A proposal to build a large and controversial liquefied natural gas facility in Rio Rancho is being subject to review this week before members of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.
The Albuquerque-based New Mexico Gas Company has said that it wants to build what will be a $180 million facility on some 25 acres roughly two miles to the north of the Double Eagle II Airport.
In 2022 the company submitted an application to the PRC saying that the new facility would help ensure a “reliable gas supply to customers of NMGC,” while at the same time endeavoring to “control the impacts of price volatility on the Company’s customers.”
The project will particularly see the construction of a massive steel storage tank capable of holding up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas in liquid form. Even more, the facility will make it possible for the company to vaporize liquefied natural gas into gaseous form for use in NMGC’s distribution system.
The project has sparked opposition from several quarters, including most prominently a group called the New Energy Economy, which is based in Santa Fe, and the Youth United for Climate Crisis Action of Albuquerque.
Members of the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners have also spoken out against the project. In a letter sent last November to the PRC, fourteen state lawmakers registered their concerns regarding the facility, noting in part that a liquefied natural gas storage could increase the “risk of dangerous methane-fueled fires and wildfires.”
The regulation commission’s evidentiary hearings for the NMGC project will be held throughout the rest of the week.
The company earlier indicated that it hoped to launch construction of the Rio Rancho facility by the spring of this year, with a general completion date of sometime in 2026.
By Garry Boulard
