TalkoftheTown: We need state lawmakers to do more to protect us from Trump

Infrastructure is not ready for all-electric homes

On Jan. 6, Judith Polich wrote a piece on how much taxpayer-provided money some of us can get from the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act to convert our homes to all-electric status. Altogether, it’s about $17,000 for the home and another $7,500 for a new electric car.

What she didn’t say is, how much does PNM get to supply all that new stuff with electric energy?

My 50-year-old neighborhood has natural gas heat, hot water, stoves, and swamp coolers. A single 50-kilowatt transformer serves about 10 homes, meaning each of us can get only about 21 amps at 240 volts. That’s not enough for all-electric homes. Only one or two of us on the block could buy a Tesla or convert to refrigerated air.

PNM would be forced to put a transformer on each pole for about three homes, and then upsize the 7,200-volt feeder at the top of the pole, and probably make a major, and expensive, upgrade to the unit substation that serves that feeder and the others in our neighborhood.

And then buy a lot more wind turbines, solar arrays, and batteries to try to keep the voltage up after the Energy Transition Act shuts down all the fossil fuel generating stations.

Replacing their recently demolished San Juan coal plant at its full capacity with solar cells will need something like 16,000 acres of land — four acres per megawatt; I design these things. Or they could buy a set of small modular fissile plants.

All of this takes money, lots of money, and the infrastructure is not ready for it yet. Not by a long shot, folks.

GARY L. HOE

Professional engineer

Albuquerque

Trump advancing disastrous environmental policies

The fires and floods that hit Ruidoso and Roswell last year were profound disasters, upending lives and livelihoods. But they were anything but natural.

Just as the devastation of the climate crisis becomes more real, we face a new presidency that has declared massive rollbacks of the safeguards meant to protect us. President Donald Trump is set to advance disastrous policies for our environment: massive expansion of oil and gas drilling on public lands, enormous cuts to environmental agencies, and the end of support for clean energy.

Extractive industries bring money into our state, but at what cost? With more oil pumping out of the Permian Basin than ever, we see our state getting hotter and drier, driving vicious fires and floods that sweep away topsoil.

If Trump won’t protect us, we need our state Legislature and our governor to do more than they already have. We have to do more than our part to protect our communities and our children. We need these federal recovery dollars, but even more we must take urgent action to stop the climate crisis.

VALARI TAYLOR

Rio Rancho

Carry your dog’s deposits with pride to the trash

You may see me out walking my dog, Luke. We are both a bit gray in the muzzle and have a slight limp. I’m the taller one wearing pants, Luke is a bit shorter and is rarely clothed.

My main tasks on these daily excursions are twofold: navigation and toxic waste disposal. I’m in charge of navigation because Luke is primarily guided by his sense of smell which, if left to his discretion, would lead us on a path not unlike a toddler’s drawing of a tornado. I tend to be more observant of things like cars and people, whereas Luke is more focused on mailboxes, lizards, bugs, trees, hydrants and anything stinky and gross.

My other key responsibility is to ensure the prompt removal of Luke’s — how do I put this — deposits. Therefore, I am always well-stocked with a pocketful of plastic baggies designed for just such scenarios. As an older dog, Luke’s actions can happen quickly and unexpectedly, so I need to unholster those bags like the Frisco the Kid at high noon.

Once the offending deposit has been secured in the containment device, the search is on for a proper repository. I’m not one of those miscreants who just leave a little gift bag on the sidewalk for the poop fairy to gather later. Nope, I carry my prize proudly to the nearest receptacle, which also just happens to be one of Luke’s favorite places to sniff because it is stinky and gross.

Now these receptacles may be blocks away from the crime scene, so you may see me sauntering down the street with a leash in one hand and a bright blue bag in the other. If one of my neighbors happens to drive past us at this point, my reflex is to give a friendly wave, but only afterward do I realize that I am actually raising a fresh bag of poo in the air, as if I were hoisting a prize fish. “Hey, look what I caught. Might be a state record.” My neighbors must think me insane.

So, if you happen to be passing through my neighborhood and spy a graying old man being pulled willy-nilly toward something stinky and gross by his greying old dog, please take the time to wave hello. Maybe I’ll shake a smelly little bag at you in return.

KEVIN GLASGOW

Albuquerque