Each year at the end of December, The Associated Press puts out a list of the top 10 news stories of the year. The No. 1 story for 2010 was the BP deepwater oil well explosion and subsequent spill into the Gulf of Mexico.

Each time I hear a politician talk about the need to reduce regulations and environmental protections to, in the words of Gov. Susana Martinez in her State of the State address, "become more business-friendly," my mind flashes back to the image of oil gushing into the Gulf for weeks on end.

The reason - or, at least, one of the reasons - for that spill was not that we didn't have strong enough regulations. It's that the people charged with enforcing those regulations were in bed with the industry they were regulating - literally, in the case of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.

You can write all the laws you want, but it makes no difference if the cops are intentionally turning a blind eye.

Martinez, who received heavy financial backing during the campaign from the oil and gas industry, has filled regulatory positions with those favorable toward the industry - which is her right. During Bill Richardson's term, those same positions were filled with people sympathetic to environmental concerns. The pendulum swings.

But it's probably no surprise that the first real dust-up of the 2011 legislative session concerned oil and gas drilling. It happened Monday during a meeting of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee when

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Republicans walked out on a presentation by two witnesses - one a former Exxon production manager and the other an architecture and planning professor - who argued that drilling activity in the state is more closely tied to oil and gas prices than state regulations.

Rep. Donald Bratton, R-Hobbs, described by The Associated Press as an engineer who works in the oil and gas industry, led the walkout.

The real fight will come when Republicans attempt to repeal the so-called pit rule, which mandates that pits used to store drilling waste have a specific type of liner and a state permit. Supporters claim the rule is necessary to protect groundwater.

Opponents say it has resulted in drillers going elsewhere. Which may be true, but the oil and gas isn't going anywhere. And eventually prices will climb to the point where it is worth the cost of complying with those regulations.

Oil industry advocates argue that new technology allows them to drill with far less impact and damage than in the past. What they neglect to tell you is that such techniques are more expensive. The cheapest way is to cut corners, take chances, hope for the best and beat a hasty retreat if something goes wrong.

While the vast majority of producers in New Mexico are upstanding, responsible companies who contribute greatly to the wealth of our state and want to be good neighbors, it only takes one bad apple to cause immense damage.

And the only ones to prevent that are the government regulators, who are now taking their orders from Gov. Martinez.

Walter Rubel has been a newsman for more than 25 years and is managing editor of the Sun-News.