Martin Heinrich: “I thank again Senator Heitkamp. I just wish to say how important this is for the State of New Mexico, in part from the…”

“I thank again Senator Heitkamp. I just wish to say how important this is for the State of New Mexico, in part from the perspective that our economy has been incredibly challenged in the last few years. Coming out of the recessions, we have not seen the growth that many of our neighbors have seen. One of the places where we have seen growth has been the solar industry. For the people working in the solar industry today, those are new jobs. Having certainty for our energy sector, which runs the gamut from the oil and gas basins that I talked about, to the incredible growth in solar energy, to the fact that we have a very strong wind component in the State--basically, the eastern side of our State is very much in the same wind-mapping zone as the Panhandle of Texas. This means predictability. It means jobs. It is one of the single biggest economic things that we could have done for the State of New Mexico since I have been in the Senate. I think we have a lot to be proud of. We were also able to extend the Land and Water Conservation Fund, something that has been working for this Nation, across the country, for 50 years. That is very much tied to our leasing of oil and gas offshore. Certainly, my colleague Senator Udall knows that program inside and out. He has been an incredible champion for it. His father made it happen when he was Secretary of the Interior. I conclude my remarks and thank you again for allowing me to engage in this colloquy.…”