FARMINGTON — The City of Farmington announced tonight it has signed an agreement with Acme Equities LLC that will keep the San Juan Generating Station open after 2022.
Acme Equities LLC is a New York-based private holding firm that focuses on North American energy assets, according to a press release from the city.
Farmington has been working to find an operator for the San Juan Generating Station after Public Service Company of New Mexico, the majority owner of the power plant, announced plans to close it in 2022.
“After two years of what feels like a nearly full-time focus on a single issue, we have reached a milestone that few people thought remotely possible,” City Manager Rob Mayes said in a text message to The Daily Times.
Mayes said identifying and entering into an agreement with a new owner means the San Juan Generating Station and the associated San Juan Mine can operate well beyond 2022. He said the agreement potentially saves 1,600 jobs and avoids countless uncalculated economic tolls to the community.
“The (San Juan Generating Station) is environmentally responsible, even meeting the stringent emission standards proposed by President (Barack) Obama,” he said. “It is economically viable as a lowest cost producer of electricity to New Mexicans, and it has decades of service life remaining with minimal capital investment. Prematurely scrapping it at the expense of tax payers and rate payers is simply irresponsible and unnecessary.”
He said a team of people began fighting to keep the power plant open while former Mayor Tommy Roberts was in office and Mayor Nate Duckett picked up the mantle when he took office last year.
“Make no mistake, there is work yet to do,” he said. “But this is a momentous milestone in the process.”
The Daily Times will follow this story as more details become available.
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