USA, New Mexico:

Geothermal Brings Jobs to New Mexico (Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter)

by New Mexico Land Commissioner Ray Powell

The landscape around the Lightning Dock

Geothermal Project (Courtesy Cryq Energy)

As New Mexico’s Commissioner of Public Lands, my job is to generate revenue from our 13 million acres of State Trust Lands while protecting the health of these lands and resources for future generations. Despite last year’s record-breaking $653 million in State Land Office-generated revenue, which goes to support our state’s public schools, universities and hospitals, we at the Land Office are always searching for ways to earn more money for the people of New Mexico and to better protect our lands and the environment. One energy source that can do both things is geothermal, an abundant renewable resource in our state.

This is an exciting time for geothermal power production in our state. For example, about 20 miles south of Lordsburg, on federal land, is a project to generate electricity from relatively shallow groundwater that is heated to more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit by the earth’s natural heat. Cyrq, the company that is developing the project, already has an agreement in place with Public Service Company of New Mexico to sell the plant’s 10 megawatts of electric power to the utility. Construction on the project is expected to begin in the last half of this year.

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