Nick Seibel, publisher and editor of the Silver City Daily Press, covers top stories each week on the Silver City Report. This week we hear about an energy pipeline, candidate forums and the governor giving WNMU’s commencement. This is a transcript of the conversation.
Susan Morée:
There was a meeting in Grant County about a pipeline. Talk about it.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, Energy Transfer is the name of the company that wants to build the Desert Southwest Transwestern Pipeline Expansion, which would bring a natural gas pipeline across Texas, southern New Mexico, and into Arizona, and would start outside of Midland, Texas, and basically run across the southern part of the country here connecting those natural gas sources over in Texas and southeastern New Mexico over to mostly power generation stations, what it sounds like, along the route of the pipeline. So, it's a big deal, certainly. There’s going to be some major construction. and they started the process of notifying the public. The big question everyone wants to know, of course, is specifically where the pipeline is going to go, and that's a question that no one could answer yet, even though Energy Transfer has been working on this project for a couple of years now. They're just getting to the point where they're actually getting to specific routes. When they get to that point, they'll have to go through a whole process with the federal government, and there'll be more public notification then. But this is basically letting folks know that the process is beginning and certainly a major infrastructure investment in this part of the state.
Susan Morée:
And Silver City Daily Press is going to hold some candidate forums. Talk about that.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, we had our first one last night, as we always do in advance of elections. So, in Grant County, this primary election cycle, we have two contested races. They're both in the Democratic primary and they're both for Grant County Commission. Grant County Commission District 1, there are actually five candidates in the Democratic primary. And we heard from them last night at the Bessie Forward Global Resource Center Auditorium on the campus of Western New Mexico University. You can find a recording of that forum on our Facebook page. And then the second of the two forums will be tomorrow night on Thursday night. Also at the Global Resource Center Auditorium, that'll be candidates for Grant County Commission in District 2. And if you want to watch that forum online live, you can go to dailypressforums.com. Again, that begins at 6 p.m. Thursday. If you miss watching the live stream, you can also catch that one on our Facebook page after the forum concludes.
Susan Morée:
And you've got some good news for us about Western New Mexico University's commencement. Tell us about that.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, it's been a rough few years for Western New Mexico University, from the departure of the former president to the resignation of the Board of Regents at the request of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. So, the governor is now coming to town for a different reason. She's going to be the keynote speaker at Western's commencement ceremony next Friday, May 8th. And so, kind of a big deal to have the governor be the graduation speaker at the university. The new university president will be on campus for that graduation as well. So definitely a big deal for the university and the larger Grant County community.
Susan Morée:
All right. And Nick, tell us where readers can find these stories.
Nick Seibel:
You can find us online 24/7 at SCDailyPress.com.
Susan Morée:
Thanks so much.
Nick Seibel:
Have a great one.
