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SPONSOR: |
Tripp |
DATE TYPED: |
|
HB |
292/aHENRC |
||
SHORT TITLE: |
Water Conservation Plans for Electric Plants |
SB |
|
||||
|
ANALYST: |
Valenzuela |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
|
|
$72.6 |
Recurring |
General
Fund |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates Senate Bill 172
Legislative Finance Committee files
Responses
Received From
Public
Regulation Commission (PRC)
Energy,
Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)
Department
of Environment (NMED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of the HENRC amendment
The
House Energy and Natural Resources Committee amendment to House Bill 292 makes
several substantive revisions to the original bill. First, the amended bill
would grandfather existing electric generating plants from the requirements of
the bill and thus apply only to new facilities, generating 300 MW or more,
constructed after
-
Adds
“consumptive” to line 22, page 5, highlighting that the water returned to the
aquifer.
-
Strikes
the Public Utility Act repeal of the delayed repeal, thus avoiding duplication
of SB350.
Synopsis
of Original Bill
House Bill 292 would
make three major changes to existing statute: (1) amends the statute to expand
the PRC authority over siting for electric generating plants of 50 megawatts
(MW) or more; (2) adds a new section to the Public Utility Act that prohibits
PRC approval of construction or expansion of an electric generating plant that
uses more than 100 acre-feet of water per year without a water conservation
plan that provides evaluations of water conservation techniques such as dry
cooling; and (3) repeals the delayed repeal (July 1, 2003) of the Public
Utility Act, Chapter 63 Article 7 NMSA 1978, the Telephone and Telegraph
Company Certification Act, the New Mexico Telecommunications Act, and the Cellular
Telephone Services Act.
Significant
Issues
The new section added to the Public Utility Act is designed to encourage electric utilities to consider water-saving operating technologies, such as dry cooling. The bill includes several provisions outlining requirements for a utility who intends to construct or expand its plants.
To date, several companies have planned
construction of more than 15 power plants throughout
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
House Bill 292 does
not contain an appropriation. However, enactment could increase the workload on
the Utility Division staff. The PRC reports that it will require one additional
staff position to deal with the increased workload. The estimate for this staff
position, including benefits, is $72.6, which would be paid from the general
fund.
MFV/ls/njw