Albuquerque Journal – Guest Column
BY GRAHAM BARTLETT / ALBUQUERQUE RESIDENT
Tuesday, February 26th, 2019 at 12:02am
Senate Bill 489 – The Energy Transition Act – not so fast! The consequences of passing this bill without an honest debate could be devastating to the economics of our state.
Call it risk, call it unintended consequences, but to ignore bringing everything in the open … for political expediency is dishonest.
It is obvious that making New Mexico a completely carbon-free state will be a very expensive undertaking, and with the planned shutting down of the oil and gas industry, where will that money come from? New Mexico taxpayers and energy users. The shell game of PNM floating bonds to cover the cost and then raising energy rates to repay the bonds doesn’t hide the fact that we are going to pay for this transition.