Bill would shake up energy, natural-resource boards
Santa Fe New Mexican, January 28 2011

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Bill-would-shake-up-energy–natural-resource-boards

A bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Bandy, R-Aztec, would ax the State Game Commission and merge the Department of Game and Fish with the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

House Bill 80 also would “sunset all boards and commissions addressing energy and natural resources issues.”

The bill is one of several proposed by a government restructuring task force in order to streamline government and save the cash-strapped state some money, said Bandy, a rancher.

But several people think putting the Game and Fish Department under another agency is a mistake.

“I would hate to see that happen,” outfitter and former San Miguel County Commissioner Hugh Ley said of the proposed consolidation. “Game and Fish is a free-standing department and they’ve paid their own way, balanced their budget and tightened their belts when they had to. They’ve lived within their means. I would hate to see that lost.”

Jeremy Vesbach, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, is opposite Ley on other issues, but agrees with him on this one.

“We’re not in favor of this bill at all,” Vesbach said. “This takes whatever is a problem with the State Game Commission and makes it worse.”

HB 80 would place all current duties of the Game and Fish Department ­ such as licensing hunters, collecting fees and managing wildlife ­ under a new division within the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. If approved, the newly formed Game and Fish Division would be created in July.

Among other changes, the bill would:

• Terminate the Oil Conservation Commission, the governor-appointed board that approved a controversial oil-waste pit-rule that Gov. Susana Martinez has targeted as “bad for business.”
• Terminate the Youth Conservation Corps Commission by 2017.
• Remove per diem for the 11-member state parks advisory board and terminate it in 2017.
• Remove per diem for the seven-member off-highway vehicle advisory board and terminate it in 2013.
• Terminate the Mining Safety Board in 2017.
• Leave in place a seven-member mining commission but change requirements for who is appointed by the governor. It would require no member to have a direct or indirect financial connection to any coal mining operation.

The governor-appointed State Game Commission meets monthly in different locations around the state to hold public hearings on changes to hunting and fishing rules and other regulations.

Under Bandy’s bill, at least 3 percent of the people in a county affected by a rule would need to petition the Game and Fish Division director to have a public hearing.

Ley and others say the State Game Commission has had its problems.

“But at least I can go and speak my piece, even if they don’t always listen,” said Ley. “I think most hunters and anglers think their dollars are well spent by the agency.”

State game Commissioner Kent Salazar said he thinks consolidating Game and Fish into Energy and Minerals won’t save the state much money.

John Horning, executive director of the Santa Fe-based environmental group WildEarth Guardians, called the proposal “naive.”

“To dismantle the infrastructure would drastically undermine the ability of agencies to work,” said Horning, a former member of the Environmental Improvement Board, a panel that has been attacked by Martinez as too political.

“Commissions are political,” he said. “Some are captive to certain interests and industries. But to throw the baby out with the bathwater, there’s a real risk of crippling government.”

Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, said her group is still reviewing the proposal. She’s usually to the opposite side of Horning on issues and said there’s great frustration with how the game department works sometimes. “But we’re not sure it is time to scrap it completely yet,” she said.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com .