Record Cold Temps BLAME GAME

KOB TV - The blame game continues for the February gas outage that left thousands of New Mexicans in the cold, but a new report in Santa Fe could clear New Mexico Gas Company of any possible wrongdoing. At a Public Regulation Commission hearing Tuesday, KOB Eyewitness News 4 obtained a staff report from a PRC engineer that basically says the gas company followed policies, regulations and the law when it cut off gas to thousands of customers. During the hearing, New Mexico gas officials went over presentations they have been using to justify cutting off large parts of northern and southern New Mexico from natural gas during a severe cold snap.

One of those slides showed a world map of average temperature fluctuations for the storm right before the outage. On the slide, parts of New Mexico and Antarctica experienced the most severe temperature fluctuations. The report from PRC staff says New Mexico Gas tried to get large customers to voluntarily reduce their gas use before they were forced to take communities like Taos and Espanola offline in order to avoid a system wide crash. It also says the company tried to buy extra gas before the cold snap but the supply was interrupted by shortages. Company representatives said they based their decisions on which areas could be shut off the fastest. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Record Cold Temps BLAME GAME