I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The Public Regulation Commission (PRC) will likely apportion much of a record $1 million to $1.5 million fine against the Picacho Hills Utility Company directly to owner Stephen Blanco, according to PRC chairman David King.
But King would also like to see former company president — and former PRC chairman — Tony Schaefer fined, he said.
“The bulk of the $1.5 million — maybe all of it — will be on Blanco,” King told The Independent. “We’ll see what commissioners want Tuesday, but (Commissioner) Sandy Jones and me feel strongly about it. Blanco inappropriately moved (company) money around and we’d like to see him pay back the utility. He probably doesn’t have the money, so hopefully it will encourage him to immediately relinquish the company to receivership.”
But King also wants to see if Schaefer, who briefly served as the company’s president—unpaid— between December 2009 and May 2010, and who represented the company before the commission, can be forced to pay some of the fine, he said.
“Schaefer assured us several times the discharge line would be built,” King said, referring to a sewer discharge line the PRC had ordered the utility company to build to the Rio Grande.
“(Blanco) put Shaefer in and he was supervising things (at the utility), they said,” King said. “It looks like that may’ve been a smoke screen. Schaefer couldn’t represent the company because he’s not a utility, but as a managing partner he could come before the Commission. It was probably bogus. But we’re looking into it.”
Blanco fired Schaefer in May, Blanco told The Independent last week.
The commission voted last week to fine the water company and its affiliates between $1 million and $1.53 million for numerous violations of the Public Utility Act and PRC regulations and orders, including the failure to build a sewer discharge line to the Rio Grande, as the utility had been ordered to do by the PRC.
The commission will vote Tuesday on exactly how the fine is to be apportioned between the utility, Blanco and other utility affiliates.
Blanco contends the PRC prevented him from building the discharge line by refusing to approve his requests for water rate hikes sufficient to secure financing for the project. The violations and fines are intended to force him to sell his company and its water rights, he alleged.
The utility’s water rights were appraised at $18 million, Blanco said.
Commissioners voted last week to refer possible perjury and witness intimidation cases against Blanco to the Attorney General’s office, and to ask a state district court judge in Las Cruces to put the utility into receivership and replace Blanco with a court-appointed trustee.
Asked if the PRC would recommend a specific trustee to replace Blanco, King said: “(PRC) staff probably have some names. People can volunteer, but it’s up to the courts. It will probably be an expert on water utilities or similar businesses.”
