7/30/09
Tensions emerged between Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative’s newly-elected trustees and Co-op staff over green energy and power outages July 22 at the Board’s first regular meeting since the elections.
Three of the freshman trustees — Rio Arriba County Chairman Elias Coriz, Tsay Corporation Chief Executive Officer Ron Lovato and Española electrician Kenny Borrego — had won their seats running on campaign themes emphasizing the use of more solar and other renewable energy sources for Co-op members.
“I want to help you guys in the Co-op get to the next level,” Borrego told incumbent trustees and staff.
But incumbent trustees and Co-op staff offered only lukewarm pledges to work with the newcomers.
“I’m hoping we can work together in harmony,” Trustee and former Board president Johnny Jaramillo said.
This sentiment was echoed by incumbent Trustee Manuel Garcia, who was defeated by Borrego in his bid for the Board vice-chair seat.
Co-op engineer Virgil Coriz was less than enthusiastic about the newcomers’ emphasis on green energy.
“(Co-op General Manager Ernesto Gonzales) directed me and three staff members to form a renewable energy task force,” Virgil Coriz told Lovato. “Mostly it’s the right thing to do. Cost-wise, it’s not. But the trend is, the nation’s heading in that direction anyway.”
Virgil Coriz is not related to Elias Coriz, both men said.
Asked by new Trustee-At-Large Patrick Montoya whether it would be feasible for the Co-op to identify land to purchase for a wind farm, Virgil Coriz shrugged.
“Anything’s possible these days,” Virgil Coriz said.
Green energy was not the only thing on the new trustees’ minds.
Lovato grilled Co-op Operations Manager Johnny Lujan on December 2008 power outages, demanding to know whether outages were more common in 2008 than previous years and why data on outages has not been analyzed to identify trends in their underlying causes. Lujan confirmed that the outages have become more frequent over recent years.
“Some of our infrastructure’s getting old,” Lujan said.
Prolonged outages in December were due in large part to the Tri-State Generation and Distribution Association’s failure to replace a disabled permanent transformer at the Hernandez substation, Lujan said. Smaller temporary transformers failed in December, plunging much of the County into darkness for hours at a time.
Tri-State first identified the problem in August 2008 but will not replace the transformer before 2010, Lujan said.
“Is it unrealistic to expect Tri-State to provide a realistic estimated date for that,” Lovato said.
Elias Coriz and Lovato also balked at being asked to approve a six-inch thick, new four-year plan at the meeting before ever seeing it.
“The new members need some time, maybe 30 days, to read through this,” Elias Coriz said.
The report, which will detail planned work on substations and the Co-op grid from 2009 through 2012, was not yet complete but needed to be approved before the Co-op could apply for a $23 million federal loan to pay for anticipated projects, Gonzales told the trustees.
Projects included in the plan called for replacing transformers and expanding substation capacities in Gallina and Jemez Springs, Virgil Coriz and Gonzales said.
Only Elias Coriz and Lovato voted against approving the plan, which passed by a vote of 9 to 2.
But Elias Coriz subsequently shifted gears, blaming Gonzales for the misunderstanding.
“Mr. Gonzales did not clarify that (the work plan and the loan application) are different,” Elias Coriz said. “I voted against the motion but with clarification that we’re just authorizing the work plan, that’s fine.”