New Energy Economy is a left-of-center nonprofit organization which aims to transition all of New Mexico’s energy from conventional fuels and nuclear power to environmentalist sources. New Energy Economy has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ¹

History

New Energy Economy was founded in 2004 to build the political power and regulatory framework necessary to remove all conventional fuel and nuclear energy from New Mexico. ² New Energy combines targeted legal campaigns with public education, including campaigns in schools and community centers against the fossil fuel and nuclear energy sectors. ³

New Energy is focused on building a movement of young people and Native Americans who have “borne the brunt” of the modern industrial economy, with a focus on left-wing economic programs. ⁴

Activity

New Energy is involved in both education and advocacy work, focusing on using large-scale government regulation as a tool to push environmentalist energy austerity.

Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM)

In 2015, New Energy Economy was one of several environmentalist organizations opposing the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) when it proposed to shut down part of the San Juan Generating Station, a coal-based power plant. The proposal would shut down part of the plant and replace its lost capacity with natural gas, nuclear power, and some solar power, while continuing to have a large dependence on coal. ⁵

Other environmentalist groups which originally opposed the plan agreed to a deal with the company, signing a stipulation which accepted the mix of energy sources, but also required PNM to file a new case with the Public Regulation Commission to determine the degree to which the coal-based plant should operate following 2022. ⁶ New Energy Economy refused to sign.

After the deal went through, New Energy convinced the New Mexico Supreme Court to consider arguments that four of the five members of the state’s elected regulatory commission should be disqualified from holding office due to their relationships with PNM executives. ⁷ In 2017, PNM announced that they would close the entire San Juan coal plant by 2022. ⁸

New Energy has further clashed with PNM over the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the largest nuclear power facility in the United States. ⁹ New Energy is currently petitioning the Public Regulation Commission to investigate PNM’s nuclear holdings. New Energy also brought a case to the New Mexico Supreme Court in which the court ruled that PNM’s nuclear program is imprudent for consumers. ¹⁰

Legislative Campaigning

In addition to appealing to regulatory agencies to shut down fossil fuel companies, New Energy has attempted to influence the New Mexico legislative agenda. The organization published “Roadmap to 100% Renewables for New Mexico” which advocates total abolition of conventional fuel and nuclear energy in New Mexico. ¹¹ New Energy has also launched a campaign for “Energy Democracy” that advocates not only a full and immediate transition to exclusively environmentalist energy, but a left-of-center social and economic policy program. ¹²

These legislative appeals reflect New Energy’s theory of a “just transition.” New Energy claims that nuclear power and fossil fuels have created “intergenerational trauma.” ¹³ The “just transition” strategy calls for not only ending reliance on fossil fuels, but reconsidering “who controls the process” and “who owns the resources,” advocating for socialist government control of the means of energy production. ¹⁴

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

New Energy Economy was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ¹⁵

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ¹⁶ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ¹⁷

People and Funding

New Energy Economy is funded by public donations, totaling $2,963,714 from 2013 to 2017. ¹⁸

The staff includes people with histories of left-of-center organizing. Staff member Miles Conway served for 15 years in labor organizing in Mexico, and attorney Aaron El Sabrout is an open anti-capitalist who believes in “direct action toward a future beyond colonialism and capitalism.” ¹⁹

Mariel Nanasi, the organization’s president, has a reputation for being aggressive and unyielding, which has led other environmentalist groups to criticize New Energy Economy as counterproductive. ²⁰ Nanasi herself has a long history of organizing in anti-war and civil rights movements. ²¹

New Energy also boasts a powerful left-of-center advisory board. Chairman Michael McCally is a physician and environmental scientist who served as treasurer of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, while Vice-Chairwoman Gay Block is an internationally renowned photographer and left-of-center philanthropist. ²² Susan Tarman serves as treasurer of New Energy Economy, after having served as the executive director of Amnesty International Santa Fe for ten years. Other board members include John Fogarty, a former board member for Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Mike Pertschuk, former president of Common Cause and chair of the Federal Trade Commission under President Jimmy Carter’s administration. ²³

1. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
2. “What We Do.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/what-we-do
3. “What We Do.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/what-we-do.
4. “What We Do.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/what-we-do.
5. Terrell, Steve. “Most Vocal Critic of PNM Plans Says Mission Is about Justice.” Santa Fe New Mexican, October 26, 2015. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/most-vocal-critic-of-pnm-plans-says-mission-is-about/article_4f994802-2a0a-5240-b21f-4f16090afa33.html.
6. Terrell, Steve. “Most Vocal Critic of PNM Plans Says Mission Is about Justice.” Santa Fe New Mexican, October 26, 2015. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/most-vocal-critic-of-pnm-plans-says-mission-is-about/article_4f994802-2a0a-5240-b21f-4f16090afa33.html.
7. Terrell, Steve. “Most Vocal Critic of PNM Plans Says Mission Is about Justice.” Santa Fe New Mexican, October 26, 2015. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/most-vocal-critic-of-pnm-plans-says-mission-is-about/article_4f994802-2a0a-5240-b21f-4f16090afa33.html.
8. “Board Members.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/board-members
9. “Bold Legal Action.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/bold-legal-action-1
10. “Bold Legal Action.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/bold-legal-action-1
11. “Bold Legal Action.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/bold-legal-action-1
12. “Energy Democracy.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/energy-democracy
13. “Just Transition.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/justtransition
14. “Just Transition.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/justtransition
15. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
16. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
17. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
18. New Energy Economy, Inc. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax. 2017. Part Three, Section A, Line One.
19. “Staff.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/staff
20. Terrell, Steve. “Most Vocal Critic of PNM Plans Says Mission Is about Justice.” Santa Fe New Mexican, October 26, 2015. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/most-vocal-critic-of-pnm-plans-says-mission-is-about/article_4f994802-2a0a-5240-b21f-4f16090afa33.html.
21. Terrell, Steve. “Most Vocal Critic of PNM Plans Says Mission Is about Justice.” Santa Fe New Mexican, October 26, 2015. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/most-vocal-critic-of-pnm-plans-says-mission-is-about/article_4f994802-2a0a-5240-b21f-4f16090afa33.html.
22. “Board Members” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/board-members
23. “Board Members.” New Energy Economy. Accessed August 22, 2019. https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/board-members