Morning Word: Balderas Opposes Solar Fees

R

ain or shine, solar-powered energy is booming in New Mexico. As the industry grows, it faces tough challenges. Now, it looks like they may have the state's top consumer protection agency on their side. That, plus fresh water in Lea County could be harder to conserve if a potash mining company starts using up billions of gallons.

It's Thursday, April 16, 2015

A proposal by PNM to have solar system owners pay the investor-owned utility a fee to support its electrical grid has hit another roadblock. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas says he wants the Public Regulation Commission to “investigate the impact of distributed generation on the utility system in New Mexico, including a full examination of its associated costs and benefits.”

Read it at the Albuquerque Journal.  Meanwhile, people who wanted Gov. Susana Martinez to extend the state’s solar tax credit want to know why she pocket-vetoed the measure. Read more at New Mexico Political Report.  Officials with the Department of Homeland Security say rumors that ISIS terrorists are building a camp adjacent to the New Mexico border with Mexico are not true. See it at KOB.com.  If you’re still concerned about the dwindling number of police officers in your community, you might consider what some folks in Albuquerque are doing: hiring private security patrols. See it at KRQE.com.  Yesterday, we wrote about Equal Pay Day and the absolute necessity to close the gender pay gap. Getting laws on the books could take awhile, but students at the University of New Mexico are taking some long-overdue steps to make language in their constitution gender-neutral.

Read more at the Daily Lobo.  On the same day that President Barack Obama announced he was removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terror, there are more calls from New Mexico’s congressional delegation and governor to request the extradition of a New Mexico fugitive living on the island.

Gov. Susana Martinez spent part of Wednesday in Mexico celebrating the opening of a highway bypass project that officials hope will boost trade throughout the border region. In February, Martinez announced that 2014 was a record-breaking year of export growth in New Mexico. That included exports to Mexico, which reached an all-time high of $1.5 billion. Read it at the Las Cruces Sun-News. New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow, a conservation political action committee in Las Cruces, spent $54,000 in their failed effort to recall three city councilors. Diana Alba Soular reviewed the campaign finance reports.  A plan by a potash mining company to use more than 3 billion gallons of water has upset officials in Lea County, who say the large amount of water "could jeopardize access to clean water for residents who already are being urged to conserve.”

More at the Santa Fe New Mexican. Tensions are rising between officials in Rio Rancho and Sandoval County, as some in the state’s fastest-growing city consider forming their own county. More at the Albuquerque Journal.  As Eldorado High School quarterback Zach Gentry prepares to graduate next month and head off to play football in Michigan later this summer, he’s learning competition to land the starting job will be stiff.

James Yodice has the story. 

Santa Fe Reporter