New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fancies her state to be like California. It HAS trended “deep blue” in recent years, but her “Energy Transition Act” is arguably her marquee “progressive”/environmental accomplishment. The law dramatically shifts New Mexico electricity production to so-called “renewables” in the years to come, but more immediately shuts down the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station (owned by PNM) by June of 2022 or next summer.
New Mexico’s law (alongside California’s plan to eliminate electricity from fossil fuels) reflects the “cutting edge” of environmental policy in the US, but California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that the State would be building at least FIVE NEW “temporary” natural gas-fueled electricity generation plants in order to avoid blackouts. The plants will cost $171.5 million each.
As THIS report notes, California had been in the process of shutting down existing natural gas plants including some that had opened in 2009. With New Mexico’s PNM utility saying blackouts and brownouts are imminent upon the shuttering of San Juan Generating Station next June, will Gov. MLG risk blackouts or brownouts just a few months before her reelection?
Oh, and Sen. Martin Heinrich will NOT be happy!
You have to wonder who MLG uses for energy advice. Who ever it is either wants to say what MLG wants to hear or has a financial interest in the renewable energy area. It doesn’t take a lot of research and statistics to prove that shutting down fossil fuel plants, piling on against nuclear, promoting electric vehicles, and hanging your hat on renewabois a wreck waiting to happen.