Dear Friend,
This week, I was excited to welcome the announcement of what will be the largest wind farm ever built in New Mexico. The Sagamore Wind Project 20 miles south of Portales will bring hundreds of jobs to a rural New Mexico community and more affordable electric bills for consumers across eastern New Mexico. This new $845 million project and the jobs it will create in rural New Mexico are exactly why I worked so hard to pass the wind production tax credit in the Senate.
Two years ago, I led the bipartisan group of lawmakers that secured a multi-year extension of wind and solar production and investment tax credits that pave the way for companies to invest in projects in our state. Over the last few years, New Mexico has seen a significant increase in construction of more utility-scale wind farms made possible by those pro-growth tax policies. This new wind project in Roosevelt County will join El Cabo Wind Farm in Torrance County and three new large wind farms under construction in Curry County.
Every new major wind project in New Mexico represents hundreds of construction jobs, and dozens of permanent wind technician and maintenance jobs. These projects represent billions of dollars of private capital investment in our state, hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in lease payments to landowners, and a permanently expanded tax base for schools and roads in rural communities.
Wind and solar energy are growing 12 times faster than the rest of the economy. In fact, wind technician is the fastest growing job in America by a wide margin. With our bountiful wind and solar resources, New Mexico should be the epicenter of this rapidly growing clean energy economy. I will continue fighting to create a policy environment that supports this major opportunity for job creation in rural communities across our state. If we make bold and pragmatic decisions now, we can bring thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars of investment to rural New Mexico.
Sincerely,
MARTIN HEINRICH
United States Senator