NM Oil and Gas Association president tells conference crowd to oppose Deb Haaland’s bid for governor

The president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association urged attendees of a North Dakota oil conference to oppose former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s Democratic campaign to become New Mexico’s next governor.

Missi Currier, speaking at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota, said the governor’s race is “one of the things that certainly is keeping me up at night.”

“If you guys have any colleagues or friends or people you went to church with, or some guy you went to summer camp with, that can vote in New Mexico, I am begging you to get them to the polls,” Currier said. 

Currier asked the 2,600 people registered for the oil and gas industry conference to urge their friends to vote against Haaland, who led the Interior Department under the Biden administration. 

“She protested at DAPL,” said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council.

The Dakota Access Pipeline, or DAPL, was the subject of extensive demonstrations north of the Standing Rock Reservation in 2016 and 2017. 

“I would like to protest her being governor,” Currier said. “I’m sure she has a good heart, but she does not have a heart for oil and gas. She is threatening over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state, and knowing that she did not want drilling on public lands, she said in a recent interview that she would keep that same mentality when she came into office.”

Currier also criticized New Mexico for not supporting the oil and gas industry more while relying on the tax revenues from the industry that fund a significant portion of the state’s budget. She said the only reason New Mexico officials have been unsuccessful in implementing stricter regulations on the level of Colorado or California is the state’s economy isn’t as diversified. 

“They may not like us operating, but they sure do love to spend the money that we generate,” Currier said. “A lot of that money is good, and a lot of that money does really great things, but in order to have that money to support everyday New Mexicans, production has to keep going.”

In a statement to Source NM, Haaland said she is the “only candidate running for governor who has created energy jobs.” 

“As Secretary of the Interior, the U.S. saw the largest production of oil and gas in its history and simultaneously the largest investment in renewable energy. I have done so while protecting sacred sites and consolidating drilling areas so Americans can continue to enjoy those public lands,” Haaland said. “I understand that oil and gas is a significant driver of revenue and jobs in our state and have said as much. If elected governor, oil and gas will be responsible for cleaning up after themselves and will be good community partners. Protecting our air, land and water does not come at the expense of good paying jobs — we can create more jobs, grow our energy economy and fund our state’s budget.”

Haaland faces Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman in the June 2 primary election and recent polling has shown Haaland leads the contest for the Democratic nomination. Bregman’s campaign platform includes plans to “make oil and gas work for New Mexico’s future” and promises to require the industry to plug orphaned wells and fuel operations with cleaner energy sources.

On environmental issues, he and Haaland have at times diverged. At a recent debate, Haaland argued that data centers, for example, should not be able to supply their own power through natural gas plants, while Bregman argued that “if done right, data centers can provide a benefit to a community and actually accelerate clean energy.”

At the North Dakota conference, Currier did not endorse Bregman by name, but she stressed that she believed opposing Haaland in the primary was critical. 

“If you know anybody that can vote in New Mexico, please encourage them to get to the polls,” Currier said. “I hate to be the bearer of potentially bad news, but we don’t think a Republican will be able to win in our current political climate, especially in a Trump midterm. So, the primary is incredibly important to us.”

Three Republican candidates are running in New Mexico’s June 2 primary; former Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull; former state cabinet secretary turned cannabis CEO Duke Rodriguez; and communications professional Doug Turner.

Currier also expressed support for Project Jupiter, a proposed data center near Las Cruces, and said the data center fight is increasingly becoming relevant for the oil and gas industry but they do not have the bandwidth to lead the charge on it. 

“It is a fantastic job creator. It will bring a lot of opportunity for New Mexico, and so many people in New Mexico absolutely don’t want it,” Currier said. “The data center fight has become our fight because they need our products to help fire those data centers, but at the same time we have so many fights we don’t need to go looking for them.”

Currier said she’s grateful to attend an oil and gas conference in a state without fear of being protested by environmentalists, as opposed to having to bring in the state police and additional security to keep attendees safe when New Mexico’s industry gathers in Santa Fe. 

“We actually encourage all of our attendees to take their name tags off and put them in their bag, because when you’re wandering around Santa Fe, you will be heckled,” Currier said. “The environmentalists know when our meeting is. They love to come and participate in ways that we don’t appreciate, but it is very much a different environment.”