One utility regulator recuses self, other doesn’t in solar case
Company, affiliates were donors in commissioners’ failed re-election bids
One state public regulation commissioner has recused herself but another has declined to do so in a case involving a solar company that was a major campaign contributor to the commissioners’ re-election campaigns.
Commissioner Lynda Lovejoy filed a notice last week that she won’t take part in deciding whether El Paso Electric receives approval to purchase a solar farm to be built by Affordable Solar Installation of Albuquerque.
But Public Regulation Commission Chairman Sandy Jones on Tuesday rejected a request that he also step aside from El Paso Electric’s case, saying the political donations from Affordable Solar won’t color his decision.
In their bids for re-election, Jones received at least $13,000 in contributions and Lovejoy at least $4,500 from Affordable Solar and related companies and individuals, according to the commissioners’ campaign finance reports.
Jones and Lovejoy received the money after voting to reject a PRC hearing examiner’s recommendation and allow Public Service Company of New Mexico to purchase five solar farms to be built by Affordable Solar. The commissioners, both Democrats, were defeated in the June primary election.
New Energy Economy, a Santa Fe advocacy group for renewable energy, had requested the recusals of Jones and Lovejoy in El Paso Electric’s case, saying the campaign donations from Affordable Solar created an “obvious appearance of impropriety.”
Lovejoy’s notice that she is stepping aside from the case didn’t explain the reason for the action. Reached Wednesday by email, she wrote, “I will circulate my own press release at the appropriate time.”
In his notice that he won’t recuse himself, Jones said any contention that the Affordable Solar donations will affect his position is without merit.
The commission chairman also rejected New Energy Economy’s argument that he is biased against the group “notwithstanding NEE’s apparent disdain for capitalism” and “their anti-utility position that also opposes clean energy and opposes New Mexico businesses’ participation in such projects.”
“I will evaluate the merits of the [El Paso Electric] project independently of their position,” Jones wrote.
New Energy Economy also requested Jones and Lovejoy recuse themselves from ruling on Public Service Company of New Mexico’s proposed future mix of coal, solar and other power to meet customer demand.
PNM’s parent company donated $440,000 to a political action committee that campaigned for the re-election of Jones and Lovejoy.
Last month, the commissioners declined to step away from the case, but Lovejoy has since reversed herself.
Lovejoy told the Farmington Daily Times that she didn’t have the money for a court fight with New Energy Economy.
The group is now asking the state Supreme Court to force Jones from the PNM case.