Martin Heinrich: “I think the Senator has hit the nail on the head when he said that those among us with the least economic means often…”

“I think the Senator has hit the nail on the head when he said that those among us with the least economic means often bear the highest cost. That is certainly true in New Mexico. We have enormous economic challenges. We have communities where people cannot afford to get up and move because the climate situation changed. We have literally cities where wells are dry and there is no water. Reservoirs run dry, and there is no water. Las Vegas has come within--Las Vegas and New Mexico has come within a month or two, several times now, of their reservoir literally going dry. A town such as Magdalena, NM. Their well lost water to the town for a number of weeks and they had to come up with a plan for how to deal with that and diversify their water supply again at huge costs to local residents and the State. These are real challenges being borne by people who do not have discretionary income to be throwing at these challenges. We have people who live a very traditional lifestyle, who are living in these forests. When there are wildfires, they are the first to bear the economic brunt of that. We see the impact drought has had. The Senator mentioned fishing off the coast of New Jersey. That is kind of how many of our traditional communities view mule deer and elk and wild game that have always called New Mexico home.…”