New Mexico
Emergency declared in New Mexico after early winter storm leaves thousands in the dark
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s governor declared an emergency Thursday after a powerful winter storm left tens of thousands of people without power as heavy snow, fierce winds and freezing temperatures marched across the northern two-thirds of the state and into Colorado.
Dozens of crews with Public Service Co. of New Mexico were mobilized to address widespread outages that had been reported overnight and in the early morning hours from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and beyond as the snow brought tree branches crashing down onto power lines.
The utility acknowledged frustrations and urged residents to be patient, saying there were about 19,000 people still affected by the outages Thursday evening. That was down from 50,000 earlier in the day.
“This really is an unprecedented storm in the fact that it came so earlier and so heavily while leaves were still on the trees. That has caused limbs to be much heavier that they would normally be,” PNM spokesman Jeff Buell said, adding that crews were dealing with hundreds of separate repair jobs in Albuquerque alone.
With more snow in the forecast, Buell said there could be additional outages into Friday.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s declaration unlocks state funding for emergency response efforts. Funding also will be funneled to the New Mexico National Guard, which has been helping to clear roads.
Schools in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and elsewhere across northern New Mexico canceled classes, while authorities warned people to stay off the roads. Plows were busy trying to keep major highways clear, but state police announced midday that Interstate 25 just south of the Colorado border was closed in both directions.
The National Weather Service in Albuquerque issued a blizzard warning for parts of the state and reported that more than 100 vehicles were stranded on highways in the state’s northeast corner. Forecasters warned of “very dangerous driving conditions” that were made worse by low visibility because of blowing snow.
Interstate 70 across Colorado’s Eastern Plains also was closed, as residents in that state braced for what some said could be the biggest snowstorm to hit the Denver area in November in years. Some people reported Thursday that they already had more than 14 inches (35.56 centimeters) of snow on the ground.
The National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center said extensive and widespread disruptions could be expected as the storm moves through New Mexico and Colorado, dropping between 1 and 2 inches of snow within an hour in some spots.
Tonja Goode Ross said she would be staying home and enjoying a cup of hot chocolate instead of trying to brave what was the “first real snow” of the season for Corona. This rural part of central New Mexico was turned into a winter wonderland, its pastures covered by a thick blanket of snow and its tree branches bowing from the weight of fresh powder.
Almost a foot of snow had fallen by early morning and another 2.5 inches fell within a 2-hour period.
“Moisture is always a blessing here — no matter the form it comes in,” she said.
The weather service warned that the storm could bring historic amounts of snow through Friday. More than 4 feet (1.22 meter) was expected in some parts. Snow drifts could top 6 feet (1.83 meter), making some travel impossible — potentially for days, forecasters said.
In Albuquerque, city officials said the frigid temperatures and snowfall resulted in about 120 traffic crashes while the fire department answered more than 100 calls related to downed power lines and fallen trees.
After years of failure to land a “big fish” business for New Mexico’s economy (or effectively use the oil and gas revenues to grow the economy) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with the help of her Economic Development Secretary Rob Black have lured no fewer than three large data centers to New Mexico. These data centers are being built to serve the booming world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and they will have profound impacts on New Mexico.
It is our view that having these data centers locate in New Mexico is better than having them locate elsewhere. While we have many differences of opinion with this governor, we are pleased to see her get serious about growing and diversifying New Mexico’s oil-dependent economy albeit quite late in her second term.
Sadly, the governor and legislature have chosen not to use broad based economic reforms like deregulation or tax cuts to improve New Mexico’s competitiveness. But, with the failure of her “preferred” economic development “wins” like Maxeon and Ebon solar both of which the governor announced a few years ago, but haven’t panned out, the focus on a more realistic strategy is welcome and long overdue.
Currently, three new data centers are slated to be built in New Mexico:
- Oracle’s Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa with an investment of $165 billion.
- Project Zenith slated to be built in Roswell amounts to a $11.7 billion investment.
- New Era Energy & Digital, Inc. While the overall investment is unclear, the energy requirement is the largest of the three at 7 gigawatts (that’s seven times the power used by the City of San Francisco).
What is a data center? Basically, they are the real-world computing infrastructure that makes up the Internet. The rise of AI requires vast new computing power. It is critical that these facilities have uninterrupted electricity.
That electricity is going to be largely generated by traditional sources like natural gas and possibly nuclear. That contravenes New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act of 2019 which was adopted by this Gov. and many of the legislators still in office. Under the Act electrical power emissions are supposed to be eliminated in a few years.
With the amount of money being invested in these facilities and the simple fact that wind and solar and other “renewable” energy sources aren’t going to get the job done. In 2025 the Legislature passed and MLG signed HB 93 which allows for the creation of “microgrids” that won’t tax the grid and make our electricity more expensive, but the ETA will have to be amended or ignored to provide enough electricity for these data centers. There’s no other option.
New Mexicans have every right to wonder why powerful friends of the governor can set up their own natural gas microgrids while the rest of us face rising costs and decreased reliability from so-called “renewables.” Don’t get me wrong, having these data centers come to New Mexico is an economic boon.
But it comes tempered with massive subsidies including a 30-year property tax exemption and up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds. New Mexico is ideally suited as a destination for these data centers with its favorable climate and lack of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. We shouldn’t be giving away such massive subsidies.
Welcoming the data center boom to New Mexico better than rejecting them and pushing them to locate in other states. There is no way to avoid CO2 emissions whether they happen here or somewhere else. But, there are questions about both the electricity demand and subsidies that must be addressed as New Mexico’s data center boom begins.
What will the Legislature, radical environmental groups, and future governors of our state do to hinder (or help) bring these data centers to our State? That is an open question that depends heavily on upcoming statewide elections. It is important that New Mexicans understand and appreciate these complicated issues.
Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility
SANTA FE, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) – The New Mexico Department of Health says it will continue to recommend the full schedule of childhood vaccines.
State officials announced the move Tuesday, directly defying a new federal policy that scaled back routine immunization guidance.
The announcement comes after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reduced the number of vaccines it recommends for all children.
The New Mexico Department of Health stated the federal changes were “not based on new scientific evidence or safety data.”
“New Mexico will not follow the federal government in walking away from decades of proven public health practice,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. “Our recommendations remain unchanged.”
State health officials sought to reassure parents, emphasizing that vaccines remain widely available and covered by insurance.
“We know this is confusing for parents, but the science is clear: vaccines are safe, effective, and save children’s lives,” said Dr. Miranda Durham, chief medical officer for NMDOH.
All childhood vaccinations will continue to be covered under programs like Medicaid and the federal Vaccines for Children Program.
The state encourages parents to consult their healthcare providers using the American Academy of Pediatrics’ immunization schedule.
RECOMMENDED: CDC cuts childhood vaccine list, sparking healthcare professionals’ concerns
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