state in March<\/a> that studying the annexation of parts of New Mexico is a conversation \u201cultimately about culture, opportunity, and the right to choose a path that reflects the shared values of the Permian and Delaware basins.\u201d<\/p>\nHe\u2019s asked the House Government Oversight Committee to analyze what state and federal statutes are needed to initiate the annexation process.<\/p>\n
Practically speaking, gobbling up portions of New Mexico would require approval from both states’ legislatures and likely approval from Congress, according to the attorney general\u2019s office. Precedents include exchanges of small bits of property between states since their boundaries were first set, usually because of shifts in river boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019re saying there\u2019s a chance,\u201d Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway, said after an attorney from the AG\u2019s office explained the ins and outs of taking parts of New Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am. Yes, ma\u2019am,\u201d said Michael Cotton, head of the attorney general\u2019s Special Litigation Division.<\/p>\n
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While Landgraf admitted the discussion, which came at the end of a near 13-hour committee meeting, was largely \u201ctongue in cheek,\u201d he used it to highlight perceived inequities in the Permian Basin on both sides of the border, which bisects the oil-rich region.<\/p>\n
Some New Mexicans view their part of the state as an \u201cextraction colony,\u201d he said, that uses oil fortunes to finance massive parts of that state\u2019s government while seeing little in return. On the Texas side of the Permian, the state has taken all of the chemical-laden produced water from New Mexico\u2019s oil extraction industry for reinjection ever since lawmakers in Santa Fe banned reinjection in their state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s being trucked in, piped in, and reinjected into the Texas side of the Permian Basin, which means that we’re upsetting that balance even more,\u201d he said, noting environmental and seismic concerns.<\/p>\n
Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, said even discussing taking parts of New Mexico would negatively affect relations between the two states. She questioned how the two states could open a dialogue on seriously addressing water concerns when one is acting like \u201cthe bigger bully next door who can take what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnd I’ll note we have seen that same tactic play out with our president and Canada,\u201d she said, \u201cwith us getting unfriendly dynamics coming back to us from the country of Canada because of all of this, these ideas that we’re your bigger neighbor, we can just gobble you up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Texas once claimed large portions of New Mexico, but settled into its current borders in 1850<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sun begins to set behind the Texas Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, in Austin, Texas. For Sunshine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-453185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}