New Mexico Senate considering bill to enshrine renewable energy development in state law
A bill to make New Mexico’s renewable energy office permanent advanced through the State House of Representatives recently and is awaiting further action in the Senate.
In 2019, the Office of Renewable Energy was created in the New Mexico State Land Office to focus on renewable power developments throughout the state, a key aspect of the State’s efforts toward its goal of 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2045, as outlined in the Energy Transition Act that year.
House Bill 95 would codify that office into law, making it permanent regardless of shifting priorities of differing administrations.
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Sponsored by Sens. Tara Lujan (D-48) and Debra Sarinana (D-21) the bill was passed on the House Floor on a 48-19 vote and referred to the Senate Conservation Committee for further action on its way to the governor’s desk for signing into law.
If passed, HB 95 would require the State Land Office maintain its Office of Renewable Energy without an end date, intended to advance renewable energy production like wind and solar power.
It made no appropriation to fund the office’s continued operation, but required the office continue as is beyond the term of current State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, who established the office when taking the post.
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Without the bill, a future land commissioner could opt to dissolve the Office of Renewable Energy and its efforts to grow the industry in New Mexico.
Lujan said the legislation was needed to continue the momentum she said renewable energy was building throughout the state as means to diversify the economy and address pollution and subsequent climate change.
“As renewable energy becomes an increasingly important part of New Mexico’s energy future, we have to make sure that this burgeoning industry has the support it needs to flourish,” Lujan said in a statement as the bill passed the House Feb. 17.
“With our economy and climate at stake, we have a responsibility to ensure we deliver on New Mexico’s potential to be a clean energy leader.”
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In Fiscal Year 2022, a report from the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) showed the Office of Renewable Energy generated $12 million in revenue while future and ongoing project would bring in “revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” the report read.
There are 30 active renewable energy leases under the office of State Trust land, 27 wind and 12 solar, along with 33 lease applications being reviewed, read the report.
The State Land Office estimated recent leases to Pattern Energy for the Wester Spirit Wind and Sun Zia Wind projects in Torrance, Lincoln and San Miguel counties could garner “a minimum” of $360 million during their lifetimes.
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Otero County’s NextEra Buena Vista Energy Center Solar Project, the Land Office reported, would earn another $12.4 million during its lifespan.
The LFC noted revenue brought in by the land office is paid into the Land Maintenance Fund which is given to beneficiaries, under state statute, of State Trust Land which includes mostly public schools, along with universities and hospitals in the state.
“Reducing revenue from either the land maintenance fund or the land grant permanent fund, which generates revenues for beneficiaries through investment, increases the amount of general fund revenue needed to support the beneficiaries,” the report read.
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During the bill’s last committee hearing before the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Larry Scott (R-62), a fossil fuel industry supporter from Lea County who voted against, argued renewable energy development was already ongoing at the Land Office and questioned the need for HB 95.
“These activities are already underway at the State Land Office,” Scott said. “What do we gain from this piece of legislation?”
Scott and Rep. Jim Townsend (R-54), also an oil and gas supporter from Artesia, were the only votes against advancing the bill to the House Floor.
Townsend, during earlier debate on Feb. 4 before the same committee said the bill was favoring renewable energy over other industries like oil and gas or agriculture.
"This is a philosophical approach by the current land commissioner to codify an industry over all other industries, he said. "To identify a specific industry to give them special treatment over all the other ones. That's why I'll oppose it. It's not necessarily was is good for New Mexico, it's what the current land commissioner thinks in her opinion is good for New Mexico.
"It's something that is not needed."
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Scott at that meeting also questioned how renewable energy revenue compared to that of the fossil fuel industry, credited with providing about a third of New Mexico’s budget.
“In spite of the advances in revenue that renewable resources have brought to the state land office, would it be accurate to say that those revenues pale in comparison to revenues from oil and gas?”
Lujan responded that this was true, but that the bill would better encourage expansion of renewable energy in New Mexico in the future, regardless of administration.
“What it does is it gives the opportunity for the advancement of renewable energy,” she said. “This has no impact on oil and gas leasing. It actually ensures that renewable energy is part of the Land Office’s mission.”
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Bill to require renewable energy development on New Mexico state land
