Our little high plains town was treated to -24F this morning. The New Mexico Gas Company found that its supplies from West Texas were insufficient, though the pipeline is intact, so they made some strategic decisions about which communities would get gas, and which would get shut off. The money-and-power locus of Santa Fe and Albuquerque was spared; somehow Taos, Espanola, a couple of towns in the south and several of the pueblos have been cut off.
The good news is that the sun came out today and the temperature rose as high as 20F during the day. Also, the rolling blackouts from Kit Carson electric are largely over. The bad news: it got colder again, there's no gas on the horizon for tomorrow, and everyone will have to re-light their pilot flames once they get word the gas is back.
Our mayor got on the phone with new Governor Susana Martinez to see if NM Gas would extend its work efforts through the night. The answer was no.
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The gas shutoff is in its fourth day, and it's gotten way too long. Thoughts are turning to appropriate forms of revenge: for example, it would be meet and proper for the state Public Regulatory Commission to tell the NM Gas Company, "Your pipelines can stay, but you don't get to manage gas distribution anymore. We'll pay you a rent for the facilities, but you're out."
I heard Governor Martinez (a/k/a Susana La Tejana) was up here yesterday. I didn't know until afterward, or I might have gone Egyptian, brought some paving stones. I think it's been pretty clear throughout that we don't rate much consideration, with her or with NM Gas.
Mayor Cordova has said, "the time for complaining is later, now we have to deal with the crisis." Well put, Mr. Mayor, but let's not omit the complaining later!
The most pernicious of the many theories going around is that our gas was diverted to Dallas to heat the indoor complex for the Super Bowl. I'll admit it isn't a fact, just a theory, but it's not as implausible as one may initially think.
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