Even in Texas, time doesn’t stand still

BY JIM MACKENZIE 350 NEW MEXICO

In February 2021, Texas Winter Storm Uri raised havoc by causing large parts of Texas’ electrical and natural gas infrastructure to freeze. As a result, there was an enormous one-week $107.5 million price spike in Texas gas piped to the New Mexico Gas Company. Some 240 Texans died from the brutal cold and the resulting utility outages. We now know that it was frozen natural gas plants that were the main problem. Many Texans were hit with enormous gas bills from the same price spike that affected New Mexicans. Many Texan homes suffered damage from freezing pipes. The NMGC subsequently went to the Public Regulation Commission for rate relief. That relief was granted in a surcharge to customers’ bills to be spread over thirty months starting in July 2021. Along with the rate relief, the PRC instructed the NMGC to investigate ways to keep similar price and possible supply problems from impacting its customers again. Fair enough. There was a problem.

Fast forward to Jan. 15, 2024: A major winter storm with brutally cold wind chill temperatures below zero again hit the Great Plains including Texas cities like Houston and Dallas. This time, power and gas stayed online and the increase in gas prices reflected seasonal norms. While this storm was not as bad as Uri, Texas continues to improve grid reliability by weatherizing natural gas piping, plants and wind turbines, and by encouraging energy conservation.

And how did this Texas winter storm affect NM gas supply from Texas? Supply problems or price spikes are not mentioned in the press or on the NMGC website. The only mention on the subject was a note on the NMGC website about the December end of the special rates resulting from Winter Storm Uri’s price spikes.

Since the 2021 PRC directive, the NMGC has designed a $200M liquid natural gas plant to be sited in Rio Rancho. The gas company says that the LNG plant will protect against future gas price spikes and supply disruptions. The PRC is currently being asked to give the company permission to build the large industrial facility. The LNG plant is now a solution in search of a problem. Texas has moved on and so should we. The PRC should reject this project.

Jim Mackenzie is a co-coordinator of 350 New Mexico, a 50-year NM resident, a retired member of Local 611 IBE W and a Vietnam veteran.