FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 11, 2016
Contact: James Hallinan (505) 660-2216
Santa Fe, NM – This morning, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas filed public comments in
support of the Facebook data center with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. The Office of the
Attorney General is charged with representing New Mexico and its residential and small business ratepayers.
Below is the text of the Attorney General’s filing:
Attorney General Hector Balderas submits these public comments in connection with Public Service Company of New Mexico (“PNM” and/or “Company”) Application for Approval by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (“PRC”) for a Special Services Contract, and Advice Notice No. 528 (“the Application”). The filing addresses the proposal by PNM to provide service to one of the world’s premier internet companies, Facebook, Inc. (“the Customer”), which if approved, could provide New Mexico with a much needed jobs and an economic boost.
The Office of the Attorney General is charged with representing New Mexico and its residential and small business ratepayers. That means that Attorney General Balderas is committed to ensuring all New Mexico families have access to clean affordable energy. With that in mind, the Office of the Attorney General reviewed this application to ensure the New Mexican families and small businesses would not see an unacceptable rate increase. After reviewing the application, Attorney General Balderas urges the Commission to approve the application and help New Mexico secure more clean energy and help New Mexican families find jobs and economic security.
Approval of the Application will help secure the construction and establishment of a data center by Facebook, Inc. which will benefit the State of New Mexico though increased jobs, economic development and tax revenues. The Application proposes to create new sources of renewable energy with little, if any, impact on residential or small business ratepayers. These additional renewables will be funded by Facebook and thus add diversity to the grid in New Mexico without burdening residential or small business ratepayers with additional costs. The Application, if approved and implemented, could create the framework for other largescale data
projects to locate in New Mexico.
The benefits of the Application are numerous. Besides creating a new source of renewable energy, the project as proposed by Facebook would create jobs, both in the construction phase and in the long term. Each one of those jobs has a multiplier effect, creating additional jobs for New Mexico. It is important to approve this application to lead the way for other companies that are looking to bring projects and jobs to New Mexico. Facebook has estimated that the data center will cost in excess of $250 million initially. It also has the potential for significant growth in the future. Initial estimates are that the project will produce approximately 30 to 50 full-time jobs with an additional 200 to 300 jobs during the construction stage of the data center. The additional tax revenues that would flow from the data center project are significant. Tax revenues created from the project itself, from the collateral spending from contractors and vendors peripherally associated with the construction and maintenance of the project could have a “multiplier effect” creating additional
downstream tax revenues. All of these benefits would help strengthen the economy of the State while providing jobs and protecting New Mexico’s access to affordable clean energy.
Attorney General Balderas is committed to ensuring that New Mexico families have access to clean, affordable energy, and to protecting and encouraging job growth for New Mexico’s future. The addition of renewable energy provided for in the Application also helps in creating an additional source of energy on the grid. The Application is a positive step in that direction and Attorney General Hector Balderas supports its
approval.
Respectfully Submitted,
OFFICE OF THE NEW MEXICO ATTORNEY GENERAL
HECTOR H. BALDERAS
Attorney General
Please see attached for a PDF of the official filing.
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