House Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, said last month in an official statement that he felt the New Mexico Green New Deal Supreme Court decision will cause higher energy prices.
Montoya said the state Supreme Court's decision in Egolf v. New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) will cause harm.
Montoya said the decision undermines critical work performed across the state.
“The Supreme Court just issued a ruling on New Mexico’s Green New Deal that undercuts the work of many leaders across the state to protect residential utility customers,” Montoya said in a press release.
Montoya called the decision unconstitutional.
“This decision coupled with the governor’s unconstitutional legislative push to bring the Public Regulation Commission under her sole control will force utility rates to skyrocket in years to come," Montoya said in the press release.
The state legislature passed the New Mexico Green New Deal last year and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishman signed it into law in March. The legislation makes it a law for the state to be 100 percent carbon-free regarding electricity by 2045, CBS reported.
The law, which is the Energy Transition Act, also sets goals for 2030 and 2040 – wanting half the state's power sources to be renewable energy by 2030 and 80 percent by 2040, according to CBS.
Only two other states have similar laws – California and Hawaii, CBS reported.
Proponents for the law believe that switching to renewable energy would lower the electric bills for New Mexican consumers, the news agency reported.
The law provides up to $60 million to close coal plants, according to CBS. Of that, $20 million will go to retrain those who will lose their jobs, including Native people who will be affected most because they make up such a large population of coal mine and power plant workers.
The law also allows PNM Resources to cut ties with its coal-powered plant without major losses.
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