Heinrich Presses Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Housing Shortages in Los Alamos, Questions Proposal to Build Transmission Line Through the Caja del Rio, Emphasizes Need to Invest in American-Made Grid Components, & Highlights New Mexico’s Potential to Lead in Geothermal
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee to review the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Budget Request for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) pressed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Jill Hruby on a number of issues impacting working families across New Mexico, including:
Investing in American manufacturing and American-made clean energy products:
The Inflation Reduction Act has made historic investments to fight inflation and cut costs, grow the economy, create high-quality jobs, lower the nation’s carbon emissions, and bring manufacturing back to the United States. Heinrich recently welcomed Secretary Granholm to New Mexico to highlight how investments from the landmark legislation are creating a manufacturing renaissance and positioning New Mexico as a national leader in an American-made clean energy future.
Heinrich began his questioning by highlighting the Secretary's recent visit to New Mexico, touting the Inflation Reduction Act’s impact in the state, “You actually joined me to see the very first wind towers coming off the line at Arcosa’s manufacturing plant in Belén, New Mexico, and that's a great example of how the Inflation Reduction Act is bringing manufacturing back to the United States. And I believe that we need to do the same for components of our power grid, like transformers.”
Heinrich followed up by questioning Granholm on how DOE plans to invest federal funding in American-made grid components like transformers, “Can you talk a little bit about how your budget request of $113 million for the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains can help ensure that we have American-made grid components?”
Granholm thanked Senator Heinrich on his leadership to invest in American-made power grid components and discussed the work DOE is doing to prioritize American manufacturing, “We're doing a number of things on this and thank you for your leadership on it. Our Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, as an example, did this with heat pumps through the Defense Production Act and was able to essentially seed domestic industry growth here. And we'd like to do the same with grid components, particularly transformers...there will be that expansion.”
On LANL’s proposed transmission line through Caja del Rio:
Heinrich questioned Administrator Jill Hruby on the need to pick the right options to power LANL, questioning NNSA’s proposal to build a new transmission line through Caja del Rio.
Heinrich asked, “NNSA decided that building a new transmission line was going to be necessary. Now I know when NNSA first looked at this, energized reconductoring felt like a little bit of a stretch, but we've seen enormous progress since then. Is energized reconductoring something you'd be willing to evaluate to meet LANL's power needs?”
Hruby confirmed, “The answer is yes. This is a big process of making sure that we're working with all the stakeholders in New Mexico. The first time we looked at reconductering, it actually required larger areas. There has been a lot of progress made in the two years since we last looked at that.”
Heinrich followed up on the subject, emphasizing the need for DOE to evaluate all options, “I've heard concerns from Tribes about the current proposal as well. So, I just think we need to evaluate all our options here.”
In December, Heinrich led a letter to the NNSA alongside U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) requesting an extension for the comment period for the agency’s draft Environmental Assessment of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade project. As part of the project, NNSA is proposing a new power transmission line that will run through the Caja del Rio.
On the role of New Mexico’s National Labs in the future of AI innovation:
The Department of Energy recently announced a major proposal to perform groundbreaking work at the intersection of AI and science, energy, and national security. Heinrich asked Granholm and Hruby how national labs like Los Alamos and Sandia can play a role in this project.
Granholm responded, “The president's executive order on AI has unleashed a whole swath of activity across agencies. One of the important deadlines we will meet is to be able to train up 500 AI researchers and scientists [in the federal government]. This will be critical for, not just the federal government, but across the span of things.
Hruby added the specific role of NNSA, “We need the computers and models, and we need to do good things with them. We need to make sure nobody else is taking advantage of finding this information.”
Housing shortages in Los Alamos:
Heinrich highlighted his work to increase Los Alamos National Lab’s economic impact during his tenure, “During my tenure in Congress, I've worked really hard to nearly double the budget at Los Alamos National Lab. But as you know, with that growth comes a lot of growing pains and particularly in housing.”
Heinrich questioned Hruby, “What can we do to make sure that we're addressing the housing challenges that face Los Alamos in particular?
Hruby responded, “We have opened an office in Santa Fe so that office workers, not working in the labs, can be closer to other housing in Santa Fe and the broader region. We've also looked at options to see if we could open office spaces on the north side of the lab and that's still being evaluated.”
Hruby continued, “We've offered housing assistance to the temporary workers and construction workers in the area, so that we can get them there to work on the plutonium facility. We're trying to be creative about the options that we can provide.”
Investing in advanced geothermal technology:
Heinrich emphasized the potential for New Mexico to lead in geothermal energy production, “New Mexico is well poised to be a top geothermal energy producer, something that's getting a lot more attention now. In New Mexico we've not only got the resources, but the skilled workers from the oil and gas industry, with a very similar skill set. And we've got Sandia's Geothermal Research program backing us up.
Heinrich continued, questioning Granholm on how the $125 million he’s pushing to secure would help DOE reach its geothermal energy goals, “Can you talk a little bit about how this investment could help DOE reach its goals for advanced geothermal and just the state of the technology right now? I don't think people understand how we’re on the verge of something really, really big here.”
Granholm affirmed Heinrich’s assessment, responding, “Yes, it is amazing. You will be able to prove that you can have geothermal in a variety of geologies and in a variety of locations, even where the resource is deeper into the surface all because of the advances made in hydraulic fracturing technology from the oil and gas industry. The future of geothermal is such a bipartisan issue.”
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