I remember the day I moved to New Mexico. I had spent years studying in Arizona, my home state of 20 years, learning about all the ways the climate crisis would impact our beautiful deserts. With our high risk of droughts and wildfires, our limited resources are especially at stake in the face of more frequent weather extremes.
After graduating, I was excited and determined to do something about it, and I did not hesitate when the opportunity arose to become involved in advocacy in New Mexico. Though I’d never been here before, I was immediately struck by the sense of community. The underlying state pride, the determination to lift each other up, and the tendency to be considerate of the collective good made me feel right at home.
Since that day I’ve worked to protect our natural resources like they were my own, because in a way they very much are. Climate change doesn’t care about borders, as we have unfortunately seen the terrible examples of these last few months. But fortunately, neither do solutions.
The Borderlands Wind Project is one such solution. The 100 MW project will be built in Catron County, close to the New Mexico-Arizona border. It is intended to be a collaboration between my two home states – a way to generate energy and revenue for our communities and a means to purchase clean, reliable energy for Tucson Electric and help them meet their own goals and commitments.
As we have heard and seen repeatedly these last few months, we are stronger when we work together. Thinking in the short-term, our communities will benefit from the economic rejuvenation provided through projects like the Borderlands Wind facility such as construction jobs, revenue, and investments. Long-term, the existing collaboration could make future projects, investments, or even grid modernization efforts easier to accomplish.
I consider myself a child of the desert, and as such I’m determined to protect our fragile resources from the worst repercussions of climate change in any way I can. This crisis is one of unprecedented scales and it will require a national teamwork effort to match.