New Mexico
PRC approves PNM battery, solar projects – NM Political Report
State regulators moved forward with approving the Public Service Company of New Mexico’s application for new solar and battery storage despite concerns that there are not enough new energy projects in the Central Consolidated School District to replace property tax revenue lost when the San Juan Generating Station closed. On Thursday, the New Mexico Public […]
State regulators moved forward with approving the Public Service Company of New Mexico’s application for new solar and battery storage despite concerns that there are not enough new energy projects in the Central Consolidated School District to replace property tax revenue lost when the San Juan Generating Station closed.
On Thursday, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission unanimously approved a recommended decision from the hearing examiner, Hans Muller, with one amendment.
The case stems from a 2023 application to add 100 megawatts of solar through a power purchase agreement with the Quail Ranch solar project as well as three energy storage agreements for a total of 250 megawatts of four-hour storage at different sites. The application also requested approval of a utility-owned battery storage facility known as BESS Sandia Storage Project. PNM requested the additional resources, including the contract with Quail Ranch, as a way to meet peak energy load requirements in 2026.
However, concerns arose during the case that the Quail Ranch project is intended to replace the Rockmont Solar Project that the PRC approved to replace the San Juan Generating Station.
The Rockmont project is located in northwest New Mexico and within CCSD boundaries. But it ran into delays and ultimately PNM canceled its contract with the developers.
Commissioner James Ellison noted that PNM never asserted that Quail Ranch was intended to replace the Rockmont project. However, replacing Rockmont with Quail Ranch is mentioned in Muller’s recommended decision.
Ellison said that the possibility that Quail Ranch would replace Rockmont was “never really litigated in this case.”
“I think it would be a mistake to reject the resources before us now over concerns that there is not a replacement in the school district,” Ellison said. “Rejecting them or delaying the process does risk these contracts falling apart and, given the timelines around the procurement process, it really leads to big questions about will we have resource adequacy in 2026 if we do that.”
CCSD and San Juan County maintain that the Energy Transition Act requires PNM to install 450 megawatts of generation or storage capacity within the school district’s boundaries to replace at least some of the property tax that was lost when the power plant closed.
They say that, without Rockmont, PNM is short of meeting that obligation.
Quail Ranch is located in Bernalillo County and the other resources in the application are in Valencia, Cibola and Bernalillo counties.
Former PRC Commissioner Steve Fischmann, who was on the PRC when the replacement resources were decided, said that part of the portfolio of solar and battery projects that PNM proposed in the current case needs to be treated as replacement for the San Juan Generating Station.
“In our commission, we took very seriously the need to get replacement resources into the San Juan community and the Central Consolidated School District to help ease the economic pain caused by the closing of the San Juan coal plant,” he said during public comment.
He said that he feels that the San Juan County community is “getting hosed” because the PRC did not discuss the current solar and battery projects in relation to replacing the San Juan Generating Station.
“It appears that all parties in the case failed to recognize the San Juan replacement aspect that needed to be considered in the record,” he said.
Fischmann was not alone in those concerns. Two members of 350 New Mexico who were involved in drafting the Energy Transition Act also spoke during public comment.
“I remember very clearly that one of the negotiated agreements was that PNM, in return for very favorable bond financing provisions, was to build about 450 megawatts of replacement resources in ‘the school district in New Mexico where the abandoned facility is located,’ meaning the San Juan Central Consolidated School District,” Tom Solomon with 350 New Mexico said.
He said only 300 megawatts of the 450 have been built and that PNM has no apparent plans to add another 150 megawatts in the CCSD boundaries.
The location of replacement resources and how many megawatts must be located within the CCSD has been a subject of debate since the passage of the Energy Transition Act in 2019.
This is because the ETA states that replacement resources means that “up to 450 megawatts” identified as a replacement for San Juan Generating Station “provided that such resources are located in the school district in New Mexico where the abandoned facility is located, are necessary to maintain reliable service and are in the public interest as determined by the commission.”
San Juan County and CCSD have maintained that the law means that PNM is required to locate 450 megawatts of replacement power such as solar arrays and battery storage in CCSD boundaries.
But PNM and some others have said it only requires that up to 450 megawatts must be located in the CCSD boundaries. During the replacement power case, the PRC ultimately ordered close to 450 megawatts of replacement power to be built in the CCSD boundaries. Those replacement projects were the San Juan Solar Project and the Rockmont Solar Project.
Commission Chairman Pat O’Connell said the issue of replacing the Rockmont project is important and that PNM has testimony on the record in this case that addresses the efforts the utility made and explains why none of the projects are located within the CCSD boundaries. O’Connell said there are challenges in getting projects within CCSD boundaries.
“It’s an important issue. It’s also, for me, an issue where we’re in a world of multiple truths,” he said.
He said that PNM’s system is short on capacity.
“Do we delay or postpone a decision on these resources now because another important decision is not being addressed?” he said.
O’Connell said he couldn’t support that.
But, he said, PNM is developing a request for proposals for an integrated resource plan. The IRP essentially serves as a roadmap for the utility and O’Connell said there will be opportunities for stakeholder engagement during that process. He encouraged PNM to reach out to the people who have expressed concerns about the Rockmont project not being completed during the IRP process.
O’Connell said that moving forward with the case that the PRC was hearing on Thursday does not negate the need to address the San Juan Generating Station replacement resources.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A leader in the New Mexico Republican Party was arrested Wednesday, accused of a deadly hit-and-run in Las Cruces.
Former Treasurer of the Republican Party in New Mexico, Kimberly Ann Skaggs, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene and tampering with evidence, jail records show.
Police documents show the charges stem from a deadly hit-and-run crash that happened Monday afternoon, which killed 40-year-old bicyclist, Andrew Brown.
Investigators believed Skaggs was involved after an investigation revealed that Skaggs allegedly was driving fast in the area, fled the scene after the crash and then tried to hide the vehicle from authorities.
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The investigation
According to police documents, a witness at the scene of the crash– 850 N. Fairacres Rd.– described seeing a dark blonde-haired woman flee in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Afterwards, investigators said they saw on Flock cameras– A.I. powered license plate readers– a black Cadillac Escalade traveling near the site of the crash minutes before the incident.
READ MORE: Dona Ana County expands Flock license plate cameras as officials cite crime-solving gains
The license plates showed that the vehicle belonged to Skaggs and that, in September 2025, the Las Cruces Police Department had given her a citation for “racing on streets-exhibition driving.”
Investigators stated that a business on Picacho Ave. captured what they alleged was the same black Cadillac Escalade driving fast.
Then, the documents described how investigators tracked down the Escalade using OnStar’s live GPS tracking, discovering the SUV was at a property on the 5000 block of Northwind Road, which investigators said the Dona Ana County Assessors Office confirmed is a property owned by Skaggs.
On Tuesday, at around 6:41 p.m.– over 24 hours after the deadly hit-and-run– investigators executed a search warrant on the property and described finding the black Cadillac Escalade behind a home, under a red metal carport.
Investigators noted damage on the SUV consistent with the crash, highlighting that there was blood splatter near one of the front tires, markings on the front bumper consistent with hitting a bicycle and parts missing, which investigators said were the same parts found at the scene.
Dona Ana County jail records show Skaggs was booked on Wednesday afternoon and remains jailed without a bond.
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About Skaggs
On the official website of the Republican Party of New Mexico, Skaggs was listed as the treasurer before she was removed.
KFOX14/CBS4 has reached out to the Republican Party to learn more and are waiting for a comment regarding the arrest.
Also, according to election statistics, Skaggs ran for State Representative in District 36 in 2022 and 2024, losing both times to Democrat Nathan P. Small.
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
CLINES CORNERS, N.M. – The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
The fire is burning just east of Clines Corners, south of Interstate 40.
It forced the closure of eastbound Interstate 40 at Clines Corners on Tuesday night. I-40 reopened Tuesday night. I-40 is back open but smoke still affects visibility.
“We’re on the side of I-40 so drivers have to be pretty cautious. As far as our establishment itself we’re pretty isolated by the freeway itself as a nice fire break,” said Lincoln Tarantino, Clines Corner general manager.
The fire has burned around 852 acres, up from just 20 at this time Monday.
Crews say the fire is not contained and wind farms in the area are threatened.
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