Monday, February 15, 2021Presidents' Day Blogging: Immense Budget Surplus Accumulates in Santa Fe As Oil Rebounds, Plus: $2 billion Fed Dollars May Be On Tap, And: Media Beat Sees News Anchor Headed Away And coming out of a White House meeting Friday with President Biden and other government leaders, MLG reported that New Mexico stands to gain $2 billion from Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The package contains $350 billion in aid for local and state governments. The $2 billion would be specific to the coronavirus impact but the Governor did not exaggerate when she called the huge sum "a game changer for us."  TIED IN KNOTS While that $2 billion potential windfall from the Feds is celebrated, New Mexico's Democratic political class is tied in knots over Biden's decision to freeze oil and gas leases on federally-owned oil lands in NM and elsewhere. Insider DC publication E&E goes heavy on the NM angle: Democrats. . .are torn between wanting to support their new president and responding to deep anger and uncertainty back home. . . "It's a double-edged sword," said Joe Monahan, a local blogger and longtime political observer in the state. "The economic ramifications overall to the state budget and state economy loom very large." Oil and gas, he added, is "not a popular industry, but an industry that is treated with cautious respect." At the center of the debate is. . .how quickly the leasing freeze will be felt. . .Critics of Biden's executive order, like GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell, say the effects will be immediate and there is no salve other than a reversal of the policy. Sen. Ben Ray Luján said it's reasonable for Biden to "do a review" of existing leases as long as there is "robust public comment" as final decisions are made, with Sen. Martin Heinrich saying he opposes a "complete ban or moratorium." (MLG) has trod softly, neither condemning nor supporting the executive order. Her reluctance to come down on either side has worried oil and gas interests. . .Her spokeswoman said the governor recognized "the urgent need for federal action to combat climate change" (and) that Lujan Grisham remains "optimistic". . . the state is not "punished for its high concentration of federal lands." MEDIA BEAT KOB-TV anchor Steve Soliz will wrap up a nearly four year stint as a news anchor for KOB-TV at the end of the month, report our media mavens. Details of the departure are light but one of the mavens says Soliz has an interest in working with Hispanic journalistic groups. Soliz came to the station from south Texas and was soon in the middle of a restructuring of the 10 p.m. news which is now labeled "Nightbeat." The new format seemed overly melodramatic for the serious Soliz as well as viewers who were accustomed to a more sober and concise rendering of the day's top events. Of course, if it works in the ratings, all is well. This is the home of New Mexico politics.
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