How Community Solar Power Projects Support Homeless Housing and Fight the Extractive Fuel Industry (Image by BlackRockSolar via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
New Mexico’s efforts to solarize local venues paint a vision for a future of community energy self-sufficiency.
By April M. Short
Homelessness has been on the rise nationwide due to the economic impacts of COVID-19, and in New Mexico it was already climbing prior to the pandemic. New Mexico experienced a 27 percent rise in homelessness between 2018 and 2019, which is the “largest percentage increase” in homelessness in the country according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.”
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Yves here. It’s gratifying to see New Mexico take a forward step in combatting homelessness by providing them with housing and using solar power to make it even more affordable. The only sad note is that they can do it only on a modest scale compared to the need.
By April M. Short, an editor, journalist and documentary editor and producer. She is a writing fellow at Local Peace Economy, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Previously, she served as a managing editor at AlterNet as well as an award-winning senior staff writer for Santa Cruz, California’s weekly newspaper. Her work has been published with the San Francisco Chronicle, In These Times, Salon and many others. Produced by Local Peace Economy, a project of the Independent Media Institute
By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A proposal that would allow community solar programs to be established in New Mexico has cleared its first legislative hurdle despite questions from some lawmakers and concerns among investor-owned utilities.
The bill cleared the Senate Conservation Committee on a party-line vote Thursday. Democrats said it would complement state mandates for generating electricity from renewable resources by expanding access to solar energy for businesses and residents who are unable to put up their own solar panels.
Republican lawmakers said there are still uncertainties about the costs for utility customers. Some lawmakers also said the bill should include a preference for New Mexico-based solar providers.
New Mexico Prison Chief Says Private Jails Needed, For Now
- Associated Press
New Mexico is sticking with its approach to contracting with privately operated prisons and possibly phasing them out as time and money allow.
State Corrections Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero on Thursday spoke out in opposition to a bill that would make it unlawful for the state and local governments to contract with private prisons across New Mexico.
The bill from Democratic legislators including Rep. Angelica Rubio of Las Cruces would cut loose three private prison operators that oversee four New Mexico facilities and nearly half of state inmates.