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 electrical utility PNM and other parties signed the Public Regulation Commission’s $72 million rate hike that passed the committee on July 28, accepting less than what they had originally asked for.
The Public Regulation Commission approved a 9.1 percent rate hike for the Public Service Company of New Mexico Thursday, slightly less than what the utility asked for.
The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the environmental group New Energy Economy, allowing it to participate in future meetings with the Environmental Impact Board over greenhouse gas regulations for public utilities.
New Mexico’s oil and gas utilities have filed petitions with the state’s Environmental Impact Board, seeking to overturn rules establishing a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
Sharp divisions surfaced on renewable energy and insurance rate regulation between Public Regulation Commission (PRC) candidates at an industry-sponsored candidates’ forum Wednesday, with District 4 Republican candidate Gary Montoya defending the use of coal-burning power plants while his opponent, Democrat Theresa Becenti-Aguilar, advocated more use of solar power.
Former Republican state legislator Ben Hall and former Democratic Doña Ana County commissioner Bill McCamley both want to clean up the powerful and scandal-plagued state Public Regulation Commission. The men, who are fighting over outgoing Commissioner Sandy Jones’s District 5 seat, both told The Independent they want to see increased PRC scrutiny of utility and insurance companies’ rate hikes, and increased accountability at the PRC’s semi-autonomous Division of Insurance. But the candidates differed on how they would achieve those goals.
Just a week after a deadly pipeline blast in California, officials from Mountainair were disappointed to find PRC commissioners reluctant to approve what they had expected to be a routine regulatory waiver.
“There’s this pattern of companies doing something but not doing enough, not taking things seriously enough,” Commissioner Marks said. “It’s not that they don’t care. The problem is that the responses aren’t sufficiently large, given the scale of the dangers.”
In the midst of a fight with New Mexico regulators over a proposed 20 percent electricity rate hike, PNM Resources is also seeking a 10.9 percent rate increase on its customers in Texas.
The company is asking the…
The state Public Regulation Commission (PRC) has scaled down the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM)’s proposed renewable energy procurement portfolio, which depended heavily on traditional photovoltaic solar electric facilities to meet state-mandated renewable energy requirements.
The…
A gas pipeline fire near the intersection of Golf Course Road and Paseo del Norte in Albuquerque Wednesday may have resulted from a short in an adjacent PNM electrical line, state Pipeline Safety Bureau (PSB) investigators suspect —…
The state’s largest provider of electricity wants to raise rates on its half a million customers by 20 percent, saying its costs have risen dramatically. But after state regulators said the company didn’t provide enough information about those rising costs, PNM took its plea to the state Supreme Court.
The state Public Regulation Commission (PRC) declared the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM)’s electric rate hike filing to be incomplete last week, delaying approval at least until June 30, 2011.
The commission’s approval or disapproval of…
The state Public Regulation Commission (PRC) Tuesday voted unanimously to fine the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) $371,000 for a 2008 incident in which the company failed for two months in 2008 to repair a potentially explosive gas leak in Albuquerque, or even to warn the public of the resulting hazard at the busy intersection of Montgomery Blvd. and Carlisle Blvd.
Tonight on the KUNM evening news, The Independent’s Trip Jennings spoke with reporter Sarah Gustavus about how New Mexico regulators are dealing with rate hike requests from health insurance companies and public utilities. In case you missed it you…
PNM filed a request last week for approval of another 21.2 percent hike that would take effect in April 2011. But two PRC commissioners said Tuesday they would not be open to accepting a rate hike settlement before next year. The Commission’s go-slow approach with PNM contrasts with the Insurance Division’s rushed weekend deal with Blue Cross Blue Shield—before public hearings on that company’s request.
The state Environmental Improvement Board can resume its consideration of state regulations to cap greenhouse gas emissions, The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Monday.
PNM officials and gas workers were grilled Monday by Public Regulation Commission (PRC) commissioner Jason Marks and an attorney for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, over a potentially explosive 2008 gas leak at the intersection of Albuquerque’s Montgomery and Carlisle blvds. The leak may not have been the busy intersection’s first, and pipeline maintenance and corrosion monitoring lapses were widespread in Albuquerque, commissioners learned.
Fiesta’s Restaurant owner Dennis Carpenter is angry that he was not warned of the explosive hazard posed by a 2008 natural gas leak next to his Albuquerque cantina.
Carpenter wants PNM to be punished for pipeline safety
Store managers at Carlisle and Montgomery in Albuquerque expressed shock Saturday over news reports that the PNM work crews that had dug up their parking lot in 2008 were responding to a potentially explosive natural gas pipeline leak at the busy intersection. The leak had been allowed to languish without repair for two months, between May and July 2008, The Independent reported Friday.
“One of the (PNM) guys, he said, ‘let’s see if we blow the place up’,” Ray Lueras told The Independent. “I thought he was joking but I remember looking at him because he wasn’t laughing.”
PNM foreman Frank Sanchez discovered a potentially explosive natural gas pipeline leak May 19, 2008 at the busy intersection of Albuquerque’s Montgomery Blvd and Carlisle Blvd., within a city block of two gas stations.
Two months later, the leak had still not been repaired. Nor had PNM alerted state authorities of the hazard, as required by law. During that time, in violation of PNM’s own rules, PNM employees simply left the site unattended.
Under the Pipeline Safety Act and PRC regulations, the company could face up to $500,000 in fines for the violations, but on Monday, nearly two years after the incident, the PRC will review PNM’s proposal to pay just $66,000.
