OPINION: Deb Haaland promises greater affordability, but supports policies that increase the cost of living

In her recent opinion piece, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says that she feels the pain of everyday New Mexicans who are struggling with the high costs of living. How curious, then, that she supports policies that make life less affordable.

As a cabinet secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration, she was in full agreement with his irresponsible $1.9 trillion stimulus package in March 2021, handed out when the economy was no longer in COVID lockdown. The result: Inflation in 2022 hit levels not seen in 40 years. No wonder grocery prices are so high.

Our state’s zero-carbon mandate for power generation by 2045 was adopted with great uncertainty as to how it would be achieved, and how much it would cost. Yet the statute doesn’t provide for a way to avoid the mandate should it prove too expensive.

State statute requires a community solar program. How will this program work? Those who sign up for community solar will receive a discount on their utility bills, while everyone else pays extra to compensate the utility for the revenue shortfall.

Under the Net Energy Metering policy, utility customers installing solar on their homes get full retail credit for power sent back to the grid, meaning that they do not pay for distribution, transmission or generation — all things they can’t do without. Again, everyone else’s rates must increase to compensate for the shortfall.

More subtle is the political pressure on Public Service Company of New Mexico to connect everyone who wants residential solar, regardless of whether a particular circuit is at capacity. This requires expensive investments — which will be paid for by increasing everyone’s rates.

What do these statutes and policies have in common? They increase everyone’s power bills to implement the pet projects of the progressive majority. They divide New Mexicans and pit us against each other. And they’re all supported by Haaland.

Haaland touts the SunZia transmission line as an example of how renewable energy investments “lower utility costs for families.” What she conveniently omits is that this transmission line was designed to carry power only in one direction — exporting wind power from New Mexico to Arizona and California. None of the wind power generated for this project will be sold to New Mexico utilities. New Mexican families won’t benefit.

What’s worse, the state budget will receive next to nothing from the export of wind power on the SunZia line. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham long ago decided that it’s fine to export our wind resources at no benefit to our state. We’re not just selling the family farm, folks — we’re giving it away. It’s time we stood up for our state and struck a harder bargain.

The sad reality is that progressive Democrats like Lujan Grisham and Haaland aren’t done giving away the farm — they continue to destroy our state’s economy in the name of their climate change agenda. Just look at the Clear Horizons Act introduced this legislative session; it would almost certainly kill off our oil and gas industry by 2050 — the industry that is the single largest contributor to our state budget and our schools.

The bill was voted down by the state Senate last week, but the bill's sponsor said she would try again in future legislative sessions.

Haaland claims she’ll “change the game” in New Mexico. The reality is that if she’s elected, it will be eight more years of Lujan Grisham’s agenda — and New Mexicans just cannot afford that.

I’m running for governor to put the brakes on Michelle Lujan Grisham’s and Deb Haaland’s efforts to turn New Mexico into another California. I’m running because I’m tired of the hypocrisy of those who claim to care about folks working paycheck-to-paycheck, yet implement laws and policies that are likely to double or triple our power bills over the next decade.

And I’m running because the overwhelming focus over the last seven years has been on implementing expensive policies designed to deal with climate change, while problems that we can and should address go ignored.

I see a future where energy prices are affordable, our power grid is reliable, and a growing economy provides improved opportunities for all. New Mexicans are tired of muddling through — we want to thrive. With the right policies and leadership, we can achieve this — together.

Jim Ellison is a former commissioner of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. He is a New Mexico Republican gubernatorial candidate.