Balancing Renewable Energy with Local Impacts
August 20, 2021 – Plans for the SunZia Transmission Project have been in the works since 2006, with $150 million already spent. That $4 billion project is supposed to someday bring wind-generated power from New Mexico to markets in Arizona and California. This week, correspondent Laura Paskus talks to John Ryan, SunZia New Mexico executive director, and Sandra Noll, who lives in Socorro County and worries how the project will affect migrating birds, ecotourism and the rural communities nearby. We know we need to transition to more renewable energy, but the question is how to balance that with local impacts?
Correspondent: Laura Paskus, NMiF environmental producer
Guests:
Sandra Noll, Protect Our Rio Grande
John Ryan, executive director, SunZia New Mexico
Resources:
SunZia New Mexico project homepage: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2011785/510
To submit public comment on the project: https://www.blm.gov/press-release/comment-period-and-public-meeting-update-sunzia-southwest-transmission-project