State of emergency declared, NewMexico running out of natural Gas!!!!!!!

I live in the Zuni Mountains South of Thoreau and it has been brutal. The thermometer in my car said it was -25. I am thankful I have propane and a wood stove.

reply to post by ShAuNmAn-X


is that the coldest the winters been there in a long time?
i dont remember it being this bad , says it might get to the 30s tomorrow crossing the fingers.

Not sure if it's been posted yet, but here is an interesting article I found from KOB-TV:
Gas company explains cause of shortage

This is the part that really caught my attention:

Up to 32,000 customers across the state are doing without natural gas.

That's by far the highest figure I've heard yet.

Originally posted by Jophiel

Originally posted by syncelebrity
its never that cold there. I have family worried living there!!! They are freaking out

very true, we were not expecting it to hit us this hard
and be this cold, my water has been frozen for a day
now, ice forming on the inside of my windows, despite
the heater being on, roads are really bad, i thought it
warm up today, the news said it would, but its just as cold
if not colder, only diffrence is there is no snow. now we
have this shortage.

Jophiel,
Wow~
That really is reason for great concern.
I'm feel so bad for everyone going through this!
Strange that it's soo cold there..
but not really i guess..
Considering the changes we are seeing these days..
Still very disconcerting.

Thanks for sharing this.
I wouldnt have heard about it otherwise.
I hope you, and everyone else can find the warmth they need.

I am currently on the u.s. east coast..
and I had to literally claw hammer my vehicle out of ice today.
Took at least 30 minutes..
and then I stilll got stuck 2 times and had to shovel/break it out some more.
When all was said and done, and I was driving down the road..
it was 55 minutes spent just getting that damn car out. lol

I though that was unpleasant ..
Until now. :- /

I wonder how this will/can be remedied?

Blessings and warmth! to all of you.
Thanks.

reply to post by AdmireTheDistance


that is the first i have seen that figure
that is sad, and also the gov just closed all state
non essential offices for tomorrow,

reply to post by Ahmose


thank you for you prayers and blessings
hopefully they will fix this soon, and things will
warm up and return to normal.

they just closed the interstae down
in corpus christi texas due to freezing rain
according to AP, all of this just came out of no where.

Here is the most complete and up-to-date list of closings/delays I've been able to find:

Closings & Delays

Some on the list are due to weather conditions, but the majority are related to the gas/energy shortage.

edit: Interesting, Sandia National Labs is now closed Friday, and all Los Alamos National Labs sites are "essential personnel only". First I've heard of those....

reply to post by AdmireTheDistance


thanks for that list!! i was having to piece it together from many pages
\

reply to post by Jophiel


I don't know which I think she is in santa fe if I am not mistaken if she is still there. I haven't talked to her in a long long time. Unfortunately lost touch.

Here's another site I found with regular updates regarding the situation:
Energy emergency updates, news releases

Take a few minutes to check on your friends and neighbors tonight, New Mexico! It's getting real cold out there...

reply to post by AdmireTheDistance


this made me laugh, who would do this lol?

PNM not planning outages - Someone claiming to be with PNM has been calling residents of the town of Bernalillo saying they may experience a power outage tonight. A spokesman for PNM says no such outages are planned.

also saw this which puts into perspective the importance of what is going on here

Statement from Rep. Ben Ray Luján - "I have alerted FEMA, the White House, and a number of federal agencies of the seriousness of this emergency and urged them to take any action at their disposal to help New Mexicans get through this. I have also reached out to the National Nuclear Security Administration and Los Alamos National Laboratory to ask them to limit the use of natural gas at LANL until we can restore heat to all our communities."

Officials call for electricity, gas conservation - El Paso Electric Company has notified the Doña Ana County Emergency Operations Center that supply levels remain low throughout the region, and consumers are strongly encouraged to conserve power wherever possible. A decision will be made later today about whether El Paso Electric will recommend that large-scale power users close again on Friday. Although planned, rolling blackouts were suspended just after 11 p.m. last night, much colder temperatures expected overnight may result in additional brief blackouts in targeted areas. Residents also are being asked to turn back thermostats to conserve on natural gas. Area lines are steadily losing pressure, which could result in catastrophic losses of residential heating capacity. Throughout Wednesday and today, county-wide, law-enforcement agencies continue to respond to vehicle collisions due to poor driving conditions. The situation will worsen as night falls and moisture on the surface becomes black ice. Motorists are strongly encouraged to stay off the roads except for emergencies, and to exercise extreme caution, low speed and plenty of space between vehicles in traffic to minimize collisions. The Doña Ana County Emergency Operations Center has been activated as of 7 a.m. Wednesday to marshal resources as needed throughout the county. Officials encourage people with companion animals to bring them indoors, and to check frequently on elderly and infirm neighbors. The Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority is operating normally to receive both emergency 911 calls and non-emergency calls at (575) 526-0795.

and this wow!

State emergency operations center activates to level three due to power and gas outages across New Mexico - Cabinet Secretary Designate Michael S. Duvall has ordered the State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to activate to a Level 3 operations status due to the effects of the extreme cold in communities across New Mexico. Various utility companies are unable to keep up with the high demand for increased power and fuel due to sub-zero temperatures. Activation to this level means additional Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management staff will operate the EOC and coordinate any local requests for assistance. The EOC will also stay in communication with emergency managers in the state in order to anticipate additional problems that may be created by the extremely cold temperatures

What gets me is that New Mexico has the seconded largest natural gas fields in the United States. The Permian Basin and the San Juan Basin. So why is there a natural gas shortage in New Mexico? Where are the Pile lines that were going to be built. Could it be the crazy environmentalist that shut some of the fields down and stopped some pipe lines ? The other factors such as federal protections for something or other. All the rules and wacky regulation obstacles’ in the way of development. Maybe Senators Jeff Bingaman (D–NM), Sen. Udall, Tom [D-NM],Rep. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM1],Rep. Luján, Ben [D-NM3]. There are many reasons but in the end the people freeze for profit and stupid regulations. Now the politicians are saying NM Natural fields should be restored, after they shut some down for some reason or another. This is pure political smack and greed. Those of you who live in New Mexico wake up . In the next election 2012 vote some of these crooks out office or you will continue to freeze. You had your chance in November and you failed! There is no reason people should freeze in The State of New Mexico. NONE!

Take Note of your new Governor she is kicking some butt. And there is good reason. I just recall she fired and entire worthless board; then sent lots of others packing. The Governor even stated there is too much regulation on Natural Gas Development, that is just stopping the development cold. Then your Electric Company has this new rate scheme going on . Sure they tell your bill goes up $16.00 what they don’t tell you is that it’s a kilowatt step increase. $16.00 is for the lowest users on a kilowatts which is some kilowatt factor that no one is even uses. On that basis alone it starts broken up into further increases per kilowatt. In the end your average electric bill will be over $ 300-600 bucks per month. because you pay on a kilowatt rate scale, not a flat kilowatt usage. thus your rate changes to higher amount per kilowatt usage. You guys will be paying more than anyone else in the country. I'm sure Natural Gas rates will be just like your electric rates.

Its time to un-regulate your utility companies in New Mexico or have you guys figured that out yet? Not to mention your utility companies sell more state resources to other states so unregulated them. this is why you have a shortage, not to mention no pipe lines for the gas. Your utility companies put their cash in Texas development. So in turn NM paying residents paid for development in another state again Texas has new pipe lines. Make them compete and regulate what stays in New Mexico.

New Mexico PNM's electric funded an Arizona Nuclear plant back in the 80's I can't belive this is still going on only with natural gas and electric now. So what changed ?

New Mexico has also been trying to get new pipe lines built but there are fights over funds to do this. that is also one of the problems NM is facing. I know you guys like the new space port. It's high time to stop funding Virgin Airlines CEO with state funds and put that money into some pipe lines and needed state resources.The space port does not count as a state resource.

Like I said there is no reason for NM residents to freeze when the state of New Mexico is the 2nd largest supplier in the United States.

Originally posted by SJE98
What gets me is that New Mexico has the seconded largest natural gas fields in the United States. The Permian Basin and the San Juan Basin. So why is there a natural gas shortage in New Mexico? Could it be the crazy environmentalist that shut some of the fields down? The other factors such as federal protections for something or other. All the rules and wacky regulation obstacles’ in the way of development. Maybe Senators Jeff Bingaman (D–NM), Sen. Udall, Tom [D-NM],Rep. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM1],Rep. Luján, Ben [D-NM3]. There are many reasons but in the end the people freeze for profit and stupid regulations. Now the politicians are saying NM Natural fields should be restored, after they shut some down for some reason or another. This is pure political smack and greed. Those of you who live in New Mexico wake up . In the next election 2012 vote some of these crooks out office or you will continue to freeze. You had your chance in November and you failed! There is no reason people should freeze in The State of New Mexico. NONE!

Take Note of your new Governor she is kicking some butt. And there is good reason. I just recall she fired and entire worthless board. Then said there is too much regulation on Natural Gas Development. That is just stopping the development Cold. Then your Electric Company has this new rate scheme going on . Sure they tell you bill goes up $16.00 what they don’t tell you is that it’s a steps increase. $16.00 is for the lowest users on a kilowatts basis that is also broken down in further steps and increases. In the end your average electric bill will be over $ 300 bucks per month.

It time to unregulated your utilities companies in New Mexico or have you guys figured that out yet? Not to mention your utility companies sell to other states, so unregulated them. Make them compete.

Like I said there is no reason for NM residents to freeze when the state is the 2nd largest supplier in the United States

well said !, and i hope are new republican gov weeds out the bad apples in newmexico.

reply to post by flyingviolet


This is really really really bad! Our thoughts are with you in New Mexico (and the USA too). Have been seeing footage of the snow storm and cold weather over there and I am freaking out. I couldn't ever imagine being in that type of cold. Lets hope you do get an early spring just as the groundhog predicted.

-4 degrees here in Carlsbad this morning, and snow on the ground too. Electricity went out for a while yesterday morning, but we have gas. I guess it helps to be close to Texas.

I recall finding, somewhere on the www, a graph showing the increase of natural disasters since the early 1950's. I realised quickly that the graph was exponential - it is now approaching vertical. Scary...

reply to post by Jophiel


Can you please provide links/sources for all the off-site content you are pasting in.

Thanks.