HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 39

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

Ray Begaye

A JOINT MEMORIAL

URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO REAUTHORIZE AND CONTINUE FUNDING FOR THE NAVAJO ELECTRIFICATION DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

     WHEREAS, the Navajo electrification demonstration program was created in 2000 by the United States congress in Public Law 106-511, Section 602, and was extended by Public Law 108-59 in 2003 to provide funding for the rural electrification of homes on the Navajo Nation that are not currently being served; and

     WHEREAS, under the original law, the Navajo electrification demonstration program was to be funded with fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) annually for five years; and

     WHEREAS, only fourteen million five hundred thousand dollars ($14,500,000) has been appropriated for the Navajo electrification demonstration program, including a fiscal year 2011 allocation of one million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,750,000) that was appropriated for use by the Navajo tribal utility authority, from the original authorization of seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000); and

     WHEREAS, the Navajo electrification demonstration program expands traditional sources of power and implements renewable energy sources and other advanced electric power technologies; and

     WHEREAS, funding is administered by the federal department of energy and disbursed as grants to the Navajo Nation to provide electricity to approximately eighteen thousand Navajo homes in northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona that currently lack this basic service; and

     WHEREAS, the department of energy is charged with the duty of providing technical support to the Navajo Nation in the installation, use and maintenance of advanced power technologies; and

     WHEREAS, congress must act again to extend the life of the Navajo electrification demonstration program first enacted by Public Law 106-511 and continued in the provisions of Public Law 108-59, or the Navajo electrification demonstration program will not receive the necessary funding to continue the program to make basic electricity available to homes on the Navajo Nation;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it support the federal government's efforts to provide electricity to residents of the Navajo Nation, many of whom live in northwestern New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico congressional delegation and the remaining members of congress support legislation to reauthorize and extend the life of the Navajo electrification demonstration program and continue to fund the promised seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000) by providing twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) for electrical systems to members of the Navajo Nation; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation, the president of the United States senate, the majority and minority leaders of the United States senate, the speaker of the United States house of representatives and the majority and minority leaders of the United States house of representatives.

- 3 -