Flynn stepping down as oil association head
No reason given for resignation from industry association
Ryan Flynn will resign as head of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association when the Legislative session wraps up Saturday, finishing his five-year tenure after being ensnared in recent political turmoil with the head of the state Republican Party.
Flynn gave no reason for leaving other than it’s time to move on. He has no immediate job or career plans, he said, although he feels drawn to the private sector.
“I just think it’s time to leave, to move on to other things,” said Flynn. “When I took this job, it was not with an eye of staying here for the rest of my life. I’m going to focus on transitioning.”
The association’s website describes it as a coalition with 1,000 members who work with elected officials, industry experts and the public to advocate for responsible oil and natural gas policies.
The group gives a voice to this industry as it works to increase public awareness of what it contributes to the state, the website said. New Mexico’s yearly oil and natural gas production are third and ninth in the nation, respectively.
There has been speculation that Flynn, the state’s Environment Department secretary in former Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration, might venture into politics, but he said he wanted to dispel that notion.
Flynn said he is an independent with no allegiance to the Democratic or Republican parties, which is why the nonpartisan association was a good fit.
“I can say unequivocally that I have zero interest in running for public office,” Flynn said. “I admire people who are willing to put their name on the ballot, but I don’t plan to have any role in politics whatsoever.”
Flynn said his forte is business, and that his background in energy and the environment probably will
guide his next move.
Flynn drew criticism from conservation watchdogs when he left the Martinez administration to become CEO of the association. Critics called it an ethical breach for him to use knowledge, connections and clout gained from the high-ranking regulatory post to benefit an industry group.
At the time, Flynn denounced the accusations, calling them baseless mud-slinging and character assaults.
Last year, he came under attack from state Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce for praising then-U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small for speaking against a proposed ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Pearce condemned what he saw as Flynn endorsing a Democratic candidate in a heated congressional race against Republican contender Yvette Herrell. Such an endorsement violated the association’s political neutrality, Pearce argued.
A dozen small oil and gas companies called for Flynn to resign. And Pearce wrote a scathing opinion piece in The New Mexican that accused Flynn of painting a false, rosy picture of the industry’s recovery, picking political sides and outright lying.
“We would suggest that the association consider putting an honest person in its leadership rather than one who spreads misinformation and who puts personal political preferences ahead of the interests of the oil and gas industry and the workers it supports,” Pearce wrote.
A spokesman for Pearce said he wasn’t available to comment Tuesday.
Flynn, who remained mostly quiet during the uproar, said he also publicly praised Herrell as an industry champion.
He said he stands by his accolades for Torres Small.
“She’s exactly the type of leader that I professionally and personally respect,” Flynn said. And the attacks he received? “They’re entitled to their criticisms, and I’m entitled not to care one way or another about what they said,” Flynn said.
The association’s approach to promoting the industry is in sharp contrast to the more bellicose style of the nonprofit Power the Future, which sees its mission as protecting energy workers against overzealous activists and politicians.
The differences were clear in the statements issued in response to Deb Haaland becoming interior secretary. The association said it welcomed the chance to work with her on oil and gas issues, while the other group lambasted Haaland as embracing radical policies that will hurt the industry and working families.
Larry Behrens, Power the Future’s Western states director, said his group and the association share the same basic purpose but sometimes have divergent opinions.
“I think he [Flynn] represented that organization like it wanted to be represented,” Behrens said.
Flynn said the only way to really combat climate change and use energy resources responsibly is to move past the endless political wrangling that nullifies progress. Right now, one party enacts policies that the other party later undoes, and the cycle repeats, he said.
That’s why he plans to pursue work outside the political realm, he said. Still, he thinks it’s possible for political leaders to work together to find solutions.
“This is a tough time,” Flynn said. “We’re in desperate need of people who can solve problems.”