New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has appointed three members to the state’s revamped Public Regulation Commission, a panel that up until late December had five elected members.
The new PRC members are Gabriel Aguilera, Brian Moore and Patrick O’Connell. The appointments were effective Jan. 1.
The switch from a five-member elected PRC to a three-member appointed commission is the result of a change to the state constitution proposed by the legislature and ratified by voters in 2020.
The governor chose the new commissioners from a pool of nine candidates selected by a seven-member nominating committee.
Gabriel Aguilera | NIPCCAguilera had worked for FERC since 2007, most recently serving as senior policy adviser in the commission’s Office of Energy Market Regulation Western region. He was appointed to a four-year term.
Moore served in the state House of Representatives from 2001 to 2008 representing eastern New Mexico. He served on the state’s Renewable Energy Transmission Authority Board and the governor’s Economic Recovery Council. Moore, who is president and CEO of Ranch Market supermarket in Clayton, was appointed to a two-year term.
O’Connell was the Clean Energy Program interim director at Western Resource Advocates. He worked for Public Service Company of New Mexico, New Mexico Gas Co. and the Sangre de Cristo Water Co. He was appointed to a six-year term.
Brian Moore | New Mexico Legislature
“These appointees are experienced professionals who have the skills needed to oversee an energy transition that is affordable, effective and equitable for every New Mexico community,” Lujan Grisham said in announcing the appointments on Dec. 30.
The PRC Nominating Committee accepted applications for the PRC positions through the end of September. The committee chose 15 applicants to interview. During a Dec. 2 meeting, the committee voted to forward nine of those names to the governor for consideration.
In addition to Aguilera, Moore and O’Connell, the nominating committee’s list included James Ellison, principal grid analyst at Sandia National Laboratories; Carolyn Glick, a former PRC hearing examiner; Joseph Little, the former general counsel to the Pueblo of Zia; Art O’Donnell, a former senior analyst with the CPUC; law professor Amy Stein; and Cholla Koury, chief deputy in the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.
Since its formation in 1996, the PRC consisted of five elected members representing different regions of the state. With the change to a three-member appointed PRC, Native American advocacy groups say indigenous people are losing their voice on the PRC.
Patrick O’Connell | Western Resource Advocates
“For our voice to be eliminated in this way is unjust,” Krystal Curley, executive director of Indigenous Lifeways, told the nominating committee on Dec. 2.
Indigenous Lifeways and two other groups — Three Sisters Collective and the New Mexico Social Justice Equity Institute — filed a petition with the New Mexico Supreme Court in September to overturn the change, saying the ballot language was misleading and voters weren’t aware they would lose the ability to elect commissioners. But after hearing arguments in the case, the court rejected the petition in November.
In announcing the PRC appointments last week, Lujan Grisham acknowledged concerns about a potential lack of Native American representation on the commission.
To address those concerns, the governor signed an executive order on Dec. 30 creating a Tribal Advisory Council to advise the PRC. Lujan Grisham will appoint the advisory council’s first set of four members by Jan. 30.
“It’s extremely important that we ensure tribal voices are heard on issues before the PRC, regardless of who is appointed to the commission now and into the future,” the governor said.