Eight different statehouses across the nation are considering bills criminalizing protests on property owned by the the oil and gas industry which critics say could squelch pipeline protests. Pat Vincent Collawn, CEO of PNM & Head of Edison Electric Institute is funding ALEC and bringing corporate support to these pieces of legislation that criminalize the very pipeline protestors' lives.
This is the same company head that some environmental organizations in New Mexico are partnering with to speedily pass sweeping energy legislation, SB 489, without considering amendment language that would ensure regulatory safeguards for competition that would protect ratepayers and impacted communities from further investment in gas and nuclear and address the need for appropriate consultation and assessment. PNM is actually trying to change the law and lessen consumer protection standards and undermine PRC ability to regulate.
New Energy Economy’s reputation and professionalism are currently being disparaged through a paid-for public media campaign by PNM & these same traditional allies of the environmental movement. They have chosen to question the motives that drive us to fight for corporate accountability. The linked article will help you understand why New Energy Economy refuses to compromise the integrity of our work to protect ratepayers, land, air, water and human health, and hold to account the corporate powers of New Mexico’s energy sector.
New Energy Economy’s mission remains to build: a fossil-fuel and nuclear-free economy that stewards both the health of our environment and our communities; a Just Transition to renewable energy that rectifies social inequity, invigorates our democracy, and fosters economic and environmental justice.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), is an organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States.
The latest bills being supported by ALEC dole out heavy criminal penalties and fines to those who protest pipelines in the effort to protect the public commons and community ways of life. This legislation is an outgrowth of the reactionary movement against protests like those which ensued at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota in 2016, are model bills from the industry-funded American Legislative Exchange Council and the Council of State Governments.
Comments