With New Mexico facing statewide drought, governor urges communities to limit water use - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
After a warm, dry winter led to New Mexico’s earliest snow melt-off in years, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is raising the alarm about the desiccation of the state.
The governor issued an executive order Wednesday warning of a dangerous wildfire season, while also urging communities around the state to implement water-use restrictions and fireworks bans.
Under state law, the governor does not have the authority to unilaterally issue a statewide ban on firework sales or usage.
New Mexico experienced 366 recorded wildfires during the first four months of this year, the Governor’s Office said. That’s roughly twice the number of fires from the same time period a year ago.
Drought info
With the state facing dry, warm conditions, New Mexico has launched a new drought information portal.
You can find the portal at: www.drought.nm.gov
The elevated wildfire risk has already prompted the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in northern New Mexico to postpone its planned reopening for a week.
State Forester Laura McCarthy said state officials have been responding to new wildfires daily, even after a ban on campfires, smoking and other types of outdoor burning on public lands was implemented last month.
“Everyone should take drought conditions seriously and refrain from campfires and open burning,” McCarthy said in a statement.
As of this week, more than 94% of New Mexico was facing drought conditions, with about 17.6% of the state — especially in the northeast and Four Corners region — in extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Those figures are up from the start of this year, when about 71.4% of the state was classified as being in a drought.
Brian Guyer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said the drought conditions will likely worsen when new reports are issued Thursday.
But he said there could be relief coming, as New Mexico may be in store for a wetter-than-normal monsoon season this summer.
Such precipitation could help put an end to the annual fire season, but would not totally alleviate the state’s drought conditions, Guyer said.
That’s because snowmelt is crucial to filling the state’s rivers and reservoirs, and the state’s snowpack levels during March and April were the lowest in recent state history.
“We had the warmest winter on record for New Mexico,” said Guyer, who added the winter was also the 16th-driest on record.
The increase in wildfires and floods around New Mexico has come with an elevated price tag, as Lujan Grisham has already authorized $137 million in emergency spending during the current fiscal year — much of it on wildfire and flood response efforts.
The spike in emergency spending has caught the attention of lawmakers and prompted a tug-of-war of sorts between the legislative and executive branches. After this year’s 30-day session, Lujan Grisham vetoed a measure that would have imposed a cap on such spending without legislative approval.
Attendees commandeer New Mexico Tech town hall to oppose proposed Socorro data center, solar array - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Tech President Michael Jackson took the stage in the university’s Macey Center auditorium Tuesday night to kick off a town hall meeting regarding a controversial proposal to partner with a Canadian company to build a data center and massive solar array on 10,000 acres of nearby land in Socorro. The stage had three empty seats, intended for Green Data executives who had planned to give a presentation on their ambitious plans.
Those seats remained empty for nearly four hours as a chorus of opposed residents took control of the meeting.
While many of them lined up behind microphones to protest the project, those who remained seated in the auditorium — wearing shirts and hoisting signs with slogans like, “data centers are not green energy,” “big data big lie” and “NMT = No More Transparency” — repeatedly heckled Jackson and Green Data leaders and shot down any attempts to put the company’s presentation on the overheard projector.
Area residents first learned of the data center proposal in March, when Green Data CEO Jason Bak spoke before the Socorro Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees about his plan to build the data center and solar array in collaboration with the local university.
Since then, dozens of residents have spoken out against the project as a potential strain on water resources and a blight on Socorro County’s sweeping Southwestern vistas. Last week, county officials unanimously approved the first step in considering a data center moratorium.
“What’s bad for the environment is bad for human intelligence,” said Forrie J. Smith, a rancher in nearby San Acacia and actor in the television show “Yellowstone,” who set the evening’s tone as the first resident to approach the microphone. He called on other opposed residents to show up and protest the proposal at the next New Mexico Tech Board of Regents meeting.
Residents asked Jackson why they didn’t learn about the project until March when documents obtained under the state’s public records law show Bak and university leaders signed a letter of intent in January. And they told Bak that they did not want developments that could deplete their already-strained water resources, disrupt the electric grid or taint the desert landscape.
Bak told the room that he understood their concerns.
“I understand where you’re coming from. There’s a sign there that says, ‘Big data big lie’ — you’re not wrong,” he said. “I think big data has been bad [at] interfacing with communities in many different ways. I think we got off on the back foot because of the reputation of the industry.”
He told attendees the project could be the largest “renewable-led” data center in the world, using solar power and supplying the “vast majority” of its own water through technology called atmospheric water generation, which aims to pull moisture from the air and convert it into usable water.
Residents in attendance scoffed.
“You cannot replant the desert. It’s not an ecosystem that works like that. Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Cari Powell, a Democrat running for the Socorro County Commission, told Bak.
One resident, Jim Ruff, approached the microphone to tell Jackson he was disappointed in university officials for entertaining the proposal.
“People should not be talking to this man,” Ruff said, adding that he researched Bak’s ventures and couldn’t find evidence of him building a data center before. “All he is is a real estate agent, and a failed one at that. You people are making fools of yourselves even talking to him.”
After the town hall, Bak confirmed to Source NM that he has never built a data center. He said other Green Data executives have built numerous data centers across the nation and added that he designed one that was never constructed.
He said that shouldn’t faze residents, though.
“A lot of Silicon Valley founders and people that are on the edge…you learn it by doing,” he told Source NM. “Elon Musk didn’t have experience in building rockets — he went out and did it.”
Throughout the contentious town hall, Bak and Jackson, the university president, repeatedly stressed to the audience that the proposal remains in its infancy.
Jackson has previously said publicly that he is “somewhat indifferent” as to whether the university moves forward in partnership with Green Data. After Tuesday’s town hall, he told Source NM that he wanted to get the community’s feedback as early as possible.
Despite the hours of opposition, he said he wasn’t ready to dismiss it outright.
Jackson said he is setting up a meeting to inspect Bak’s atmospheric water generator and doesn’t yet know if it can truly operate at the scale a large data center would require.
“Here’s an opportunity where a company is interested in doing something that maybe can go ahead and bring some benefit to New Mexico Tech, to the City of Socorro, to the County of Socorro,” Jackson said. “And the question is: Have I done my due diligence, rather than just saying ‘No’ at the outset?”
PRC examiners recommend sale of New Mexico Gas Co. to Louisiana private equity firm - Justin Horwath, Albuquerque Journal
Hearing examiners for the state Public Regulation Commission recommended on Wednesday the $1.25 billion sale of New Mexico’s largest gas utility to a Louisiana private equity firm.
The full three-member commission must still vote on the sale of New Mexico Gas Co. to Bernhard Capital Partners. The hearing examiners’ recommendation encourages them to do so.
“The proposed transaction is, at its core, a change in upstream ownership … rather than a sale of NMGC’s operating utility assets or a merger of NMGC into another utility,” the decision reads.
Executives at Emera — the publicly traded Canadian company that has owned New Mexico Gas Co., or NMGC, since 2016 — announced the sale in August 2024. State regulators have been reviewing the deal since.
As in similar deals, this one offers customers rate credits, low-income assistance and economic development funding. But, like the proposed $11.5 billion sale of TXNM Energy to Blackstone Inc., the deal also has its share of opponents to private equity ownership of public utilities.
In December, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a motion in the case raising concerns about affordability, transparency and accountability risks in the deal.
Torrez’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday regarding the hearing examiners’ recommendation.
In recommending the sale, Elizabeth Hurst and Patrick Schaefer, the hearing examiners on the case, say they have addressed some of those concerns by putting certain conditions on their approval. They say the sale is ultimately in the public interest.
Those conditions include that the applicants commit $12.5 million into a severe weather fund instead of into economic development and charitable causes. NMGC and New Mexico Department of Justice representatives would create a working group for the fund.
Another condition the hearing examiners want requires companies to adjust the benefits flowing from asset management agreements and gas storage contracts that NMGC customers receive, versus what the company receives. Currently, ratepayers receive 70% of the money from those contracts while NMGC receives 30%. The PRC examiners recommend that ratepayers retain 85% of the proceeds from those agreements.
Bernhard and NMGC have committed to maintaining their current employee headcount of 740 over the next three years, while adding another 20 as part of the deal.
The proposed post-acquisition structure would be layered so that Bernhard’s infrastructure funds would indirectly own NMGC through a series of intermediary companies. Under these vertical layers, Bernhard would not itself own NMGC but would “provide investment management services to the relevant fund entities,” hearing examiners wrote.
The companies said the structure would protect NMGC’s assets from debt incurred by Bernhard or its affiliates. But opponents of the deal say the layers of affiliates, as well as the fact that a private equity firm and not a publicly traded company is behind the purchase, add complexity to the ownership structure at the expense of transparency.
Hearing examiners say that the ring-fencing requirements in the agreement — which include prohibitions on Bernhard affiliates using NMGC assets for nonutility purposes or as collateral for debt — “provide sufficient protection against improper subsidization of non-utility activities.”
Patrick Rodriguez, a PRC spokesperson, said a vote by the full commission has not yet been scheduled. Commissioners will place it on the agenda for a future open meeting, Rodriguez said. In the meantime, parties in the case can object to all or parts of the recommended decision.
In a statement, Bernhard, NMGC and Emera said the transaction will bring “approximately $87 million in benefits to New Mexico Gas customers and to communities across the state, as well as retaining a strong, locally focused utility in New Mexico.”
“Once all required approvals are in place, NMGC, Emera and Bernhard will work diligently to facilitate a seamless transition of ownership,” the statement continued. “NMGC customers will continue to receive service from the same team of employees, with no impact to service as a result of this sale.”
3 dead, 18 first responders hospitalized after substance exposure in Mountainair - Nakayla McLelland, Albuquerque Journal
Three people died and more than a dozen first responders were hospitalized after being exposed to an unidentified substance at a Mountainair home.
New Mexico State Police responded to the house after receiving a report that four people had possibly overdosed, according to a Wednesday news release.
“Four individuals inside the residence were found unresponsive,” police said. “Three of the four individuals are now deceased.”
Two people died at the home in the 300 block of Hanlon Avenue, and a third died at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The condition of the fourth person was unclear.
Police said 18 first responders were exposed to the substance and transported to UNMH. A total of 23 people were exposed, according to UNMH.
Several patients experienced headaches, nausea and vomiting after arriving at the Albuquerque hospital around 10 a.m., according to a news release from Brianna Mortensen, a hospital spokesperson.
UNMH said medical teams continue to monitor three symptomatic patients. Eighteen patients who were decontaminated did not develop symptoms.
“Eighteen other patients who were decontaminated but not showing symptoms have been discharged,” Mortensen said. “One patient is still in the process of being discharged.”
Albuquerque Fire Rescue hazmat teams were assisting at the scene in Mountainair, a rural Torrance County community about 90 minutes southeast of Albuquerque, to identify the substance.
“At this time, investigators believe the substance may be transmitted through contact and do not believe it to be airborne,” State Police said.
Mountainair Mayor Peter Nieto said in a social media statement that the town was taking the situation seriously and that there were indications drugs may have played a role in the deaths.
“Our first responders, law enforcement, medical personnel and local officials work every day to protect this community and respond to difficult situations,” Nieto said. “But the reality is that addiction and substance abuse are issues affecting communities all across our state and nation.”
New Mexico State Police are investigating.
UNM faculty union fights 13% health insurance hike – Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
The faculty union at the University of New Mexico is pushing back against an upcoming 13.1% increase in their monthly health insurance premiums, which they say will burden employees with extra costs.
The union is calling on UNM to reverse course on the rate hikes, citing affordability concerns. The higher premiums will eat into any raises UNM employees will get for the next school year, said Jennifer Jordan, incoming faculty union secretary.
“I have one kid going into college, one kid going into high school, and I'm a single mom, and I pay for their insurance,” said Jordan, an assistant professor and librarian at UNM. “Having less in my paycheck would definitely be a hardship.”
Union leaders say they want the university to cover 80% of their insurance cost, putting them on par with other state employees. UNM currently covers 60% to 80% of employee health insurance premiums depending on salary.
Other state workers get 80% of their health insurance premiums covered by their employers under New Mexico law and are responsible for paying the remaining 20%. The state Legislature voted to include K-12 school employees in the 80/20 split starting next school year, though the new policy does not apply to university employees, faculty union secretary Jessica Goodkind said.
“We really would have liked to have been included in that legislation, but we were not,” said Goodkind, a professor in the sociology department.
UNM spokesperson Ben Cloutier said the university is raising insurance premiums to account for significant nationwide rate hikes.
“These cost challenges affect all UNM employees — faculty and staff alike,” Cloutier said. “We remain in ongoing dialogue with the faculty union and are committed to maintaining a strong benefits package for everyone who works at UNM, while also safeguarding the university’s long-term fiscal health.”
The costs for UNM’s contribution to employee health insurance will also go up 13.1%, an increase of nearly $9 million, university officials said.
The Legislature has allocated a 1% raise for public employees next fiscal year, which Goodkind says is not likely to make up for the money employees will lose on higher insurance premiums. Negotiations between the union and the university for next year’s contract are still ongoing.
According to a union survey, about a third of full-time faculty — 270 employees — will end up earning less next year than they did this year due to the rate hikes, she said.
According to UNM’s benefits calculator, a faculty member earning $90,000 annually pays $319.45 a month for an individual plan under UNM LoboHealth, a BlueCross BlueShield plan that holders can use at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The university would cover the remaining $479.18 monthly cost.
This cost is set to rise to $361.30 monthly for a single person next school year. The university will pay $541.95.
For an adult with children earning $90,000, the price for a UNM LoboHealth plan without dental or vision coverage will rise from $591.63 a month to $669.13.
“I'm going to do better than a lot of people, because I only insure myself,” Goodkind said. “The people that are the worst off are people who insure multiple members of their family.”