State takeover of PNM? What’s the point?

One of MANY problems with New Mexico sitting on $75 billion or more in its permanent fund is the fact that these dollars become a collection box for the hopes and dreams of all kinds of left wing social agenda items. We’ve already seen Deb Haaland and House Speaker Javier Martinez discuss using the fund for New Mexico government to create a “public option” for health care.

Now, as the sale of PNM comes before the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) and left-leaning activists push back, there is increasing talk about using the Permanent Fund to purchase PNM outright. The question is “to what end?” The PRC already regulates rates charged by the utility and the Legislature itself has PNM on track to provide 100% “renewable” electricity by 2045. What exactly are left-wing activists trying to achieve with government ownership of PNM?

It would seem that a heavily-regulated utility as is currently the situation with PNM provides the best of both worlds. Investors receive a steady, predictable return on their investments while Blackstone (the proposed buyer) will provide needed capital (at affordable interest rates) for the company to transform its distribution capacity and continue the transition to 100% “renewable” energy.

Yes, Farmington has a public utility and they are not uncommon across the country, but it is hard to see what the expected benefit would be to the political left aside from just the “socialist” urge to have the government own the utility. The $75 billion permanent fund should be used for something that truly benefits economic growth and diversification, not some ideological fever dream of government ownership of the means of production. In other words, we agree with Gov. Lujan Grisham on this one.