The $10 billion SunZia Transmission line and wind farm project is expected to start commercial operation in 2025, according to a recent press release. Officials say the wind project will start in 2026.
The project is being developed by Pattern Energy, a renewable energy company owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. According to a press release, the 550-mile-long transmission line project stretches from Torrance County to central Arizona. It is part of the largest renewable energy infrastructure project in the U.S. and construction of the project is managed by Pattern Energy, a U.S. energy company based out of California. Hitachi Energy is supporting Pattern Energy with the construction of the HVDC converter stations in New Mexico and Arizona.
Many community members including Estancia Mayor Nathan Dial and Mountainair Mayor Peter Nieto have voiced concerns about the project in protest letters and social media posts because it will use water from the Estancia Underground Basin.
“The way it’s been done seems to not have transparency to the local public. And I’m gonna stand with the protest. We need to have a better system,” Dial said. “The whole thing is we’re trying to keep the water within Torrance County.”
An April 3 protest letter from Nieto cites studies that he says provide evidence that water levels in the Estancia basin are declining.
A published legal notice explains that the SunZia project will use water from the basin for dust control over a three-year period.
According to the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, the Estancia basin “extends from the crest line of the Manzano and Manzanita Mountains on the west and the peaks of the San Pedro and South Mountains on the northwest to the Gallinas Mountains and Pedernal Hills on the south and east, and includes the northern portion of Chupadera Mesa as well as a number of small, topographically closed basins southeast of the Estancia Valley proper.”
Dial says there are other water sources that could be better used for dust control, but using these sources may present a new set of problems.
“I wish we had a brackish water source in Estancia because there’s a ton of brackish water,” Dial said. “There’s also some issues with when you start pumping brackish water and throwing it on the ground because it’s gonna seep into the clean water.”
“I understand the Estancia Valley Basin is bigger than Torrance County which causes issues,” Dial said. “But water around here is precious and it’s [the water level] going down.”
The Independent contacted Pattern Energy and Nieto for comment but did not receive a response as of press time.