of our utilities and development of massive fossil fueled, water-guzzling data centers to fuel AI, we must take these lessons to heart. This moment—our 20th anniversary and our move to a new home—marks both celebration and call to action. The fights ahead are bigger than anything we have faced before, and we will need all New Mexicans to confront this pivotal moment with courage.

We are mobilizing our resources to oppose the corporate behemoths that want to exploit New Mexico. In 2026 we will:

• Oppose NMOGA's appeal of the WQCC rule prohibiting fracking waste discharge at the Supreme Court.

• Continue fighting BCP’s plan to buy New Mexico Gas Company behind a wall of secrecy.

• Demand that OCD prohibit PFAS from all oil and gas downhole operations.

• Build statewide opposition to Blackstone’s multibillion-dollar play for New Mexico’s energy future

• Oppose the development of hyperscale data center projects like Project Jupiter and the loophole that allows them to ignore New Mexico's Renewable Portfolio Standard; and

• Target the social license of the oil and gas industry in New Mexico and the businesses that support them.

This is a historic inflection point for New Mexico’s energy future. Together, we must ensure that our economy, our utilities, our water, land, and resources serve the people of New Mexico, not wealthy private equity investors.