{"id":30610,"date":"2023-11-17T21:14:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T04:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/more-than-a-dozen-state-lawmakers-express-opposition-to-proposed-lng-facility\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:22:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:22:01","slug":"more-than-a-dozen-state-lawmakers-express-opposition-to-proposed-lng-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/more-than-a-dozen-state-lawmakers-express-opposition-to-proposed-lng-facility\/","title":{"rendered":"More than a dozen state lawmakers express opposition to proposed LNG facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"In
In 2012, about 250 people line the fence line at the Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque to watch the annular solar eclipse. The Associated Press<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A group of more than a dozen state legislators asked utility regulators to reject a request to build a liquefied natural gas storage facility in Rio Rancho near Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission\u2019s evidentiary hearing regarding the New Mexico Gas Co.\u2019s proposal begins in early December.<\/p>\n

Ahead of this hearing, 14 legislators sent a letter to the PRC.<\/p>\n

The controversial facility would be approximately 3 miles away from Petroglyph National Monument and near several public schools and outdoor recreation assets.<\/p>\n

The gas company says it is needed to provide more reliable and affordable service, especially during winter months.<\/p>\n

But the 14 legislators say that it poses risks to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy constituents have been loud and clear \u2013 they don\u2019t want this facility in their backyards,\u201d state Sen. Harold Pope, D-Albuquerque, said in a news release. \u201cThe law requires that the public interest include the consideration of the risk of adverse effects the LNG facility may impose on the quality of life of the people and the effect on the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope said the people who live in northwest Albuquerque and Rio Rancho have spoken out against the facility and are concerned about risks. One risk he highlighted was that leaks from the facility could lead to fires. He also said that methane emissions from the facility could impact school children and nearby residents.<\/p>\n

In addition to concerns about methane leaks, the lawmakers say that the facility could exacerbate air quality issues that the valley already faces, including ozone pollution, and that increased truck traffic could lead to dangerous driving conditions and more road maintenance needs. Furthermore, they say that money shouldn\u2019t be invested into new fossil fuel infrastructure in light of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe residents in my district have been adamant they are not convinced that this LNG plant makes any sense; NMGC\u2019s plant proposal is scary and unnecessary and adds too much health and cost risk,\u201d Rep. Joy Garratt, D-Albuquerque, said in the news release. \u201cApparently, there is no actual problem with NMGC reliability \u2013 so why is this facility actually needed? It will add a cost burden to people who are already struggling to pay their utility bills. Adding unnecessary cost in these economically perilous times doesn\u2019t make sense, especially when the company has not justified its acquisition expense against alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evidentiary hearing about New Mexico Gas Co. proposal begins in December<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81136,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610\/revisions\/81136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30610"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}