Work could begin next spring on the construction of a large liquid natural gas storage facility that will cost around $180 million to build and will belong to the Albuquerque-based New Mexico Gas Company.
The project is slated to go up on a site in Rio Rancho two miles to the north of the Double Eagle II Airport and west of the Atrisco Vista Boulevard. It is expected that the facility itself will take up only 25 acres of the 160-acre site.
Late last year New Mexico Gas submitted an application to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission seeking approval of the project. In so doing, the company said the proposed facility would help ensure “a reliable gas supply to customers of NMGC,” while also helping to “control the impacts of price volatility on the Company’s customers.”
Centerpiece of the project is a massive steel storage tank capable of holding up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas in liquid form. The facility will also allow NMGC to vaporize liquefied natural gas into gaseous form for use in the company’s distribution system, based upon need.
The storage facility will make it possible for the company to endure natural weather disasters such as Winter Storm Uri, which led to power lapses throughout Texas in early 2021.
The proposed project has met with some questions, particularly from a group called the New Energy Economy, which is based in Santa Fe, and has wondered about safety issues connected with the tank.
That group has argued that liquefied natural gas can pose “significant risks to public safety and the environment.” In its website, the New Energy Economy also says that the liquefied natural gas would have to be transported by truck to other parts of the state, “which could lead to increased traffic and dangers along congested transportation corridors.”
NMGC has contended, however, that the new facility will “use the latest technology and it will be built using industry best practices,” adding that “many similar projects operate safely and reliably throughout the United States.”
Public hearings on the project are expected to be held in October by the Public Regulation Commission. If all goes well, NMGC has said that construction of the facility could be underway by the second quarter of 2024, with the goal of making it fully operational sometime in 2026.
By Garry Boulard
