By Dan West

In a 30 day budget session, it’s easy for lawmakers to focus narrowly on fiscal matters and defer broader policy priorities until next year’s 60-day session.

This year, New Mexico’s leaders chose a different path. They used the limited calendar to advance policies that support energy innovation, improve air quality, address electricity costs, invest in workers, and tackle long-standing environmental challenges.

The result is a legislative session that offers a model for pragmatic, bipartisan climate leadership, not just for other states, but also nationally and globally.

Clean Air Task Force has been engaged in New Mexico because the state sits at the intersection of opportunity and urgency. It is home to world-class scientific institutions and vast energy resources, alongside communities that want and deserve cleaner air and reliable, affordable clean energy.

To leverage those opportunities, the approach is straightforward: reduce harmful climate and air pollution through technology innovation, thoughtful policy design, and practical solutions that can scale.

That’s why we’re encouraged by this session’s focus on implementation, not just ambition. Lawmakers directed $10 million to the geothermal projects development fund, expanding investment in a clean firm energy resource that can complement wind and solar.

Another $10 million was allocated to the grid modernization grant fund, along with additional funding to help workers in extractive industries retrain for non-extractive careers. Together, these investments strengthen grid resilience, support a more diverse energy mix, and help protect communities from outages and extreme weather.

Equitable access to clean energy was also a priority. A $5 million allocation will provide low-interest loans to accelerate adoption of emissions-reducing technologies such as wind, solar, weatherization, and geothermal energy. The program prioritizes underserved and low-income communities and requires applicants to demonstrate tangible benefits, including reduced utility costs or lower emissions.

Beyond infrastructure, lawmakers recognized that technological progress must go hand in hand with workforce and community development. Investments in circular-economy and industrial decarbonization initiatives, along with funding at the University of New Mexico to integrate data on air quality, groundwater, methane, and carbon emissions, reflect a commitment to data-driven decision-making.

Then there is a legacy challenge New Mexico can’t afford to ignore: abandoned oil and gas wells.

This session, the legislature advanced a practical solution through HB 80, a strongly bipartisan bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Murphy (R) and House Energy Committee Vice Chair Debra Sarinana (D) that was supported by a wide range of stakeholders, from the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico to the Sierra Club.

HB 80 restores the original intent of conservation tax proceeds and ensures stable funding for agencies responsible for plugging and remediating abandoned wells. This is more than an administrative fix. Abandoned wells can leak methane, threaten groundwater, and pose safety risks to nearby communities. Dedicated funding reduces harmful emissions, protects public health, and safeguards future generations while also showing that bipartisan cooperation is still possible.

Taken together, these actions reflect a clear understanding of what effective climate policy requires: practical solutions, stable funding, technological innovation, and collaboration across party lines.

New Mexico’s leadership does not stop at its borders. As states, nations, and international partners look for credible examples of how to pragmatically pair climate ambition with economic opportunity, New Mexico is helping set the standard. Its progress this session reinforces the state’s role as a proving ground for solutions that can inform national and international policy and contribute meaningfully to the global effort to transition our energy systems to clean energy.

Dan West is a senior western regional policy manager for the Clean Air Task Force.