New Mexico’s Constitution Has Strong Environmental Protections that Need to be Enforced
NM LAWS (New Mexico Land, Air, Water and the Sacred) is a group of Indigenous, frontline, youth and environmental organizations and community members taking bold and unprecedented legal action to demand that the state of New Mexico live up to its constitutional duty to control pollution, protect the fundamental rights of New Mexicans and guarantee equal protection under the law. In May of 2023 we filed a landmark constitutional case against the state of New Mexico for its failure to control skyrocketing oil and gas pollution.
The NM LAWS lawsuit seeks to enforce the New Mexico Constitution’s 1971 pollution control clause (Article XX, Section 21), which mandates that the state control pollution, prevent the despoilment of New Mexico’s air, water and other natural resources, and protect the state’s beautiful and healthful environment. The pollution control clause was adopted by New Mexico voters in 1971 but has never been enforced. In fact, since then, the state of New Mexico has exempted the oil and gas industry from major environmental statutes and has failed to pass and enforce laws that would control oil and gas pollution. Meanwhile, oil extraction in New Mexico has doubled in recent years, leading to a surge of devastating air, water and climate pollution in the Greater Chaco and Greater Permian regions.
Rather than seeking another environmental amendment in our constitution, we need the state of New Mexico to live up to its existing constitutional duty to control pollution and protect individuals’ fundamental rights. The NM LAWS case is asking the court to do just that – please join us in holding the state accountable. We are living in a time of climate emergency, in which frontline communities in New Mexico’s Greater Chaco and Permian regions are exposed to massive amounts of dangerous pollution from oil and gas production that harms public health, Indigenous sacred places and worsens the climate crisis. Now is the time for decisive action. Instead of trying to modify our state’s constitution to include a green amendment that itself would have to be enforced – a process that could take decades – we are demanding that our state enforce the already strong constitutional protections we have.
Join us!