HB328 repeals New Mexico’s recently enacted clean transportation fuel standard provisions and bars the Environmental Improvement Board from adopting or keeping in effect any rule that would create such a standard. The bill removes references to transportation-fuel carbon intensity from the Environmental Improvement Act’s definitions and duties sections, and it repeals Section 74-1-18 NMSA 1978, which was enacted in 2024 to authorize the program.
In practical terms, the bill would eliminate the state’s authority to regulate transportation fuels through a carbon-intensity or low-carbon fuel standard framework. It would prevent the Environment Department and Environmental Improvement Board from using that program to set compliance obligations, registration requirements, or related fees tied to transportation fuel carbon intensity. The rest of the Environmental Improvement Act remains intact, including the department’s and board’s authority over air quality, water, waste, radiation, and other environmental health programs.
Impact
HB328 would amend the Environmental Improvement Act to remove statutory references to transportation-fuel carbon intensity and to prohibit future clean transportation fuel standard rules. It also repeals the 2024 law that had established the program, effectively undoing the legal basis for a low-carbon fuel standard in New Mexico. The bill would not alter the department’s broader environmental and consumer protection responsibilities, but it would narrow the agency’s rulemaking authority by excluding this specific climate-related fuel policy.
Sentiment
The available context suggests the bill is straightforwardly deregulatory and aimed at reversing a recent environmental policy change. The bill title, caption, and text indicate clear opposition to the clean fuel standard, and there is no committee transcript or recorded vote history in the provided materials showing negotiated support or amendments. Based on the introduced language alone, the measure appears to reflect a partisan or policy disagreement over whether New Mexico should regulate transportation-fuel emissions through a state standard.
Contention
The main point of contention is the clean transportation fuel standard itself: supporters of the existing program would likely view it as a climate and air-quality tool, while HB328’s sponsors appear to oppose it as an unnecessary or improper regulatory burden. The bill specifically targets the Environmental Improvement Board’s authority to adopt or continue such rules, so the dispute centers on state climate policy, agency rulemaking power, and potential compliance costs for fuel suppliers and related industries. No other contested issues are evident in the text beyond the repeal of the 2024 enactment.