What was originally billed as a “town hall” meeting with Congressman Harry Teague at the Artesia Public Library Wednesday turned into somewhat of a “war of words” between the democratic congressman and local representatives from the oil, gas and electric industries.

While a handful of constituents attended Wednesday’s forum to discuss topics such as social security, health care and local highways, the majority of the discussions centered around one particular topic: the recently passed and highly debated “cap-and-trade bill.”

Friday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also referred to as H.R. 2454, but more commonly called the “cap-and-trade bill,” by a vote of 219-212. In theory, it can be boiled down to the United States government charging fees for the privilege of emitting carbon into the atmosphere.
Teague, an oil man from Hobbs, voted in favor of the bill, which had many of his constituents up in arms.
A group of protesters from Hobbs made the hour-and-a-half trek to Artesia and stood, posters in hand, protesting Teague and what they consider his “sell-out” vote for the cap-and-trade bill.

“The calls came in 10-1 against the bill with Americans saying they were not in favor of it, but they passed it anyway,” said protester Jeanie Coates from Hobbs. “We didn’t send him (Teague) to Washington to ‘think’ for us, we sent him there to act for us and take care of us.”
Coates said Wednesday’s meeting at the library was supposed to be a town hall-type meeting but turned into a series of one-on-one meetings with the congressman’s staff cutting individuals off when they would put Teague on the spot. “This isn’t a town hall meeting now because he doesn’t want to be confronted by citizens and hear what they have to say,” said Shirley Reever, another protester from Hobbs. “This is useless.”

Inside the library temperaments were calmer, on the surface at least, but emotions were running high.
Janis Thomas, a staunch Teague supporter, said she was upset when a man told the Teague staff everyone in the room was there for the same reason. “How dare he try to speak on my behalf,” she told the Daily Press. “I told them I was not there for the same thing and I told him he was not speaking for everyone in the room.”

Her topic of choice, she said, was bamboo. “I want to talk to him about the possible use of bamboo in New Mexico,” she said. “From what I understand, there are a lot of uses for it and New Mexico would be a great place to grow it.”
Artesia City Councilor Nora Sanchez also waited her turn to visit with the congressman so she could express her thoughts on renewable resources. “I want to talk to him about solar paneling and wind turbines and things that we have an abundance of here in New Mexico that we should put to good use,” she said.

While a couple of other individuals spoke to Teague about health care and the portion of U.S. 82 that runs between Artesia and Lovington, discussions continued to revert back to cap-and-trade. “I want to know why they took care of the refineries, like Navajo, but left out natural gas producers,” said City Councilor and Yates Petroleum employee J.B. Smith.

According to Teague, he did vote for the bill, but not before making sure some significant changes were made to “protect New Mexicans in rural areas and small communities.”

The reason they wanted to help refineries, like Navajo, he said, is because of the amount of jobs they produce. And he said the same goes for rural electrical co-ops. “That’s why I fought to add provisions to keep down gas prices in rural areas, to hold onto refining jobs in smaller communities and to protect the 170,000 rural electric customers in my district,” he said.

In concluding, Teague asked his constituents to give him three or four months to “see what happens.” In the meantime, however, the protestors from Hobbs are urging everyone to wear black ribbons to show their opposition to the cap-and-trade bill.

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