“We sure could use a little good news today,” speculated former Governor Garrey Carruthers during Thursday’s Carlsbad Energy Summit, who then gave us some. “There is no foreseeable substitute for oil and gas products for this economy or for the world economy for decades to come.”
Carruthers then listed improvements to technology that were making oil and gas drilling more cost efficient and environmentally friendly. He concludes by mentioning a popular bumper sticker seen in the Southeastern part of the state that reads “Oh God, give me one more boom and the good sense not to screw it up.”
Billy Munn, Director of Investments with Mack Energy Corporation reminded everyone to focus on the basics.
“It’s not about pessimism or optimism,” Munn said. “The question is, what does it cost to extract it?”
Rick Cannon, with XTO Energy, and Babatunde Cole, with Occidental, talked about their respective companies’ long-term commitments to our area and highlighted their important innovations to reduce carbon emissions.
Tim Parker with the New Mexico Department of Transportation reminded us that U.S 285, from mile marker 0 to 22, is fully funded and construction is ongoing, as is the design-build for NM 31/128. Eddy County Manager Allen Davis discussed the county’s efforts for adding loops around the southeast and southwest parts of town.
The energy summit was filmed Thursday and broadcast live from the Pecos River Carousel House. In addition to learning about the oil and gas industry, we also learned a little bit about the challenges of live television. We look forward to meeting in person again next year, but we felt our 2020 Virtual Energy Summit was positive and informative. You can watch the entire summit here: https://carlsbadfoundation.org/summit/
Thanks again to everyone who made this event possible, especially our excellent speakers and presenters, including the Boy Scouts, David Prell and Voncile King, Master of Ceremonies and Committee Chair Danny Fletcher, our Energy Summit Committee, Red Rocket, the City of Carlsbad’s employees, the Carlsbad Community Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce.
The Carlsbad Department of Development has added the information for small businesses to apply for CARES Act funding to its web page at https://www.developcarlsbad.org/news-and-media/covid-19-resources. There’s a page with a Grant Instruction Sheet and Application (posted Monday) for businesses within city limits and additionally a page with the same information for Eddy County businesses outside of city limits. Please let the CDOD know if you have any questions about this process. The application process begins on Monday and ends on Oct. 16.
Congratulations again to Big O Tires on their recent opening in Carlsbad at 4212 National Parks Highway. Our Big O here is owned by Terri and Tim Hollander as well as Tori and Dylan Detaranto. They also own stores in Roswell, Ruidoso and Alamogordo. They tell us that they are doing a soft opening now and plan a ribbon cutting down the road.
There were no significant changes announced by Governor Lujan Grisham during her press conference on Thursday, though the state did indicate an uptick in positive cases since Labor Day. Carlsbad also received one mention for reportedly not utilizing the Department of Health’s clinic for free COVID-19 testing services enough. If you wish to be tested there, register at https://cvtestreg.nmhealth.org/ to receive a code. You can then drive up to the DOH Clinic in Carlsbad at 1306 W. Stevens. Testing hours are updated from time to time, so you may want to call in advance at 885-4191 or check online.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway