Land Office In The News

5.19.2025 SANTA FE – The “big, beautiful” bill making its way through the United States House of Representatives this week not only would cut federal spending on healthcare on which 40% of New Mexicans rely, but state and federal officials say it also would reduce revenue the state could use to pay for that healthcare itself.

4.17.2025 SANTA FE – New Mexico officials are trying to hang on to their climate goals as they fight President Trump’s energy policies.

3.12.2024 SANTA FE – An executive order banning mineral mining on approximately 2,500 acres of state trust land in the Upper Pecos Watershed will remain in place through 2045 and takes effect immediately, New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard announced on Wednesday.

1.16.2025 SANTA FE – New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard today announced that she has entered into a partnership with the United States Department of Defense and the New Mexico Land Conservancy to protect more than 60,000 acres of state trust land covering portions of Socorro and Torrance counties in the White Sands region known as Chupadera Mesa

12.11.2024 SANTA FE – A 3,400-acre section of the Caja del Rio Plateau near Santa Fe will be protected from mining, new transmission lines or major thoroughfares for the next 20 years.

11.15.2024 SANTA FE – Some of the State Land Office’s renewable projects have had a lot of competition, and this is because land is a finite resource, according to Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard, and companies are vying for the opportunity to develop on state land.

5.26.2024 PERMIAN BASIN — You can smell it before you see it.

3.7.2024 SANTA FE – New Mexico’s State Land Office will withhold lease sales indefinitely on its most promising tracts for oil and natural gas developmentas it seeks approval by the state Legislature to increase royalty rates, Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said Thursday.

2.11.2024 SANTA FE – After a lengthy debate on Saturday, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would result in higher royalty rates on premium oil and gas leases offered by the State Land Office on a 39-28 vote.

12.22.2023 SANTA FE – The New Mexico State Land Office received a record $2.75 billion dollars in revenue and distributed more than $2.71 billion for schools, universities and other grantees this year, officials said.

6.26.2023 SANTA FE – Employees at this state government agency say they feel their work is important and there is no room for “stagnation or redundancy.” They also say what they do is important for beneficiaries in the state

6.20.2023 LAS CRUCES – Six hundred forty acres of land in Doña Ana County owned by the state of New Mexico have been designated as a future solar array field

6.1.2023 SANTA FE – New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard issued an executive order banning new oil and gas leases within a mile of schools or educational institutions.

6.1.2023 SANTA FE – New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard signed an executive order Thursday that bans new oil and gas leases on state trust land within one mile of a school, a step she said would help protect children’s health.

4.25.2023 SANTA FE – New Mexico’s unprecedented revenue surge has led to roaring inflows into the state’s permanent funds, even as year-over-year spending levels have also spiked. Fueled largely by booming oil and natural gas production, the total amount of money in the state’s various investment funds has nearly doubled over the last five years — from $23 billion to nearly $43 billion —and lawmakers have created new funds for early childhood and conservation programs.

6.17.2022 SANTA FE – Renewable energy in New Mexico could triple after the State Land Office completed an auction of public land throughout the state to be used for wind energy production

1.8.2023 ALBUQUERQUE – New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard last month announced that an 80- to 90-unit housing project will receive a lease for land at the interaction of Eubank Boulevard and Central Avenue in Albuquerque.

12.22. 2020 SANTA FE – There are fewer premium tracts available for leasing by oil and gas developers on state trust land in the Permian Basin, and New Mexico land managers say that’s having an effect on revenues generated by monthly lease sales.

12.6.2020 Not all traditions have to go by the wayside in 2020.

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