The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club hosted a virtual public briefing to highlight how the Energy Transition Act has shaped New Mexico.
Signed into law in 2019, The Energy Transition Act set statewide renewable energy goals, established protections for customers in order to reduce cost and ensured financial assistance for areas affected by the closure of coal plants. The ETA sets a statewide renewable energy standard of 50 percent by 2030 for New Mexico investor-owned utilities and rural electric cooperatives.
Camilla Feibelman, the director of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter, spoke about the importance of each individual component of the act.
“To our minds, The Energy Transition Act was a braid,” Feibelman said. “And it had three strands, the renewables parts, the reduced rates, and the recovery money, all braided together with the hope of real climate solutions, fast climate solutions for our state, community solutions and economic solutions. Without any one part of those braids, no other part of the bill would have been as strong as it otherwise would. So, a year, almost two years later, we're really seeing the effects of this legislation.”
One example of The Energy Transition Act at work is illustrated through the aid that will go out to the community surrounding Northern New Mexico’s San Juan Generating Station. The coal plant, which was originally slated to operate through 2053, is scheduled to close in 2022.
Feibelman says The Energy Transition Act will help to financially protect both workers and other community members who will be impacted by the closure.
“Once the bonds for refinancing the investment in the San Juan Generating Station are issued, that will come with $20 million of community recovery money,” Feibelman said. “It comes with another $20 million of severance, and retraining money. It comes with registered apprenticeships for all new energy in New Mexico, meaning that people can become certified journeyman in the future to work on solar, etc. And it means a $1.1 billion investment of 100% renewable and battery storage in the Four Corners.”
According to Stephanie Dzur, an attorney for the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, the act also helped to improve the type of energy used to replace coal.
“The ETA gave the commission the authority to reject utility's replacement resources, and select alternative replacement resources. Prior to the ETA, The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission could grant or withhold resource approval,” Dzur said.
Ultimately, Feibelman underscored the necessity for The Energy Transition Act, saying it’s been essential to addressing the climate crisis while still being fair to communities that have relied on coal.
“Here in New Mexico, the intractable drought and forest fires that we see on a regular basis I think are big motivators for all of us,” Feibelman said. “And the fossil fuel air quality issues that come along with the production of global warming gases impact the local communities in ways that we've seen connected even to COVID, that if you live in areas with bad air, you're also more likely to suffer the worst effects of COVID. So, we have to think in a really integrated way, and The Energy Transition Act was one of my first experiences with a really integrated approach to trying to address the climate crisis while also trying to be fair to the communities that bore the brunt of the pollution, but also we're going to bear the brunt of the economic impacts.”
