Enchantment State News

COVID-19 or not, the president of the Rio Grande Foundation wants to make it clear that plastic bags should not be banned and that decisions involving them should be left up to stores to create their own policies.

After a piece in The New York Times delved into the world of plastic bag vs. reusable bags and how plastic bag bans have been stalled during COVID-19, Rio Grande Foundation President Paul Gessing said the new agency missed the chance to have a great discussion about plastic bags vs. reusable ones.

"The NY Times could have had a genuine discussion about the pluses and minuses of plastic bags and other policies that could impact the spread of disease (not just COVID-19) through the use of 'reusable' bags," Gessing said in an email interview with Enchantment State News. "I think it is a fascinating discussion and you may have seen that San Francisco just banned the use of reusable bags. .... We believe that stores should be allowed to make their own policies."

Gessing and the foundation recently scored a win with both the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County temporarily lifted their bans on plastic reusable bags. 

In The New York Times article, author Hiroko Tabuchi called the foundation a libertarian group and accused the foundation of receiving "dark money."

"Over 80% of the Rio Grande Foundation's annual revenue comes from individual donors," Gessing said.

Gessing said a great portion of the foundation's revenue comes from small and medium donors.

"Every-day, hard-working, thoughtful and freedom-loving New Mexicans support the work of the Foundation," Gessing said. "Bankers, and farmers, and software engineers, and real estate agents..."

Gessing said there are so many different walks of life represented in the donors for the group.

"As a 501c3 non-profit our donors are inherently considered private information per the IRS rules," Gessing said. "I don't know if that makes us 100% 'dark' money because I don't really use the term but our policy is not to disclose our donors without their permission."

Gessing said oil and gas support 40% of New Mexico's budget.

"My organization has been one of the leading groups pushing for economic diversification, but until we actually reform our economy to create those alternatives we are going to ride the oil and gas markets....obviously that dependence is going to be a problem in the near future," Gessing said.