Roger Fragua, Executive Director, Flower Hill Institute
There are many resources being developed on our lands but our greatest resource is our people. I'm proud of our youths. We should stand behind them because they are our hope and our future.
John Thompson, Engineering & Rig Operations, Walsh Engineering
As a small producer, we don't have a $100,000 camera to detect methane. We do the best we can with what we got. It would be great if an inspector would come by and notify us if we had a leak.
Gabby Petron, Atmospheric Chemist, NOAA and CU
The mountains are there and they'll remain there; the winds will not change. To reduce pollution, the only variable we can control are the emissions.
Bubba Smith, Head Guide at Fisheads, San Juan River
There are ways to be an extractive state and still take care of our lands. There's no left and right, it's got to be a common sense, middle-ground approach.
Daryl Vigil, Water Administrator, Jicarilla Apache Nation
There has been a lack of consultation with tribes. Generally, the federal government drafts policies and presents them to us. Consultation should mean tribal involvement at the ground level working to develop these policies together.
Wayne Warmack, retired from ConocoPhillips
From my experience, it's clear that voluntary measures to address problems were never enough. The oil and gas industry, driven by profit, needed firm but fair regulations to ensure a safer and cleaner environment.
Garrett VeneKlasen, Executive Director, NMWF
CAVU's Unearthed initiative is working with communities – tribal Latino, blue collar, veterans, faith-based – and engaging them on these issues. This initiative by and for our communities is what makes it so powerful: empowering local voices.
Kendra Pinto, Twin Pines, NM
We need to educate ourselves. This is what I tell my community, don't be scared to speak up. You have a right to have a say in what happens here. This is our home.
Mike Eisenfeld, San Juan Citizens Alliance
We need to think about getting away from that moniker – the National Energy Sacrifice Zone – and think about the Four Corners in a more sustainable manner in terms of economic diversification and protecting the things that attract people from all over the world.
Sugar Macnall, Aztec, New Mexico resident
America is being sold the idea that natural gas is clean energy. Sure, it's clean when it comes out of your stove burner, but consider the production – bulldozing, trucking, drilling, upwards of 2 million gallons of water per well.
Don Schreiber, New Mexico rancher
Every rancher I know gives the same level of care to the federal land as he does his own deeded land. Meanwhile, industry is pouring methane into the atmosphere, and into the prevailing winds which carry it and other toxins over to our ranch house.
Camilla Feibelman, Director, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter
Nothing says it better than "water is life." Water is particularly important in New Mexico because it's so scarce, and yet we have an industry that relies so heavily upon this finite natural resource.
Daniel Tso, Navajo Nation allotment landowner
Our work is to capture the methane so that ALL people get a share of the royalties, because where the resources are extracted, where revenue is generated, there is no return.
John Goldstein, Environmental Defense Fund
What they found is, counter to the concerns expressed by the oil and gas industry, smart regulations actually deliver a net positive both in terms of more gas into pipelines and increased revenues to the state of New Mexico.
Marlene Thomas, Community Health Representative, Navajo Nation
In 2013 oil and gas operation expanded in our area. I've noticed an increase in asthma and cancer in families from children to elders. It's really affecting our children.
Chris Velasquez, New Mexico rancher
We're standing on my allotment, I pay taxes on this land. Yet, here is a No Trespassing" sign at the well site. This property does not belong to BP.
Tom Taylor, former Mayor of Farmington, NM
We've lost about 6,500 jobs in oil and gas alone, and those jobs will never come back. Even if we maintained production, they're doing it with about half the workforce. Our difficulty is diversification and maintaining our standard of living.
Samuel Sage, Counselor Chapter Coordinator, Navajo Nation
I took up arms and fought eight years for my country. I never thought I'd come home and have to protect my own land from my government.
Brian Egolf, New Mexico's Speaker of the House
Methan mitigation is a triple win for New Mexico – for our public health, our environment and our state's economy.
Tim Keller, formerly New Mexico State Auditor
New Mexico's tax structure looks like swiss cheese with all the exemptions we've cut out of it for extractive industries. These exemptions amount to about $1 billion annually.
