{"id":1278,"date":"2007-02-19T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-19T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/gutierrez-criticized-after-changing-her-vote-and-reviving-85-million-taxpayer-subsidy-for-coal-plant\/"},"modified":"2007-02-19T09:13:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-19T15:13:00","slug":"gutierrez-criticized-after-changing-her-vote-and-reviving-85-million-taxpayer-subsidy-for-coal-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/gutierrez-criticized-after-changing-her-vote-and-reviving-85-million-taxpayer-subsidy-for-coal-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Gutierrez criticized after changing her vote and reviving $85-million taxpayer subsidy for coal plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Rep. Joni Gutierrez<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, is in the hot seat after changing her vote and siding with Republicans on Friday to revive a proposed taxpayer subsidy for a coal plant in Northwestern New Mexico<\/st1:place>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gutierrez voted on Jan. 29 along with other Democrats on the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee to table a bill that would give an $85-million tax break to a huge coal plant that will be built on the Navajo Nation. Such action usually kills a proposal.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But on Friday, Gutierrez made a motion to revive the bill and voted along with Republicans to bring the proposal back to life. Following the 7-6 vote, House Bill 178<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Tom Taylor<\/a>, R-Farmington and the minority leader, will be reconsidered by the committee as early as today.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

The tax credit is controversial because the plant will send an estimated 10.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year. It\u2019s going to be built by Sithe Global Power of Houston, in partnership with the Navajo Nation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Richardson has a goal of reducing such emissions throughout the state by 11 million tons each year and has said the plant concerns him, but declined to comment when I contacted his office Friday, except to say, through a spokesman, that he is focused on his own legislative agenda.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The plant could provide power to major cities in Arizona<\/st1:state> and Nevada<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. California<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> won\u2019t buy electricity from it because the plant\u2019s design doesn\u2019t meet the state\u2019s emission standards, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. The project has been controversial among Navajos and other residents of the area.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gutierrez has not responded to my phone and e-mail requests for comment on what changed her mind.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But her shift prompted the Conservation Voters of New Mexico<\/a> to call me and later send out a news release complaining about Gutierrez\u2019s switch.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis would completely offset the governor\u2019s climate agenda,\u201d Conservation Voters Political Director Leanne Leith told me.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She said the group had heard rumors that Gutierrez might change her vote, but the move still came as a surprise.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the news release, the group\u2019s executive director, Sandy Buffett, said Gutierrez\u2019s vote \u201csingle-handedly resuscitated a stalled subsidy for dirty coal. The State of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> should not be subsidizing an out-of-state corporation to build a dirty coal plant using old, polluting technology. If taxpayer money is going to be used for energy projects, we should be investing in the best available clean and renewable energy technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, it seems that Representative Gutierrez may have mistakenly concluded that her constituents in her district would not be concerned with this issue,\u201d Buffett said. \u201cBut I believe that all New Mexicans want economic development that will create clean, high-wage jobs while protecting our air, land, water and precious taxpayer resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Before Friday\u2019s vote, Gutierrez had a perfect rating from Conservation Voters, based on her votes in the past two sessions.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt pains me to know that Representative Gutierrez\u2019s conservation scorecard took a big hit today but, then again, so did New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s environment,\u201d Buffett said.<\/o:p><\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Joni Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, is in the hot seat after changing her vote and siding with Republicans on Friday to revive a proposed taxpayer subsidy for a coal plant in Northwestern New Mexico. Gutierrez voted on Jan. 29 along with other Democrats on the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee to table a bill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}