PNM is getting pilloried in the The Santa Fe New Mexican, and for great reason, but theres one big misconception that needs to get cleared up. As Mariel Nanasi explained yesterday in her JourneySantaFe talk, Councilor Peter N Ives municipal utility plan would not in any way require Santa Fe to unplug from PNMs grid. It would simply create a placeholder entity with a name like Santa Fe Public Power, which could then be used to finance (i.e. issuing bonds) and develop publicly owned clean energy projects within the city, and otherwise try to catalyze and spearhead a broader local and regional shift to clean power. Its a good, sensible first step with no upfront cost that can open the door to the full spectrum of opportunities for clean energy development! But alas, there will be no radical break away from PNM through this plan. Letters to the editor, Dec. 30, 2014 For clean energy I am confused as to why Councilor Patti Bushee conspired with Public Service Company of New Mexico (“Bushee nixes PNM language from energy resolution,” Dec. 23) to undermine the new Climate Action Task Force. I am in favor of cutting all ties with a privately held, for-profit utility that wants to increase the use of coal to power our city. There is no such thing as “clean coal.” We all should support the mayor’s clean energy goals. City Councilor Peter Ives’ plan that Santa Fe “unplug” from PNM’s grid and create its own municipal power system, with a greater reliance on renewable energy, is the type of progressive thinking of which Santa Fe is proud. A city-owned electric utility creates jobs, adds value and allows energy security. Bushee owes us an explanation of her collusion. Her explanation that she is “reaching across the aisle” is a feeble gloss when, in fact, a reading of emails on the subject released by ProgressNow New Mexico show a deeper, more clandestine relationship with PNM. Steve Schwartz Santa Fe PNM’s bad humor I enjoyed Public Service Company of New Mexico’s humorous, full-page, self-promoting, tax-deductible satire in Nov. 23 edition of The Santa Fe New Mexican. Notable is PNM’s commitment to “zero-emission” nuclear energy for decades to come. Surely the residents of Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island would join in praising a poison that has toxicity for millennia. Kudos to PNM for continued use of dirty coal that pollutes the atmosphere and millions of gallons of water. The propaganda advertisement gives negligible lip-service to solar and wind. Our state offers inexhaustible, potentially profitable and inexpensive renewable energies. Yet PNM produces only 6.7 percent renewables in 2014 compared to 13 percent in the United States and 27 percent in cloudy Germany. Hopefully, cities like Santa Fe will imitate Boulder, Colo., and soon own their own power-generation grids. Despite slick ads, PNM continues to protect profits while portraying a superficial, politically correct policy on saving our beloved planet from climate disaster. The Public Regulation Commission needs to be our protector, not a patsy. Gary Reynolds Santa Fe
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 07:36:43 +0000
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