Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Hello. 1 test. No. Jo. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. testing one two. That sounds much better. Thanks very much. So, I'd like to call the April 17th, 2026 meeting of the Santa Fe County Planning Commission to order. May we get a roll call vote, please? present.

Sorry, I had to get back in. Thank Thank you very much. So now um please all stand for the pledge of allegiance. This is as big as you can get this thing. What's this? That's when they kicked me out before. So I went

kicked out. I apologize for the technical issues here. Um the first item on the agenda is the introduction of the new planning commission members. Um and so I' I'd ask staff to introduce the new members and the new members. That's everybody there, but we don't want to be excuse us if if we can take a timeout. I just want to solve this overtalking issue. We good? Is everybody muted on Zoom?

Please all mute yourselves on Zoom. We're getting a lot of feedback problems. Thank you. So, uh, staff, do you want to introduce the new planning commission members? And if they would like to say a few words, they're happy to, but of course don't have to.

Sure. Thank you, chair and commissioners. uh our two new commissioners um with the temporary name plates up there representing District 2, Jessica Griffin. She's a planner with the New Mexico Department of Transportation and John Nunabel, an ATL large commissioner, a retired planner, has worked uh in several states around the West, including most recently with the city of Santa Fe.

Thanks very much. We welcome you with your experience in the in the field. So, thanks very much. If you'd like to say something, great. If if not, we can jump in. Okay, let's let's proceed. Um, so the the first item is approval of the agenda. May I get a motion for approval of the agenda? Staff, are there any changes? Mr. Chair, there are no changes to the agenda. Thank you. May I get a motion for approval? Thank you. We have a motion from Vice Chair Trillo. May I have a second? Second. Okay. Uh we have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I.

Anyone opposed?

Okay. The agenda is approved. Uh the next item on on the agenda is request approval of the March 19th planning commission uh minutes that were provided to us ahead of time. And may get a motion for approval. Well, I we do it different ways. I have a number of of suggested corrections and I think they're all nonsubstantive and and uh typographic, but I've been advised to read through these. On page seven of of the minutes, um minus subdivision should be minor subdivision. On page eight, there's an there's an quote and add quote um that is extraneous and should be deleted. At page nine, there's another extraneous um of commissioner um that should be deleted. On page 14, there's a typo in the word typo. It's it's typed as type instead of typo. So, please change type to typo. On page 15, um add I enter to Mr. Chair, may I enter conditions to the record? Um, which staff indicated uh on page 18, change over hard to overhang and page 21 uh delete present before presenting. So they were present presenting. So I'll provide these to uh the the uh scribe um for those corrections. And now I have a may I have a motion for the minutes as including my suggested amendments.

I move to approve the minutes as amended. Thank you, Commissioner Buger. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, Vice Chair Trillo. Um all in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Uh minutes are approved from March 19th. Uh the next item on the agenda is the consent uh is on the consent agenda is a single case. Um the final order for case number 25-5260. Um may I get a motion for approval of this final order?

Thank you. Please speak into your microphone. May I get a second? I'll second the motion. Thank you. We have a motion uh and a second. Um all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? That passes. The next item on the agenda is case number 25-5180, the Globe Malo, Globe Malo Energy LLC project one. And case number 255190 Globe Mal Malow Energy LLC project 2 conditional use permit I think. Are we having some technical issues or we good? Good afternoon, Cherabbo. Planning Commission members. Thank you. Dominic Cisto, Santa Fe County Building and Development Services Supervisor. Today I uh bring forward to you the Globe Mellow. Sorry, having some difficulties here. It's going on its own.

Choose an app. Apologize for the new login on a PC. This is these are the traps we need to run these days. while we're sorting this out. Commissioners and new commissioners, I wonder if you'd um uh give us a little of your background uh to entertain folks while we're getting this up.

Well, I don't know that my background is that But um I can't juggle. So um I uh have been with the New Mexico Department of Transportation for almost for almost 20 years now as the planning director, the planning division director. Um and prior to that, I was the planning director for the town of Silver City for like four or five years. So um yeah, so I've been in New Mexico almost 30 years. And so, so what kind of planning does um NMD dot do? Transportation planning. Oh, I'm shocked. Okay.

We uh we have a lot of federal uh transportation planning requirements that we're responsible for ensuring the DOT meet in order to obtain or in order to get all the federal funds that come into state. So that's what my area does. And then also we oversee a lot of um different federal federal programs for pedestrian and bike facilities and the trail system around Santa Fe was funded through a lot of the federal transportation dollars that passed through DOT. Thanks. Apologize for putting you on the spot, but it's okay.

But having these people stare at us and we're staring at them is a little weird. Um Commissioner, I wonder if you could um give a little bit of your background. Yes, I'm uh actually in retirement mode right now, lucky me. But uh I previously had worked in the generally or primarily in the public sector but also the private sector in planning and development related matters uh both in New Mexico where I worked for the city of Santa Fe as well as the city of Albuquerque as well as in Arizona and California. and I returned to New Mexico five years ago where where I was working for the city uh two months after I began we went into COVID uh working from home which I found difficult and then I liked it and then I found it difficult again and at that point I thought well it's time for me to retire so during that during the times I've been in the public sector I've often thought that serving on a commission would be very worthwhile so I am very happy and honored to be here.

Well, thanks very much and appreciate that you both have volunteered in this. Um, some of the cases are relatively um straightforward to address and some of them are a little bit more complex but it does take a lot of time. If I recall, there were over,00 pages of materials to read and um and so hope you are okay with jumping in on your first meeting um to this case. So um any closer guys? Uh commissioner, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm glad that you all are here. If you all hadn't been here, I don't think we'd have a quorum. So, uh, this is this is wonderful. Thank you.

Great. Okay, now let's stare awkward awkwardly at each other for a while while they uh they work this out.

It's not doing it on my end. I don't know if it's just a setting PowerPoint or Thank Thanks all. I I believe we're all set. We've resolved the issues and so Dominic, if you can be sworn and and proceed, I think we're ready to go. I do 240 Grant Avenue and I am under oath. Okay, let's try this again. Chair, planning commission members, Dominic Cisnos, building and development supervisor. Uh, I do want to address um I did leave with you some additional supplemental letters of concern um the letters uh with the questions um will be at your discretion if you feel that those are necessary um or relevant to the case to to be asked. We'll leave

that up to you chair and planning commission members. I'm here to present the Globe Mellow Energy LLC project 1 case number 255180 and project 2 case number 255190 conditional use permit Here we go. So before I get started, I feel it um appropriate with two new planning commission members to talk about the entitlement process and the roles. County staff determines the completeness of the application and whether the project is compliant with the dimensional requirements and the criteria of the CUP according to the SLDC requirements. Additionally, staff works with thirdparty consultants to determine what specific conditions should apply to the project if approved. The hearing officer reviews staff's report and determines other facts pertinent to the case. They conduct

quasi judicial proceedings, precides over a public hearing, and makes a recommendation of approval or denial to the planning commission. The planning commission reviews staff's report and determines additional facts pertinent to the case as necessary. Conducts quasi judicial proceedings, precides over a public hearing, and the PC meeting is informed by the hearing officer's recommendation, but is not bound by the hearing officer's conclusion. The planning commission makes final decision on a CUP application. Board of County Commissioners hears any appeal of a planning commission decision that is brought forward by an agrieved party. Appeals of BCC decisions are heard in district court. Policies and applicable regulations for solar projects in Santa Fe County. For this project, the New Mexico uh community solar act was initiated. Um the state of New Mexico legislation signed into law April 5th, 19 uh 2021, sorry. The solar rule adopted by the PRC on March 30, 2022. County of Santa Fe Ordinance 2022-05 adopted on July 13, 2022 to make the SLDC compliant. Added community solar definition and made community solar permitted by right in all zoning districts. Amended definition of commercial solar to add battery storage and make definition consistent. County of Santa Fe resolution 2022-054 adopted July 12th, 2022

expresses policy intent of BCC to support community solar in Santa Fe County particularly on public land. includes letter of support template for proposed projects that meet criteria identified in exhibit to resolution county of Santa Fe ordinance 2023-09 adopted December 13, 2023 amends Santa Fe County Fire Code through adoption of NFPA 855 standards for stationary en energy storage systems. the application timeline. I apologize there's an error. This does say rancho but this is for lineia the globe mellow project. And this is the application timeline for this project. The current application was submitted on September 2025. It was deemed complete by county staff in September 2025. Additional thirdparty review and studies completed and application materials made available on dedicated county web pages including public comments. Public participation. The applicants held a pre-application neighborhood meeting hosted by the applicant on January 9th, 2025. Public hearing in front of the hearing officer Hartstein held on March 12th, 2026. Santa Fe County Planning Commission today, April 16th, 2026 will hear evidence, determine facts, and conduct public hearing, make a determination of compliance or non-compliance with SLDC requirements, CUP criteria, fire code, and if approved, project must comply with staff's conditions, all fire code requirements, and submit 100%

construction drawings for development permits. The location of project one, privately owned parcels, zoned rural and agricultural ranch, approximately 1,936 acres. The access point is off of State Road NM41 and is addressed as 4234 NM41 in SDA3, Commission District 3. The location for project two is also privately owned parcels zoned agricultural ranching approximately 960 acres. These parcels will be accessed through the internal access roads from project 1 and these parcels are in SDA3 and also commission district 3. The application Lineia Energy LLC requests approval of two conditional use permits. permit applications. Project one, case number 255180 and project two, case number 255190 have been consolidated for hearing purposes only and are collectively referred to herein as the project for ease of reference. And the application seeks approval to allow a commercial solar energy production facility with an associated battery energy storage system and a generation tie-in line approximately 900 to 1,000 ft in length. The application also includes a 12-month extension request of approval if granted. Appendex B, the use matrix of the

sustainable land development code, ordinance 20, ordinance 20- 2016-9, hereafter the SLDC, allows commercial solar facilities as a conditional use within rural and agricultural ranch zoning districts. A cup application may be subject to other special reports and assessments, SRAAS, and conditions of approval. Required individual review of the proposed location, design and configuration of the proposed project. Application materials. The applicant was required to submit several additional SRAs that are not usually required for a CUP application. The initial hazard mitigation assessment and emergency response plan are also available for public review at the CUP stage, although they will be further refined at the time of development permit if the CUP is approved by the Santa Fe County Planning Commission. All materials related to the application are available for public review on the county's website, www.santafacountm.gov. Special reports and assessments. These are the reports and assessments that the applicant provided. Environmental impact report, adequate public facilities and service assessment, site threshold analysis, adequate resource inventory report, biological survey report, class 3 cultural resources survey and report in state historic preservation office, concurrent letters, visual impact assessment, noise technical report, vegetation management and

nauseous weed control plan, geotechnical investigation report, preliminary hazard mitigation analysis, first responder mitigation guidelines, a pre-inccident plan, and decommissioning plan. Next are the SLDC standards that staff had reviewed and the applicant provided comments for access. The project relies entirely on controlled access from NM41 with agency approval already secured. Internal circulation supports phase 2 and existing utility easements will not be impacted. Fire protection. The project demonstrates a comprehensive fire code compliance and proactive emergency planning particip particularly for best safety with comments to maintain compliance if design is changed. landscaping and buffering. The project demonstrates Oh, sorry. The project complies with required setbacks

and increased separation where needed to better buffer nearby residential uses, fences, and walls. The project balances security and environmental considerations. Using wildlife friendly fencing for solar areas areas while securing critical infrastructure with standard chain link enclosures lighting lighting is limited. directional and compliant with county standards to protect dark skies and reduce offsite impacts. Sign signs signage is limited to identification and safety purposes with emphasis on hazard warnings and awareness and emergency access. Parking and loading. All parking and unloading are contained on site to avoid impacts to NM41. operation generate minimal traffic with activity focused around the O andM

operations and maintenance building and the BES system areas road design. The project relies on two controlled access points, an extension internal road system designed for durability and all weather use without introducing new public roads. utilities. The project leverages existing utility infrastructure with flexibility for temporary power sources during construction and maintenance. water supply, wastewater and water conservation. Water will be s sourced from approved providers for construction use with long-term operation plans for an on-site supply. Wastewater system will meet all NMED standards and requirements and conservation practices will be implemented throughout the project life cycle.

energy efficiency. The project provides long-term renewable energy generation with a potential operational lifespan of up to 45 years. open space. While not required to provide designated open space, the project incorporates preservation areas to support wildlife movement and maintenance open space characteristics. Protection of historic resources. The project includes thorough cultural resources evaluation and agency coordination. Site avoidance and buffering are incorporated into the design with protocols in place for any discoveries during construction terrain management. The project emphasizes erosion control and storm water management through the BMP's and careful site design to minimize disturbance and protect water quality flood control. The project avoids high-risk flood areas with minimal necessary crossings.

Design ensures no adverse impacts to the flood plane function. Solid waste waste management is handled through licensed providers with minimal long-term waste expected and fullsight cleanup planned at protected areas. Air quality and noise air quality. The air quality impacts are short-term and controlled through standard measurement uh mitigation measures. Noise noise modeling shows compliance with mitigation silencers and further analysis will confirm final equipment meets SLDC standards. What is the cup criteria? A cup is not approved at the proposed use will tend to cause detriment to health, safety, and general welfare of the area. Road congestion a potential hazard for fire, panic or other danger. Overcrowding land and cause undue concentration of population. Interference with adequate provisions

for schools, parks, water, sewer, transportation or other public requirements. conveniences or improvements, interference with adequate light and air, or inconsistency with the purposes of the property zoning, classification, or in any other way inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the SLDC or SGMP. detriment to health, safety, and general welfare of the area. Applicant states the project designed to protect public health and safety. Complies with federal, state, and local regulations. Incorporates NFPA standards, fire codes, OSHA, OSHA, and storm water regulations. Construction impacts minimized with mitigation. operational impacts reduced with modern technology and fencing signage and restricted access for safety as well as coordination with local fire departments for best safety. Staff has reviewed this criteria and responded with the project subject to applicable regulatory compliance requirements. Construction impacts expected to be temporary and mitigated. Safety measures including fencing, signage, and controlled access. Coordination with fire department acknowledged and staff finds that the project is not antip anticipated to be detrimental to health, safety or general welfare subject to compliance and conditions of approval. Road congestion. Applicant states two access driveways

from NM41. Secondary access to be approved prior to construction. Site threshold analysis was completed. Construction traffic will be temporary for approximately 18 months. The peak will be up to 250 workers, 125 to 200 vehicles, and 18 deliveries a day. Traffic schedule to avoid peak hours and operations minimal staff 12 daily negligible to the traffic impact staff's response that the primary access approved secondary pending and MDOT approval construction traffic temporary and managed through scheduling operational traffic minimal due to limited staffing and staff finds that the project is not expected to create significant road congestion subject to access approval. A potential hazard for fire panic or other danger. The applicant states that designed to minimize fire and safety risk through code compliance. They adhere to IFC NFPA UL standards and state county fire codes. Coordination with Santa Fe County Fire Department includes best safety design, access, and fire suppression measures, hazard mitigation analysis completed, and potential incidents expected to be rare and contained on site. Staff's response is that subjects to compliance with applicable fire and safety regulations. Coordination with fire department confirmed safety measures including facility design, access, and suppression systems.

Potential hazards anticipated to be contained within the site. Staff finds the project is not expected to create a fire, panic, or safety hazard subject to compliance and conditions. overcrowding land and cause undue concentration of population. Applicant states that up to 250 workers during temporary construction on-site parking provided no NM41 congestion operations with 12 person personnel daily large project area approximately 2,986 acres will support low density and not expected to conflict with rural agricultural character. Staff's response. Construction workforce temporary and accommodated on site. Operational staffing minimal relative to site size. No long-term increase in population density. And staff finds that the project will not overcrowd land or concentrate population. interference with adequate provisions for schools, parks, water, sewer, ridge, transportation, or other public requirements, conveniences, or improvements. Applicant states, "No impacts to schools, parks, or transportation. Construction water from permitted bulk providers. Ready, willing, and able water supply confirmed. Additional water source available if needed. Operations water will be limited in use to maintenance and fire suppression and pursuing conversation of existing well for a long-term supply. The wastewater via septic or holding tank with permits.

Staff response. No interference with public facilities or services identified. Construction water and sanitation adequ adequately provided. Operational water demand will be minimal. Waste water managed through permitted systems. And staff finds that the project will not impact public services or infrastructure interference with adequate light and air. The applicant states downcast lighting at access points and key facilities. Complies with this LDC section 7.8 A and night sky ordinance. Temporary air air impacts during construction such as dust and equipment. Fugitive dust control plan to minimize emissions. Minimal operational emissions from vehicles and maintenance and renewable energy offsets regional greenhouse gas emissions. Staff's response. Lighting design consistent with county standards. Construction air impacts temporary and mitigated. Operational emissions are minimal and staff finds that the project will not interfere with adequate light and air. Consistency with the purposes of the zoning classification or in any other way inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the SLDC or SGMP. Here you see a map from 7-1A renewable energy potential solar and wind with an arrow pointed to the approximate location of the project near Stanley and White Lakes Road and NM41 and it is indicated as high potential. According to section 7.2.2.2 two of the

SGMP, New Mexico gets approximately six full sun hours per day on average almost everywhere in the state. This coupled with gentle sloped terrain of Santa Fe County coupled with the annual mean total sunshine hours of 3,400 creates an ideal setting for solar energy applications. consistency with the purposes of the zoning classification or in any other way inconsistent with the spirit of and intent of the SLDC or SGMP. The applicant states location in egg ranch and rural zoning districts. District support agricultural rural and compatible uses. Solar and power generation facilities are allowed with cup as identified in the SLDC appendex B. and the project aligns with permitted and conditional use framework. Staff's response is commercial solar is a conditional use in egg ranch and rule. Staff finds that it's consistent with the SLDC appendix B requirements. The SGMP supports regional renewable energy development and staff finds that the project is consistent with zoning and the intent of the SLDC and SGMP. recommendation. Staff reviewed the application for conformance with SLDC design standards and found that it meets all of the applicable requirements of the code. Staff reviewed the proposed use and determined that it meets the criteria to be approved for a conditional use permit. Staff recommends that if approved by the Santa Fe County Planning Commission, the project be subject to the following conditions. Chair, may I enter these conditions into the record? Uh,

yes, you may, Don.

Condition one, compliance with all reviewing agency requirements, including all conditions imposed by Santa Fe County Fire Prevention before commissioning of the facility. Condition number two is has a slight change from what you see in staff memo. Condition number two states the additional drilling of wells for the use of these parcels is prohibited except that one well may be drilled if approved by the state engineer for operations which would be for portable water for the 5,000 5,000galon tank fire suppression which is a 60,000galon tank maintenance and panel washing and in the meant that the contemplated conversion of an existing well is not feasible. Well usage will not exceed 4 acre feet per year. Condition number three, permanent fencing will be required around all designated archeological sites to delineate and preserve the integrity of these areas. This is to be indicated on the cup site development plan prior to recordation. Condition four, prior to the recordordation of the cup site development plan, all public access roads shall be permitted through Santa Fe County, built out and inspected, or a financial guarantee must be in place in lie of such permitting and inspection. Condition number five, the CUP site development plan showing the site layout and any other conditions that may be imposed through the approval process shall be recorded at the expense of the applicant in the office of the county

clerk in accordance with SLDC chapter 4 section 4.9.6.8. Condition number six, utilization of the 95 foot tall steel monopoles will be required to blend into the natural landscape and shall be non-reflective. Condition seven, a decommissioning bond which may take into account salvage value will be required prior to recordation of the cup site development plan and must be in place for the life of the project. Condition eight, the applicant will be required to apply for all applicable development permits after the cup recordation. Prior condition nine, prior to recordation of the cup site development plan, the applicant will be required to review its access permit from NMDOT. Condition number 10, the applicant will need to provide a minimum of one accessible parking space as per table 7-9. This accessible parking space must be indicated on the cup site development plan. Condition 11, applicant shall obtain an approved liquid waste permit from NMED prior to the submittal for a development permit. Condition 12, the applicant is required to work in consultation with the approved flood zone authorities to address the requirements specified in chapter 7 section 7.18.9 of the SLDC for any steel monopoles located within a zone A flood hazard area and submit the findings to staff for the record. Condition 13, construction activity to be limited to Monday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Any deviation from these

construction hours will require 48 hours notice to Santa Fe County and neighboring property owners and written approval from Santa Fe County will be required. Condition four, prior to operation, the applicant shall request that the request and pass all required inspections and obtain a Santa Fe County business license. Condition 15. Santa Fe County shall be reimbursed by the applicant for the third-party reviews conducted by NV5 and Gloria Geoscience pertaining to this submitt prior to the recordation of the CUP site development plan. And condition 16, construction debris must be disposed of in a solid waste container and hauled off to an authorized landfill as needed for compliance with NMD regulations. Chair, planning commission, at this point I stand for any questions.

Uh, thank you. Appreciate it. I I just want to verify that the only condition that has been entered into the record is a change in the wording for the on-site well. Is that correct? That is correct. Condition number two. Got it. Thank you very much, commissioners. Um does anyone have questions of staff? Uh Commissioner Buger.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so some of the comments that we've received in writing have to do with water, which is not surprising given uh the importance of that issue in the county and in that area. Uh just to preface my question, the environmental impact uh statement says that the project is located in the Estansia basin critical management area and there's an item in the sustainable growth management plan that says that the county should coordinate with the Estansia basin water planning committee. My my question is, has the has the county notified um if it exists still the Estansia Basin Water Planning Committee or anybody that did the uh uh Estansia Basin Regional Water Plan 2016? Has anybody been contacted about this project? Chair, planning commissioner Buger, um staff has not yet contacted the association and chair and commissioner members. I do also just want to let you know we do have representatives from um Gloretta Geoscience here in person um for any questions regarding the environmental impact report and we also have um our subject matter experts for the fire hazard mitigation and the best system from NV5 online. Uh thank you. Uh so Santa Fe County Utilities was requested to provide a ready, willing, and able letter to provide uh water service for this project, primarily construction water, and they declined. Um do you know why that is?

Um chair, Commission Member Buger, uh I'm not entirely sure of why that was declined. I think it had to do um primarily with distance. Um but the applicant would probably be able to speak a little bit better on that on that note.

Uh and some of these are questions that I look forward to asking the applicant as well. Uh the Entrronosa Water Association did offer to provide water for the project. Do you know if the water is portable or uh reclaimed water? Uh, I believe the water is portable. Um, I'm not sure if it's reclaimed, but again, that'll be a question for the applicant um for them to better answer.

It uh I look forward to doing that. I wouldn't think based on the comments that we received that the folks that live in the area would be that happy about the use of portable water if it was taken from somewhere else in the basin somewhere close by to use uh as uh for 67.4 acre feet of water for construction. Uh I have many more questions but uh I'll defer to other commissioners. Thank you commissioner. any any other comm vice chair Trillo.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, m Thank you, Mr. Cisento, for the uh presentation. Um I know in the earlier slides if this was approved, I think I saw that or that there was a 12-month extension that would be applied to this as well. And so I'm trying to is this because of the construction and then the construction would take longer if you could just elaborate on that a little bit. So by code by the SLDC, a conditional use permit expires in 24 months. Uh with the prolonged process for the CUP application um and you know other hurdles that the applicant may may incur, they are requesting by code the an additional 12 months to extend it to a total of 36 months. Um you know they still have to go uh I believe um in front of the PRC uh get other approvals as well and approvals from the state. um and just to ensure that they don't expire their conditional use permit and they may not need the entire 36 months, but they wanted to go ahead and request it just in case.

So, Mr. Chair, Mr. Cisneros, if if it is passed here, that that's already included in the in the submission then, as I understand it, 12-month extension. Well, it was part of the hearing officer's recommendation. It's a in the SLDC it states that the applicant may request from the planning commission an extension of 12 months. So the 12-month extension is is a request as part of the application.

Okay. And Mr. Chair and Mr. Cisnerto the uh in the earlier slide you showed the New Mexico Community Solar Act. And so is this the premise that this solar farm will be built? I I saw later on that there was something called commercial solar. And so is is that the law that they're bringing bringing this uh solar farm in front of us in front of the county today, the New Mexico uh community solar act.

So this application does not qualify as community solar um with the addition of the best and the size of the facility. it falls under the commercial solar um and so that is the the conditional use that is allowed for that type of use um per the SLTC and appendix B. Okay. And so Mr. Chair, Mr. Cisto, the as you understand it, this process they come to the county first before they even go to the PRC. Is that typically what takes place? That is my understanding.

And uh Mr. Chair and and Mr. COS on the conditional approval conditions of approval. Number two, uh some of this land was being used for grazing of cattle and so I would assume there's a well on it or a few wells on the property. Uh do you know how many wells are on the property? I believe there's only one well on the property on the project one site uh that is currently being used for livestock.

Okay. And Mr. Chair and Mr. It says that on that that any additional wells, this is on the conditions of approval from the county. Uh for the use of these parcels is prohibited except for one well may be drilled if approved by the state engineer for the use of this operation and maintenance building in the event the contemplated conversion of existing well is not feasible. Who who determines that the well is not feasible? The current well the state engineers office.

Okay. And then I guess um uh the other one was number seven, the the decommissioning bond uh that has to stay in place for the life of the project. I I think I read it was 35 years maybe is the life is the life of the pro the intended life of the project. So this is decommissioning bond. Who determines this amount? Is this been determined? Uh you know where who where does that come from? Um, I'm not I do not believe that this amount has been determined. Um, I am not entirely sure who determines this amount. Um, but that's something that would be discussed and and talked about prior to the to the recordation of the CUP site development plan. Okay. And maybe this is a question for the applicant, but if in it's it's in reference to this decommissioning bond is in the scenario that that fusion energy actually comes forward in the next decade, which possibly could with AI and now the solar farm is not feasible any longer. Uh what how does this process play out? Does the county they have the right or the just market takes care of it or how does this play out for for this particular solar farm? Well, um, chair, commission member trio, my my understanding is that if the applicant, um, or the owner of the property or facility at the time, um, does not, you know, proceed with the decommissioning um, of themselves, that decommissioning bond is then used by the the county to go in and decommission the facility.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Any other questions from commissioners of staff? Commissioner L Cruzbuck

just to follow up u this is narrow with respect to condition approval number two and can you put it up on the screen because I know there was a change right from the one that's on on uh on our screen here and stuff you know but just a clarification that I had because I think in this condition of approval and in the environmental report uh and and throughout the the presentation it does mention the 30,000galon tank tank for the fire suppression and the 5,000galon tank for the potable water. But over here it does mention I believe a 60,000galon tank. So what is the what's the reason or what is there why is that doubled compared to what? So, we initially uh I think during the application process, the applicant um knew of the 30,000galon um fire suppression tank requirement. Um but the Santa Fe County Fire Department uh fire prevention did indicate that with previous projects they had upped that to 60,000 um and in their review letter they also um required the 60,000gallon tank on this project as well.

Gotcha. Thank you. And then with respect to um the well scenario as far as so obviously what what's being there for the condition approval is there's an existing well that's currently there that the state engineer will either decide and determine whether it can be used or not. Correct? And if not then they could potentially they would be allowed to drill one additional well right above and beyond that existing uh agricultural well. Is it is it an agricultural well? Is that correct? Uh the the current well uh I believe is a is a livestock well.

Livestock well. Okay. And um and so then that new well like I mentions here there's a well usage not to exceed 4 acre feet per year. Does that same 4 acre feet per year scenario apply to the existing well as well?

That is a very good question. Um chair and commissioner uh Cruz Crawford. Um I might want to refer that question back to our subject matter expert um Boot Pierce from Gloretta Geoscience. Um my initial thought is that it would the the 4 acre feet per year would be for all wells on site and um similar to some of uh Commissioner Dio's questions, how was the 4 acre feet per year amount how was that determined and how will that be monitored? So that was determined through documents provided from the applicant um for the for the existing well and through the review from Gloria Geoscience that was also um uh verified and confirmed

and the monitoring portion of it. How would that be? The the monitoring um I believe is going to be done by OC. I mean, they'll be provided to to have a meter um you know, by SLDC standards to have a meter as well and to report. Um Santa Fe County's current metering program is kind of just getting back up and running. Um but I think any um regulation of that, you know, until Santa Fe County can can catch up will be done by the OSE, the ST uh office of the state engineer. Thank you. Those are my questions for now. Thank you very much. Um any other any other questions? Commissioner Noble.

Yes, Mr. Chair. U Commissioner Trillo did already address this 35 year initial period and there are two a maximum of two five-year extensions. So a total of 45 years. How is that time period arrived at? I'm I'm just curious. uh the 35-year uh you know time frame I think was is I think a base that's set with the industry standard um again that's something that was indicated and brought to us by the applicant um the two 5-year extensions um I believe and again Lana or um Andrew Davidson with Lana Energy would probably be better to explain how that two five-year extensions work.

Thank you, Mr. Sisneros. And also, Mr. Chair, u in regard to condition 13, expansion of designated construction hours, it doesn't mention who at the county should be contacted about that. I'm just curious on these conditions and forgive my questions here, but without designating a particular office or person, is that normally done or is that understood? Um, who should be contacted at the county for expanding construction hours?

Yeah, it would be the building and development services with the growth management department. Uh, we can make that more clear and add language to that condition if if you wish. Thank you, Mr. Miss Cisneros. Thank you, Commissioner. Uh, any any additional questions? Commissioner Griffin,

Mr. Chair, and Mr. Cisneros. Um, I have two questions. One is, and I thought I saw it in here somewhere. Sorry. Usually I talk loud enough. um uh about any reveation, receding, anything like that after the project to ensure that there isn't any erosion or or dust creation or whatever from the installation of the the solar panels. Uh yes, the applicant had um mentioned that they would be doing some reveation to help with any type of erosion control um and to keep you know make sure that any um you know water you know doesn't go off site and everything stays on site

and um thank you. Is that uh is that required by the county? Is that required as part of the the development process and the permit and all that? It's something that we look at in terrain as part of uh part of the um design standards of the SLDC. Okay. Thank you. And Mr. Chair, Mr. Cisneros, my other question is about and I saw somewhere in all these in all the materials about hiring local workers as part of the construction uh process. Is is there any requirement about that or any commitment to to do that to try to hire local people?

Uh chair, commission member Griffin. Um there's no requirement from Santa Fe County for them to uh source locally. Um obviously, you know, it's preferable to everyone within, you know, the state of New Mexico and Santa Fe County that that happens. Um but I think that the applicant is taking that upon themselves. So no, that is not a requirement. Okay. Thank you. Thanks very much. Any additional questions? Commissioner Buger.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Cisneros, uh one question and a and a comment. Uh the the question um u is sorry

the uh escapes me at the moment. Oh okay. The last time we were here uh considering a battery battery energy storage facility uh there were many folks um that uh lived fairly close to the project site and they uh they were very interested in expressing their opinions about the project. Um my question is I I don't need an exact answer but um we know that this area is much u less populated. Uh do you have any idea how many residences there would be in a you know choose the radius but close by to the project site? So, Chair, Commissioner Buger, I knew that question was going to be asked today. Um, and I tried getting with our GPS um manager to see how quickly he could create a a map for me, but I didn't have enough time today. Um, I think the applicant has um could probably give you more of an approximate um as they've been out on the the site um on project one having um open hours for any visitors or any neighboring properties that had questions. So, I think he probably has a better idea of how many residential properties are nearby.

Okay. Thank you. Uh u and I'll hold that question again for the the applicant. Uh just one comment. Um yeah, you said that uh and sustainable growth management plan does support renewable um energy development and it streams it throughout the entire document. Uh it uh uh my suggestion is that um maybe uh you would want to have some kind of a separate section in the sustainable land development code having to do with renewable energy just so the code can better align with the plan because the way it is right now we have those seven criteria and Number seven is that it is proposed project is consistent with the purpose of the uh zoning districts in which they are in agriculture, agriculture, ranching and the purpose of those um zones in the code or to designate areas for agriculture, ranching, residential and compatible uses. So to make the determination that you made, you would might have looked at this as a compatible project. It just it'd be nice if uh there was more sync between the code and the plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Any other questions of staff? Thank you so much. Uh now applicant I think is it's the time to come up and give us a presentation. Thank you. Yeah. all of uh all the folks um from the firm who who might be speaking, please come up, be sworn in, and then when it's your turn to speak, please restate that you have been sworn. So, if you could individually give your names and address uh to Karen, um

we have a few people on the line as well. Um our author of our environmental impact report, our battery expert, um and then some of our other consultants. So, could they be sworn in at this time as well? Yes. Do you want to do that simultaneously? Swear the folks on Zoom or uh after the in-person presentations, what would be your preference, Karen? Okay, let's let's have them all make sure their microphones work and cameras is ideal. So, maybe the folks in the room, if you can give your um uh names and mailing addresses um and go ahead.

Let me swear you in then. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll give will be the truth? But I think that it's important that talk about Not yet. If you could please mute on Zoom. Thank you. You want to do the Zoom people now? So folks on Zoom, when it's your turn to present, you'll be asked to sworn at that time. So please introduce yourself to us and go through the ropes.

So um hi, my name is Andrew Davidson. Um 311 California Street, sweet 450 92104 um San Francisco or sorry 94104. And please confirm that you have been sworn. um confirmed and I am under oath.

Great. Um good afternoon. My name is Andrew Davidson. I'm a senior associate with Lar Lineia Energy and I'm presenting today on behalf of Glo Energy LLC. Uh thank you chair chairman of and commissioners for taking the time to speak with us today. Um as well as planning staff for guiding us through this process and the county fire department. Um, we are here seeking a conditional use permit for the approval of the Global Energy Project. This is a solar and energy storage project located in southeastern Santa Fe County. Um, I'll give introductions to our team in a moment. Um, just for agenda, so we are going to go through the basis for today's hearing. Um, an overview of linear energy, our relation linear energy's relationship to global energy. Um, and then a full overview of our application. And then we also are going to do a battery overview and then finally walk through why we view that we are um in compliance with the conditional use approval criteria. Um so I'll just introduce everyone. Um we have an for the overview of our team. We have four members from Lineia Energy. Um Brad Wilson who's our senior director of development. Jeff Weber is our director of engineering on the line. Jamesilo who's our senior project execution manager. And then we also have our subject matter experts. Jennifer Lafler who's the director of natural res resources for energy renewal partners. She prepared our environmental impact report. Uh we have Jensen Hughes here today. David Tomachek who's a senior fire protection engineer. They prepared our hazard mitigation analysis and our emergency response plan. And then we have a variety of um site matter experts from Westwood who performed a lot of our application materials and then from Holland and Hart Jordan Bunch who's a partner with the firm. Um so just for a basis of today's hearing, we're here seeking a conditional use permit um and review and approval for the Global Energy Project um some for Santa Fe County's SLDC chapter 4. Um given where

the project is located on the use matrix, um we are required to seek a conditional use permit. Um our project is advanced through the county cup process. Technical advisory committee was done on August 1st. Um, we originally submitted our application in April of 2025, but then had to revise some items and so that was deemed complete in September of 2025. Um, we had our hearing officer meeting in March 12th, 2026 and here today for planning commission. Um, we believe that our project meets the criteria for CUP approval and is consistent with the zoning requirements where the project is cited um and demonstrates comp um complies with approval criteria of SLDC 4.9.6.5. Um, this project also supports county policy initiatives for sust sustainable growth, renewable energy and local economic development, and state policy initiatives for renewable energy deployment. Um, and I'll walk through that next. Um, so some of these were covered in Dominic's um, presentation, but just want to recap that there are a number of policies and goals and strategies within the sustainable growth management plan that really encourage renewable energy development within the county. Um, our project also sits within the highest produ um, highest area of solar potential within the county. Um, on a New Mexico side of things, um, it supports policy initiatives and load growth across the state. Um, I'm sure you're familiar, there's the New Mexico Energy Renewable Energy Act. Um, and so that first set the standard for 20% carbon-f free electricity by 2020. And that was further um, upsized by the New New Mexico Energy Transition Act of 2019. Um and that makes it so that 100% carbon-f free electricity is required by 2045. Um in addition, there's been some additional bills. New Mexico Senate Bill

170 um included energy storage in the definition of economic development. Um and the you know the PRC also in their IRP rules was calling for additions of renewals. Um in addition um PNM who um is the utility we're connecting to has really increased their load growth and they will be required to meet the requirements of having um renewable resources added to their um system and their um how they you know produce energy. Um right now they're retiring a lot of coal, natural gas, and so this project serves as a replacement. Um that not only serves as replacement for those resources, but as you can see um and the orange line on that slide shows the 2023 IRP expected load growth and the 2026 is in the blue and so data center expansion manufacturing is really increase the need for renewable energy. Um, so just to give a background on who we are, Linear Energy is a renewable independent renewable energy independent power producer. So we'll own and operate the site. Um, we've been developing it since we acquired it in May of 2024. Um, our project, our company was founded in 2022. Um, we're based out of San Francisco and we develop wind, solar, and storage projects across the country. Um we have 23 projects currently in our pipeline in 11 states. And then we also have 41 active full-time employees. Um and then INCAP Investments is our main backer. They are a do um private equity fund that focuses on energy. Um and they are based out of Houston, Texas. So this is a US-owned company that's based um domestically. Uh just to give an overview, our company is young and so you know we haven't constructed a lot of projects but we have do currently have a project that is operational and we constructed which is on the photos on the left as our Pine View project as in Willox County, Georgia. In addition, our executive team and just members of our team have a lot

of a wealth of experience in building renewable energy projects which are outlined on the right. Um and this is our company. We're 41 employees. We're pretty small. Um this is us at a Habitat for Humanities event pretty recently. Um so now just I I saw this kind of brought up during the um you know previous hearing that was similar to ours and so I want to address you know how these project companies work. Um so the applicant here today is Glo Energy LLC. Um that is a project level entity owned by Lineia Energy um LLC and that was it specifically created to hold development assets for the project. Um and so the structure of our company is pretty straightforward. ENCAP is the energy transition fund that Linear Energy sits within. Linear Energy is below that as a operating entity or yeah is operating entity and then Glo Energy is the project company. And then when we acquired this project there's two interconnection positions related with it as well as two distinct renewal or land contracts. And so those were broken down into sub LC's which has been absorbed by global mount energy LLC. Um so for our project um it's a two-phase solar project. Um the reason that it's in two phases is kind of what I just talked about. There was two interconnection applications when we acquired this project back in May of 2024 and there was two distinct land owners. So there was two we under this it was probably best for us to permit this under two phases. Um but in total we're expecting that these phases will mobilize at the same time. Um for phase one that sits on one of the landowners properties it's 199 megawatts with of solar with 199 megawatts of storage. Um, it's connecting to the Diamond Tale Klein's Corner circuit one, which is a 345

KV transition line, trans transmission line, and it's a 1,932 acres. That that's really the whole project boundary doesn't encompass that much. Um, we're targeting construction start for November of 2027 with commercial operation by May of 2029. Um and then just for phase two, the difference is that's 150 megawatts of solar and 150 megawatts of battery energy storage. Um it's connecting to the same line. The project footprint would be 960 acres and the construction start date and operations would remain the same. Um and then on the right we have some of photos from our project site. Um and so just to give like a highle overview of how these projects function. Um it functions in three stages. So solar panels generate clean electricity during daylight hours. Batteries store excess power for solar power for later use and that stored energy is delivered to P&M's grid and can serve homes and businesses. And then batteries can also charge off the grid um and discharge to support reliability. Um, so for location, um, this is covered in the staff's presentation, but the site is in southeastern Santa Fe County. We're directly east of New Mexico Highway 41. Um, and um, we're about 2.4 miles northeast of Stanley. And so that that purple line that's running through the site on the that we're showing is the transmission line. Um, and you can see proximity to other areas about 50 miles north of Morardi. Um and so here is the project site with aerial imagery. And so this project is um really it's flat rangeand with pretty sparse vegetation. Um it's really well suited for solar development. It has really low topog topography. Um and the land is historically and is currently been used for or currently been used for ranching

but has also historically been used for that purpose. um and has direct proximity to the transmission line. So there will be no outside gent tie lines that go outside of the project boundary. Everything will remain on site. Um some more photos of our project um out there. And so just want to reference um this is brought up and so for zoning we so this is considered for agricultural land as well as rural land. Um it's we we view that we can be um you know reviewed under two separate uses use use cases. One is the commercial solar energy production facility but as well as we could um the it's conditional use approval under gas or electric power generation facility as well. Um and um there's no rule fringe land. So it's just agricultural ranching and then rule. you can't really see um but there is RC's under the rule for conditional. Um and so here just want to give another highle overview. This is our project site plan. Um the area in blue is the panels and so the and they all sit really to the east of a um zone A flood area. And so we've left that that'll just be panels um as well as um cabling inverters. And then after talking, originally the substations are actually in the center of the site, but after talking and the batteries as well, but after talking with county planning staff and the fire department, we took all of the energy infrastructure. So both phase 2 and phase 1's energy infrastructure is right next to the road over on the left. And so that allows for faster response times if ne if necessary as well as just kind of separating it from homes in the area as well as just separating it so it's really just easy to access. Um and then so the black dotted line

around shows our fencing. That'll be six foot um deer fix knot deer buster fence. Um and then if there's more kind of questions on our design, we have a 30% design that we submitted with the application. Um, and I think just in total, the total developed area is approximately 1,991 acres. Um, so out of the 2,892 acres, we're leaving the rest of that unfenced. So that area on the left where there are no, it's just showing the aerial imagery that will remain unfenced as well as that area in the northeast part of it. Um, okay. So at a high level, these projects are pretty simple and um just wanted to break down into a few features of what these projects are. Um so they'll consist of solar panels with steel racking and then the access roads. There'll be inverter stations throughout the project site, perimeter fencing, and then there'll also be more um security fencing around the utility substation as well as the battery stations. Um and then the utility substation as well as our collector substations. In addition, there'll be an operation and maintenance building and then the beziard. Um and this excludes, you know, there will be underground cabling as well as the 60,000gallon water tanks and um a few just other small items. Um and so want to hand it off to Brad Wilson for a sec.

Good afternoon. I'm Brad Wilson with Lineia Energy at 311 California Street, Sweet 4550, San Francisco, California 94104. Uh I am under oath. Thank you. Good afternoon and and thank you for the time. I wanted to speak uh quickly um uh you know we we've talked about what this project does, what it generates as far as energy and and and what it what it can perform as far as energy storage, but who would those resources serve? And just to speak briefly, um Andrew's already described that this project will physically interconnect to the electric transmission system um on a a high voltage line owned and operated by PNM. um although uh the physical site itself sits within the electric service territory of of um one of the co-ops but the energy and and storage resources would be injected onto P&M's line and generally these resources could be used to serve and deliver uh to anyone uh that takes delivery of service over P&M's transmission system. Of those entities, PNM itself is by far and way the largest possible counterparty but not the only one. Um, and so really anyone that that that takes power over P&M's transmission system could take, you know, partial or full service from this project. Um, the line itself is is is an interesting line. Um, it was purpose-built fairly recently. um specifically uh with the the purpose to bring in lowcost renewable resources from eastern New Mexico um into and serve the large Albuquerque and Santa Fe load centers um with that lowcost energy. Um so it it is purpose built for for this type of use. Um the solar generation component of the project would would fully align with

that and the energy storage capabilities here um would would be very helpful in PNM being able to manage or any other transmission operator that can use this infrastructure to manage um those lowcost renewable energy resources further to the east. Um let me make sure I want to cover uh everything here but not take too much time. Um yeah um PNM is obviously the largest uh load serving entity in New Mexico. um they operate this transmission system, but to close it out, there are other other uh owners of network rights on PNM like um Facebook has a large data center um south of Albuquerque for example, and there are a number of other commercial entities like that that also use PNM's transmission line uh system for for service. So that's in a nutshell who this power could serve once it's operational. Thank you. So um yeah, now I just want to walk through the proposed project timeline. So um as I mentioned, we acquired this in May of 2024, but prior to that, there was interconnection applications submitted to PNM. Um they also signed the land agreements and then really did some of the early environmental work that was required for the project. Um when we took over in May of 2024, we really, you know, made an effort to understand the permitting process as well as what would be required for that permitting. And that's really where we stepped in and did the full suite of materials that will give an overview later on that was required for the conditional use permit application. Um in 2025 we um you know submitted that application to the county. Um we had some further surveys um and then the third party reviews were um took place with the county. Um and then 2026 those reviews were complete. Um and we're you know really for this year it's working through the final parts of the cup process. um as well as starting to understand what would be required for

the project and working towards those building permits. Um and so for 2027, we'll start to place larger equipment orders um get those building permits as well as um you know work through that process and then from construction would begin in November of 2027 and last until 2029. Um and so um you know the project is operational um you know a useful life for these is typically around 40 years but that doesn't always mean that they'll last or um no 40 years is it um during that time we'll continually evaluate how the project is producing and if there's still a desire from our offtakers to want to source that power. Um and so eventually the facility will be decommissioned which is outlined in our decommissioning plan that we provided. um and site would be restored and be available for further use. Um and so just a brief overview of construction. So um you know overview is mobilization and site preparation prepar preparation. Um we'd go through do the equipment deliveries and then the substation beyard would be completed and then from there it would be testing commissioning and then um you know cleanup and demobilization construction crews. Um and then you know some of the stuff we'll continue to work with the Santa Fe County Fire Department as well as Santa other departments of Santa Fe County and make sure that we're up to code compliance and mean the conditions required for the building permits um as well as you know do pre-construction surveys um that relate to environmental matters um and then put in you know storm water management plans um dust control schemes um and really you know everything that goes into construction of one of these projects. and have some photos on the right from some of our projects that have been constructed. Um, and so for operation, um, you know, estimated 40-year useful life. Um, but we'll continue to, um, evaluate that

and, um, you know, the goal is for this project to continue producing long after that. Um, for operational characteristics, it's low impact operation, low traffic, there's zero emissions, no solid waste, low impact on public services. We'd have a code compliant noise profile. Um we will have we have a vegetation management plan to make sure that that is monitored and um you know kept up to standards throughout the process. um low groundwater usage, low water usage in g general during operations and maintenance and permanent local on andm jobs and we um as talked about for local we are definitely looking to hire locally and we'll encourage that um for we do not develop these projects ourselves and so we utilize a subcontractor but would you know work with them to see if there's local labor that could be hired for construction as well as looking at um training programs for operation and maintenance. Um and so for decommissioning um you know under the county requirements this would be required to be decommissioned at the end of the useful life. We will um post the financial guarantee with the county and there is an estimate within our decommissioning plan of that financial guarantee and how that's calculated. Um and um you know we will comply with the decommissioning requirements. In addition, recycling is getting better and better every day. And so we'll utilize recycling best management practices for our materials that are involved on the project um and remove to partial depth of subsurface material that is on the site. Um and then regrade and reveate um for areas of soil disturbance. Um those activities would take place over a period of about 18 um months. Um here's an overview of our deliverables that were submitted with our conditional use permit application. Um, and so all these are available for review, but we view this as a pretty comprehensive suite of deliverables. Um, and are continuing to take in the recommendations from NV5 as well as

Gloria at our geoscience and update our um, our deliverables that we're um, you know, we receive comments on and so our environment um, we can speak on that um, and have the individuals on the line. Um, and so we'll hand it off to Brad Water. Excuse me. U I wonder if it makes sense to ask some questions um now and break it up a little bit because different folks are are if that's okay with the commission. I have a couple of questions. If you could roll back to this to the diagram with the uh BB2 line. Yeah, that one. Oh, sorry. I went way past it. Is it the one? This one?

What? That one? Yeah. So, I have a couple questions. So, um, just about the project itself, um, is this a project that has bid into Public Service Company of New Mexico's 28 to 32 all source RFP? Yes. Great. And so, have you been shortlisted? The project was shortlisted.

So, you're shortlisted. My understanding is that that the utility will provide that information to the PRC next weekish. Um it very soon and then the I just want to make sure that I'm I'm tracking with what your understanding is. Um the the PNM has assessed all of the projects. They've shortlisted this. If they are able to come to terms with you all, then they propose that as a package of improvements that the public regulation commission improve approves of or disapproves of after review by an independent monitor. Um and so in that process you would if if it that process goes through this is approved um this is selected this is approved by the PRC construction starts you cut a ribbon um then the operation uh you are responsible for making sure everything works but PN you would have a power purchase this arrangement and an energy storage agreement with PNM and they would pull the levers as to when they want to charge when they want to discharge. Is that is that my understanding? Is that accurate?

I think that's generally accurate under that sort of arrangement. You can think about um P&M is the customer of the project and um for projects with energy storage um that it's often set up exactly as you described. the utility customer is going to send dispatch signals to you know our energy storage system so that it charges and discharges energy in in a way that is cost efficient for the utility to serve its rate payers. So as contemplated this project is not anticipated to say I'm going to buy transmission rights and sell all the power to California.

Uh I I can say with confidence that that is currently not our our commercial thesis for this project. And since PNM has that kind of operational control, unless something significantly changes, I don't think that could be could it or you know I I I probably we're getting about the edge of what I could speak to once, you know, let's let's say the offtake counterparty is P&M. Um once it passes through the meter, it's their energy and

yeah and and P&M may trade it on a market. They might say, "Hey, we have too much solar and we can sell it and save rateayers money or whatever." But that's not really the the purpose of your operations. Your operation is to make sure the the racks work, the battery system works, everything's safe and secure. I just want to get that laid out because we've had a number of comments from from the public that that kind of have different impressions of what happens. Understood. And I think you're describing it accurately. Thank you. I really appreciate it. And if there are questions um from the commissions for the parts of the presentation we've heard till now, please ask them. Sure. Vice Chair.

Uh Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for the presentation thus far. Back on Mr. what Mr. Chairman was just asking as far as the uh you mentioned that you were shortlisted as far as an interconnectional agreement. Uh but on on these on the application here it states the applicant states quote the the project has obtained two large generation interconnection agreements with PNM for this grid connection which totals 349 megawws. What's the difference here? You're stating that you have it and then what's the difference between being shortlisted?

Certainly. Thank you for the question and and I can help clarify. There are there are two different types of agreements in play here. And I think the language you're referring to talks about our interconnection agreement with PNM. And so think about this as like our access to the grid, permission from P&M to physically connect to their grid and and put resources onto their grid. But an interconnection is not an agreement to buy those resources. So there's there's two agreements in play. Um your interconnection agreement gets you onto the grid. then you need to go find a counterparty to buy buy your resources. Um so there's an interconnection agreement and power purchase agreement.

So then back to Mr. Chairman's question, is there a potential that P&M chooses not to? They you can interconnect but they don't actually buy the power from you and it goes somewhere else. That's absolutely a possibility. Okay. Uh and one of the other questions I have is Mr. share is is this is this this obvious obviously a very expensive project and is this going to qualify for the 30 or 40% federal tax subsidies and the 10% state subsidies here?

Yeah, great question. Under certain conditions, yes, but as uh you know, sounds like you're familiar with those. there those um tax benefits are suns setting um in a few years from now and so depending on the project's construction schedule it could qualify for those credits um but those credits aren't going to be around forever um and and are going away currently scheduled to go away in the future.

Now is it Mr. Chairman, is this uh is this project based that you I mean is the the investor here invested in this project enough that if he doesn't get these uh or whatever entity it is gets these uh tax credits that they're going to build this system. Um it it can be built with or without the tax credits. Think about someone manufacturing some sort of good. they have a cost to manufacture that good and then the price that they're going to sell that good for is based on their cost. Um you can think about a project like this the very same way. Um if the price is right you you can build and operate this project without tax credits. Um if you have the tax credits that price could be lower.

And Mr. Chair and I forget I'm sorry what your name? Brad. Brad. Yes

Brad. Um the the so obviously this company here um although you're doing this through a subsidiary here, Globe Mellow is is like the third party down as an LLC. So um typically you guys have entered into cost sharing agreements with other utilities across the nation. Uh what type of rate per kilowatt hour do you supply battery storage energy to these other grids? That will highly depend on the the location. Every project is quite unique. Um, and there is a wide range of of what what a a project might be sold for. Would you mind just stating that range?

I I I'm probably going to reserve comment respectfully. Um, I think the price details of our commercial, you know, models and arrangements are are going to be proprietary. I need to keep that confidential for now. But I do appreciate the question. Okay. and and I I understand until the they are put in a docket to the public regulation commission is that it it our pricing I think pricing is important to the PRC. So I think that's when that becomes public when it's no longer a conceptual project. It's it's more a project with agreement. I that's my understanding.

That's exactly right. If PNM ends up being a counterparty for this project, um PNM would have to seek PRC approval of that purchase agreement and those pricing details would be made public. Okay. And Mr. Chair, I mean the only reason why I asked that question is the SDLC code is for public welfare and so we're a body that determines public welfare as well beyond the PRC. So I was that's why I'm trying to understand if the the cost per kilowatt hour is twice of what we're currently customers are paying that's in the best interest in my opinion of of the public. Um the is is the intent to go out to the county for IRB bonds for the remaining or any cost of this project?

I think we're open to discussions about that but today we're laser focused on the cup. Okay. I I have an additional question if Yes. And then Mr. Chair, if it's on that subject, you can please. Oh, and so in our packet of information, I heard uh Mr. Mr. Davidson speak about the uh the decommissioning uh the decommissioning plan. Is it in our packet of information here? Is that something that's been shared with us? Yeah, it is. Okay. Red cover. Okay. I'll take a look at that. I didn't I didn't notice it. And so in there, is there values put on that or or how does that actually work?

Right. Um so there's no value required um for the draft plan at this stage. And there's actually some language in the county code that speaks to this. And it's at, you know, kind of the development plan or building permit stage where a third-party licensed engineer must be retained to take a look at the final construction design of the project and come up with a stamped estimate of the cost to decommission. that is what is shared with the county at that time. The same language also requires that estimate to be revisited periodically throughout the operational life of the project. I believe it's every five years. And and one last question because I don't want to take up the whole but you know in any literature I find with you know the holy grail is is energy storage. I mean we can harness it. We can capture it but can we can we store it effectively and efficiently? And with commercial lithium solar batteries, they degrade about 70 to 80% within 10 years. So this means a lot of replacements of these batteries. Uh how does this process work and where does this go and and what's the cost of do I mean I guess I shouldn't worry about the cost. It's your worry, but how how does this process work with

Yeah. Um you you're you're right on and it sounds like you're familiar that um you know current lithium ion storage cell technology does you know degrade over time as it's used and cycled and that is accounted for in our plans to construct and operate the project. There's a couple different strategies that are used. Um one is to overbuild the project on day one so you've got headroom for that capacity that day one capacity to degrade um without immediately dropping you below your name plate capacity on day one. So there's some overbuild on day one and that's accounted for in the size of the battery yard that we've proposed here. Um but you also mentioned augmentations um later in the project's life where additional battery containers are brought in to help offset that degradation over time. That is also accounted for in the size of the bestard that we've proposed here where locations would be prepared for additional battery projects to come in and augment the size of the facility as degradation has occurred. 10 15 years down the road.

Okay. And and so just so I understand this, you it's it's 10 years from now or 15 years from now and the batteries you need to replace them. Do they go look for the county for the current where where do they go? Where where's their uh repository or a recycling or does it or is it now the county's issue that it has to be taken care of at their recycling center?

Understood. I I think like anyone who operates, you know, a commercial facility that that has, you know, waste product of any kind that needs to be replaced or or recycled, certainly not the county's issue. It's it's our project. We're the operator. We're the owner. It's our issue. And um as you mentioned I think in your you know first statement of the question it's a newer technology and um there are not a lot of these yet that have reached that point where the cells have degraded to the point where they need to be um recycled. Um and I would say that is going to be an emerging industry as as these installations get older and start to have that need today. um you see I think the the biggest analog you can point to is the same sort of cell technology in earlier electric vehicles and while the facilities aren't probably aren't identical I would expect the handling of those materials be done in much the same way.

Okay. Uh Mr. Chair, I'll I'll thank Thank you. Uh one more. And um so you've referred to PNM as a counterparty, a possible counterparty. If for some reason um a deal does not work with the with the current PNM um request for proposals process, do you have transmission rights beyond Diamond Tale um in as a fallback? Yeah, I I it's a nuanced question. Um, this is our second rodeo. So,

yeah, I I hear you. I mean, PNM is mandated by FIRK to operate under something called an open access transmission tariff. Um, uh, counterparties that request transmission access to PNM must be granted, you know, after certain procedures in have been followed. Um, I I can say, you know, today that uh the the commercial thesis is is not based upon long-term point-to-point transmission rights, but it's certainly an option the project has at its disposal.

Right. I I I don't believe there are I don't believe there is existing capacity in the P&M system. Um, you know, I know their oat their oat process, but I don't believe there's exist. That's great. That's it. Commissioners, um, sorry we've been monopolizing. Commissioner Buger. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I I have many questions, but I'll wait till the end of the presentation. Thank you. Any other questions from commissioners at this time? No. Okay. Well, please continue and sorry for the interruption, but it's great.

Appreciate it. Oh yeah, and I'm going to take the next three as well. Um, so you get to hear from me just a little bit more. And I think the next the next three slides are timely given the questions earlier um about water. And these might not address all of your questions. So um you know looking forward to chatting with about you with this further. Um but wanted to speak a little bit more to project site water usage. Um as mentioned earlier the project is cited within the Estansia basin kind of you know critical water resource area. Um this is a large area that covers approximately 2,000 square miles. Most of it sits within Torrance County but there is a portion that sits within southern Santa Fe County. Um this is an area where groundwater resources are limited and are carefully managed by stakeholders. I think uh um Stansancy Basin Committee was mentioned earlier and the New Mexico State Engineers Office um which is really the the entity at the state level that controls uh contract water rights. I think that's important concept to understand at its at its most basic level. There are some uses um for a piece of land that do not require um the state engineers office um to grant or transfer water rights. Um I think residences, for example, are allowed a certain amount of water usage every year without having to have water rights in hand to do so. A lot of other uses um do require contract water rights. And in the Estansia basin, there are only a finite amount of these water rights. Um, new water rights will will not be created. Um, and the water rights that exist today represent the amount of water that could be pulled from the

Estansia basin in in a given year. Um, those water rights are a fixed resource. Um, and they can be traded and and and bought and sold and transferred as long as those water rights stay within the Estansia basin. You can't buy water rights, you know, I want 10 acre feet of water rights from some other water basin and bring them in and use them on my property in the Estansia basin. Um, so it's a fixed pool of water rights um that is not going to grow. Um we from day one have been you know plugged in and aware that the location of this project in the DNC basin means water is a crucial important resource and we need to pay close attention and make sure we are planning the project with that in mind. Um and you know the application materials we've submitted I believe demonstrate that um responsible stewardship of water as a resource is a very very high important uh priority for Lineia. Um and like most land uses contemplated by the SLDC though the the project does require some water usage. I say some and I've got a my third slide kind of tries to put that amount of water we're proposing into context. Um generally there are going to be two periods of water usage which I'll detail on the next slide. Water used during construction and water use during operation. Um try to get through this fairly quickly. um construction water usage primarily the the the big amount of construction water usage is going to be for dust control during construction. Um there are requirements from the county as well as the state that dust control dust must be managed during construction. Um you do not want to create a dust hazard for neighboring properties of the region. Um by far that

is the biggest use of water during construction. Now, there was a number mentioned earlier um and Commissioner Burgerer, I think it may have been you, and it is in one of our reports, a number of um 67.4 acre feet of water. But I think it's important to break down quickly what that figure actually represents because water usage for construction is really impossible to predict with total accuracy before construction has happened. And the reason for that is the needs of water for dust control will vary greatly from one day to the next. If you have gotten rain recently, you're not going to need construction water for dust control for several days. If you are not doing work that where you're driving on your gravel access roads or um on on bare open dirt, you are not going to need construction water um for for dust control that day. And so with the inability to predict weather patterns and the day-to-day construction schedules over an 18-month period, um you know, we we we cannot give you a a rockolid amount. Um what we have done though we can say with high confidence that on one given day the maximum amount of water we would expect to use on a very very high needs day is approximately 40,000 gallons which represents 10 4,000galon water trucks to the site that day. That's a day that you're going to max out. That's the most amount per day we would expect to use. And so what we've done to be extremely conservative is we say, "Okay, in the absolutely impossibly unrealistic scenario where you are using your max daily usage every single day for 18

months straight, that brings you to 67.4 acre feet. I want to be very clear. it won't be anything close to that because there is no way that there is going to be the max possible usage every single day. Um, but we wanted to put that number out there to represent an extremely conservative higher max number that we could put in the report for people to review. Um, and then as mentioned earlier, the primary source for this water because there there is not water service to the site would be trucked in water. Um, we've mentioned that, um, we have a ready, willing, and able letter from the Estronosa water association, which is a a a a member-owned water cooperative um, located in the Estansancy Basin. And it's important to acknowledge that Estronosa, they own a certain amount of water rights, that they have permission to pull that much water every year out of out of the aquifer. And although they're a nonprofit, I so maybe I be be careful about using this, but essentially their business is to monetize that water and they have been granted permission from the state engineer to do so with a certain amount of water per year. Um, and and I would say because that's their quote unquote business, you know, they are looking to monetize the water rights they have. And if it's not for our project, they're going to go find someone else. Um that um whether or not our project moves ahead, that's not going to have an impact on how much water Estronosa or someone else like them is pulling out of out of the ground every year. Operations and maintenance water usage is quite different. Um I apologize there's a typo here. Um we are estimating up to four acre feet per year for the operations and maintenance of the facility. Um, we have an on andm building that's going to

need plumbing. We have water tanks for portable water and fire control water that need to be filled or potentially refilled and general site maintenance needs like vegetation management, panel washing, um, which is, you know, not expected often, but but could be needed periodically. And we estimate that 4 acre feet per year might be the maximum amount needed. And to be clear, we would have to go out and secure commercial water rights approved by the state engineers office to use this amount of water. And that is our that is our operational plan to do so. Um, and I think in the next slide we would just try to put this all into context in terms of how much water we're talking about. We're talking about gallons. We're talking about acre feet. What does that actually mean? So let's talk about the operational water usage first. 4 acre feet per year. Um, uh, so on the left is a standard single family residence and an average one of these in New Mexico in this area of New Mexico that self-supplies. They're not served by municipal utilities. They have a well, they get their own water off the ground. Uses on average about 0.1 acre feet per year. Um, we're talking about four acre feet per year. Um, and I think the math here is not correct. I mean, that's going to be I apologize for the typo, but we're talking about 30 to 40 residences per year. That's the amount of water we're talking about for operating this 349 megawatt solar and battery facility. So trying to put that into context in terms of the construction water we've been talking about. We've been talking about an absolute theoretical max value of 67 68 acre feet per year. The image on the right is an aerial uh view of a number of agricultural irrigation pivots

located between Morardi and Stanley. Um, and uh, I am not here to talk negatively about agricultural water use. I'm a huge uh, supporter of agriculture and and ranching, not only in New Mexico, but in my home state of Iowa. Um, this is extremely important to the the region. But just to put it into context, all right, theoretical max construction usage of our project 68 acre feet per year. A single one of these irrigation pivots covering 125 acres on the low end probably uses 125 acre feet per year for one of these. And that's per year. We're talking about 68 acre feet over 18 months and then that's done. So hopefully my my intent was to try to help contextualize what the amounts of water we're talking about really mean. And so just want to round out this section with community engagement. Um and so we hosted our pre-application meeting um back in January of 2025 and invited the residences um that were surrounding the property um within a thousand feet of the project boundary. Um approximately 18 individuals attended this meeting. Subsequently, um just really given what we were seeing within the Rancho Vjo project, I really want to make sure that we are having office hours and so um was sending out invitations for office hours and holding them at the Edgewood Community Library and so did three office hours in August of 2025, September 2025, and December of 2025 to answer questions. Um and then in addition, we've been um engaged with community interest groups and just I've really tried to make myself available, make sure that any of my materials that are going out have my cell phone number as well as just you know there's been information in the paper and really anyone that's reached out to me that I

try to engage with them and really try to make sure that they I understand their um questions surrounding the project. And then lastly, we also met with members of Future Farmers of America and our um this was a while back and definitely need to revisit that conversation, but I think as the project and we have more certainty that's being built, looking for more community engagement opportunities in the Stanley area as well as down in the Edgewood Morardi area and um Future Farmers of America said they're definitely open to collaborating and um you know developing some type of plan that we can contribute to um and just continuing to be open to seeking additional opportunities to engage with the broader Stanley community. Um, and here's a photo of our community meeting. Um, so we're going to have a full another section. It's about 10 slides on battery storage and then the final part is us walking through the C criteria. So I was going to pass it off to someone that's on the line. Great.

Thanks. And and before we do that, I have a request for a a break for a few minutes. Um, and so if we can, it's I have 607. If we can uh plan to return at 6:20, uh that would be great. Uh thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank thanks very much for allowing us to break. Um uh while uh while away from the the dis here um folks I got some feedback that folks would be interested in making public comment. Unfortunately we really need to um allow the presentation to be um uh to be completed um before we do that. So um the uh the next session if Andrew if you could proceed that would be great. Thank you very much.

Thank you chair. Um I'd like to introduce one of our team members who will be presenting the section Jeff Weber and um get him sworn in. He will be presenting virtually. Um and so hi there. Yep. Jeff Weber, director of engineering at Lineia Energy. My address Jeff, can you hear me? Yeah. I need to swear you in. Do you swear or affirm that your testimony will be the truth? I swear. And your name and address for the record. Thank you. Jeffrey Weber, director of engineering at Lineia Energy. My address is 311 California Street, Sweet 450, San Francisco, California, 94104.

Thank you. Please proceed.

Thank you. Um so going to focus my portion of the presentation here on the battery energy storage system. This is mainly a technical overview although we will cover a little bit of fire and safety topics. The purpose of this section really is to provide a focus on what the battery storage system for globe malow will look like. And I did want to, you know, just take some time to talk about some of the um technical details of the underlying technology. Battery storage. Uh while no longer a new uh technology solution for grid resources, it is still new enough that it's worth diving into. So, we're going to take a little extra time here to cover those details. As Andrew mentioned before, um we've got phase one and phase two. the facility. It'll be using the same technology. Um, we can jump ahead to the next slide, Andrew. Thank you. The battery technology type is a type of lithium ion battery. The specific chemistry here is important. Uh, we propose we'll be using a lithium ion phosphate or LFP chemistry. Uh, the type of cells that are in use are these large rectangular format or prismatic cells. Uh, phase one and phase two will use the same technology. And uh these cells get racked into modules. The modules get placed into containers. Um about 48 modules per container, 34 cells per module. It's a good number of cells per container. But just to give us a sense of scale here, so one container, you know, it'll have a rating of about 6 and a/4 megawatt hours. Um that's enough to power a New Mexico home for about 9 and a half months to give it a sense of scale. Next slide, please. for the facility. Uh each container gets configured into AC blocks where there'll be a power conversion system or an

inverter it's sometimes called medium voltage transformer to regulate voltage and the battery management system and energy management system are integrated in with these PCS medium voltage transformer pads. The job of those units there is to communicate with the grid to tell the batteries how to operate to regulate the batteries so they function safely and to allow the battery facility to operate um as one cohesive power plant. I also wanted to to pause for a second as well just to give a sense of scale here for these projects. Um the globe malo facility in total will probably have somewhere on the order of 350 total containers. uh that number is indicative. It's subject to change. There may be some some design changes but just want to give you know a sense of scale here. Uh next slide please. Focusing on the chemistry. So lithium iron phosphate. Uh definitely want to pause for a moment here and focus on the importance of this technology. Uh the key thing is safety, reliability, lifespan. Uh LFP is now the most commonly deployed lithium ion technology differentiated from its cousin uh nickel magnesium cobalt. Nickel magnesium cobalt cobalt really thrives in environments where you have um weight limitations or space limitations. So cell phones, laptops, mobile electronics of that sort. Almost all of those are NMC technology have been and and will be for the foreseeable future. LFP is a much better technology for applications where you're not so space constrained. Uh electric vehicles being one of them and also standalone stationary battery storage like what we're proposing for Globe Mellow. There's quite a bit of information on here. I'm not going to touch on most of it. I really just want

to highlight here um in the in the graphic at the bottom left uh a way of sort of understanding the various characteristics that you care about when selecting between one chemistry and another there. By the way, there's you know a good dozen or more other commercially available chemistries out there. These are just the two that are most common commonly deployed. Uh but you can see LFP scores quite high in terms of safety lifespan while still being low cost. Next slide please. Um another key thing about LFP. So uh thermal runaway this is the concern with battery storage. Uh this is a self-perpetuating reaction. Um there's quite a lot of infrastructure in these battery storage facilities to detect early to prevent it from even getting to that point. The nice thing about lithium ion is it gives you quite a lot of buffer here. Um now I I can talk through a lot of the technical details but I'll you know these will be available for the public to review later and would definitely um encourage any questions that anyone has. Just given the time and the desire to have time for questions later on in the presentation here I want to highlight one specific thing on this slide which is the graphic on the top right global grid scale storage deployment and failure statistics. Um so there's a publicly available database that um uh the EPRI failure incident database. Uh so they're keeping track of every single mishap with battery storage facilities. And the specific line to look at here is this orange line kind of moving downwards and to the right. This indicates a very very very very low percentage of incidences. Now as the

number of total deployed capacity of battery storage continues to grow exponentially and this is to a large degree the due the result of using LFP as the primary chemistry. So it's what we are excited to be deploying on this project as a high reliability and a high safety factor. Next slide please. Um just want to highlight that when it comes to fire mitigation and detection, you know, we have a multi-layered process um designed to catch incidences early and um mitigate them from becoming a more serious incident. Um this five layered approach is one that our battery suppliers have started to coales around. Um most of the work is done by the battery management system in prevention. So um an example of this would be detecting uh by measuring the electrical characteristics of every cell in every rack in every battery. And if any of the cells are starting to show behavior that is outside tolerance, that cell is that cell and that rack are disconnected from operating and it goes into the subsequent layers of mitigation to allow for addressing. And most of the time what it would look like to to do a preventative measure would be to uh dispatch a service vehicle and go and just remove the cell. Okay, you can go to the next slide, please. The design features for fire safety and just access to the facility. You can see here um it's located next to the highway on the way to Stanley between Santa Fe and Stanley. Uh we have a perimeter security fence. The best layout is designed you uh with uh defensible space around it. Access to all the containers, on-site water supply as my colleagues have um mentioned

previously, access roads for emergency, and then signage to instruct first responders. Next slide, please. Uh the facility will have some on-site staff, but it'll also be monitored remotely 247. Um there's multi-layered uh alerts looking for performance characteristics outside of uh thresholds. And this allows us to stay on top of facility performance. The the SCADA system or what we call SCADAS, it's our it's basically our way of understanding what's happening on the site from data readouts um and also controlling how the site operates. This is mostly used to make sure the power plant does its primary purpose which is to uh for the solar facility generate power as expected dispatched to the grid or to charge the batteries discharge the batteries or other functions that the batteries are doing. So as the owner operator as the owner of the facility with P&M you know being the proposed power offtaker uh skate is how we understand how the power plants performing. Um, there's a few more details here, but I don't think it's worthwhile to linger on them too much longer because a lot of them we've covered previously. Next slide. Just some visual examples of installed storage facilities. Uh, you know, we've uh, Lenny is currently in contract under construction some other standalone storage facilities as we speak using Heithium as one potential supplier, but there's other suppliers out there. The map here on the top left shows where they've been deployed. Um, you can see Texas, California, the Southwest, and up in the Northeast, there's quite a large amount of battery storage facilities that are currently in operation and many more that being constructed as we speak. This is just an overview of the

documentation we provided as it pertains to uh fire safety for the facility. Um, so uh this has been submitted for the record. Next slide, please. And just quick touch base on code and regulation compliance. Um you know these are representative of what we're going to comply with. Um there are some final details in terms of final equipment selection but it will all fall within the proposed fire safety plan for the facility. Um one thing last thing I'm going to highlight here is that you know our our goal is to be active and engaged. So, we will be collaborating with county fire safety and building departments throughout the entire process before, during, and after the project is in operation. Okay. Um, yeah, and I want to thank the county commission for your time. I'm available for questions at the end of our presentation.

Thank you very much, Jeff. We appreciate it. Am I currently going Did we decide I'll finish the presentation and then Okay. Um well, I'd like to just um thank everyone for their time today. Um excuse me as I flip through my notes. And so a lot of this has been covered um through the um you know, previous slides with staff um and through our presentation. But um before just I walk through this, I want to acknowledge just the scope and the materials that have been submitted into um our application um and really reflect the depth and the time that put in our application worked with county management staff. Um additionally, you know, under SLDC section 4.9.6.5, um you know, our conditional use um permit should be proposed if it meets the seven criteria, which I'll just walk through. But I also want to acknowledge that this is a conditional use and um within the agricultural and zoning districts, ranching and um rural zoning districts that we're based in. And really here today, we are requesting conditional use permit approval. Um we will continue to work with the county planning staff as well as the county fire department to really meet the requirements that are nec necessary for the building permits and other obligations before constructing this project. Um so just here's an overview um of the conditional use approval criteria. Um we do not believe that we um that or this project will not result in any of the listed effects and that the project meets the criteria for the requested Santa Fe County conditional use permit. Um for um criteria one um this project will not be detrimental to health, safety or general welfare. The site is private rangeand with very low off-site impacts during operation minimal demand on public services. All OSHA and

applicable safety standards will be followed and we have prepared a comprehensive suite of safety plans. The beds will be designed at NFPA 855, the international fire code, UL 9540 and UL 954A 40A and county ordinance 20239. perimeter fencing, 60,000 gallons of on-site water and NOX equipped equipped access gates are all included in our project plans and will be in compliance once we develop the project. And our EIR concludes there's no long-term or significant health and safety risks with mitigation in place. Uh for criteria two, road congest congestion, the project will not create road congestion. Highway 41 has a 2024 daily traffic count of just 1,492 uh trips, which um designates as a low volume rule corridor um with additional capacity. Um peak construction traffic of up to 250 employees and 18 deliveries per day is temporary and limited to 18 months and deliveries will avoid peak hours. Hall routes avoid residential areas and flaggers will be used where needed. operations traffic is negligible and approximately eight employees will be on site each day. Um, MDOT confirmed no traffic impact analysis is required and the EI found minimal temporary construction impacts in negligible long-term traffic. Uh, for criteria three, the project will not create a hazard for fire, panic, or other danger. The facility will comply with all applicable fire and hazard codes. The bez includes passive protections, a 50ft vegetation free buffer and defensible space, and active protections including integrated fire detection, alarm, ventilation, and gas sensors. Um, we will have 60,000 gallons of on-site water, NOX equipped access gates, and emergency response guide on file with the county. We'll continue to coordinate with and train Santa Fe or work to provide training for Santa Fe County Fire Departments and volunteer departments ahead of construction. And

our EIR concludes a vezfire event is rare and unlikely and the design limits any risk to within the best facility. For criteria number four, the project will not tend to overcrowd land and cause undue concentration of population. Um the project will not overcrowd land or concentrate population. This a low density non-residential land use. Operations require approximately eight permanent on-site employees. The construction workforce will commute from existing nearby communities. No residential or commercial development is proposed. 30% open space is reserved and the EIR concludes no long-term population changes are anticipated. Uh for criteria number five, public provisions, the project will not interfere with schools, parks, water, sewage, transportation, or other public services. We have a ready, willing, and able letter from Mr. Water Association for bulk water supply during construction and operational water use is minimal. The project will generate 40 years of property tax contributions without increasing demands on schools or services. No municipal sewer is required. Transportation mitigation MDOT permits are in place and will be reapplied to prior to construction and fire coordination with local districts will continue as the project develops. The IR found no adverse impacts to public facilities. For criteria number six, light and will not interfere with adequate light and air. The project will not interfere with lighter air um adequate lighter air for reasons including the following. Construction dust and emissions will be controlled through suppression, speed limits, and idling restrictions. Once operational, the facility produces minimal emissions and energy generated by the project will incre in incrementally reduce reliance on fossil fuel generation. And lastly, criteria number seven. Um, the project will not be inconsistent with the purposes project property zoning classification or in any other

way inconsistent with the spirit intent of the SLDC or SGMTP. Uh, the project is fully consistent with its zoning classification and the spirit of the SLDC and SGMP. Both the agral agricultural ranching and rural zoning districts explicitly lists commercial solar energy development as a conditional use. The SGMP MP identifies this area as having the highest solar energy potential and sets goals to um support renewable energy initiatives and the project is consistent with New Mexico's renewable portfolio standard and the application was prepared in compliance with the Santa Fe County SLDC. Our environmental impact report confirms full consistency with the zoning SLDC and the intent of the sustainable growth management plan. Thank you commissioners for your time. Um and thank you planning staff as well as the county fire department. We appreciate it.

Thank you Andrew. Really appreciate it. Um at at this point what we want to do is enter uh the public hearing portion. So, um, in before we do that, I wonder if in the room, uh, who is interested in making public comment, if you could raise your hand. One, two, three, four, four. And, um, if you're on Zoom and you're interested in making a comment, could you also use the raised hand feature um, and John will count those up. Mr. Chair, there appears to be about four members online that wish to speak on this matter.

Okay, great. Uh, so it it looks like a a total of eight folks are interested in making a presentation uh making public comment. And so if you could limit your comments to five minutes, uh, that would be great. And so, uh, please, uh, let's do the in the room first. And so if with four folks, do you want to uh swear them at once or Okay, the four folks, if you could come forward to be sworn in, Karen will do that. Good evening. My name is Lucy Fulma and I live at 714 Rosita Street and I confirm under oath. Thank you commissioners for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Lucy Fulma and I'm here to express my support for the Globe Malo Solar and Battery Storage Project. For me, this project represents practical projects progress for Santa Fe County. Globe Malow brings significant long-term tax revenue to support essential services like infrastructure, emergency response, and schools without putting added strain on our rural resources. It will also create hundreds of well-paid construction jobs and provide stable, affordable energy as our electricity needs grow. Just as importantly, solar and storage strengthen the reliability of our grid by generating clean power and storing it for peak demand. Projects like this help protect our communities during extreme weather and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The proposed site is well suited for this use and solar is a low impact neighbor that preserves our rural

character while continuing to contribute to a healthier future. Thank you for considering this project. Thank you, Miss Vulma.

Ken Hughes, Hug Gh, 2300 West Alama Street, Santa Fe, 7507. Yes. Evening, commissioners. I'm Ken Hughes. I'm here on behalf of two nonprofits, the Coalition of Sustainable Communities New Mexico and the Sierra Club. The uh Sierra Club last month released a guidance document of 42 pages on how to help site renewable energy transmission and storage projects. This has been in the works for three years and the uh document really lays out how this area club would like to see these projects uh go forward. I'll just list a few of the areas they they u mention in the document. Lands previously converted from their natural state and which remain impacted, disturbed or degraded by human activities. Public lands of comparatively low natural value located adjacent to degraded and impacted private lands. locations adjoining existing roads and locations relatively close to load centers that do not pose issues of environmental justice. I think that the globe myo proposal as before you today certainly meets these criteria and I urge your support for it. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Hughes. Hi. Uh, Glenn Wel, W I KLE E. I live in district 4. Um, first I I just wanted to thank you, chair. Uh, I think you did uh put us in in front of your discussions. Um, there were a few other people that showed up for public comment for a meeting that we thought went from 4 till 6 p.m. and so they couldn't stay and you won't be hearing from them tonight. Um, so, uh, regarding, uh, tonight's p, uh, proceeding, I I first wanted to say, uh, thank you to everyone at the county. Uh, I really appreciate this comprehensive conditional use permit process. And, you know, I know it looks like a lot to the, uh, uh, applicant, uh, as we saw an entire page of, of submissions that they made. Um, just to put this in context, Dona Anna County appears to have no such process. And last year they approved first construction permit for a $150 billion data center before even holding the first public meeting for that project. Then they followed up by approving the entire project just three weeks later. This was for a facility which will be the largest point source of greenhouse gases in the state and a water guzzler in a region whose water supply is bankrupt. They have less water than we have. I appreciate the care that the county takes to listen to constituents, even if those constituents are my neighbors opposing a project considering uh a projects that considerably less dangerous than the oil and gas facilities that we currently rely upon. the unfolding 2026 water shortage in New Mexico

as well as news that I just saw yesterday that the Atlantic current circular system is likely to fail within the next 25 years are just two of thousands of reasons why we must accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Solar power provides this county with a low-risk opportunity to directly benefit from the energy transition. As a progressive county, we arguably have a duty to promote and develop these facilities while other communities fall prey to short-term thinking and misinformation. The opponents of the Rancho Viejo facility often stated in their speeches that they supported solar energy, but only if it were far away from residential neighborhoods. Well, this one is quite far away from residential neighborhoods. So, I I would hope to see that those opponents would show up and say now they support solar energy. Maybe they're on the Zoom call. The location of the Globe Malow facility is exactly where they suggested it should be out in the ranch lands in the uh not even in the fringe zone in the uh rural zone of Santa Fe County. So last year PNM produced 80% of its electricity from zerocarbon sources. They're well along the way in the energy transition, but there's 20% left to go. We might see more projects like Globe Malio, Globe Malow working to fill that gap, that 20% that we need to get to zero carbon.

the county, our electric utility, the state of New Mexico, and even the world are depending upon bodies like this commission to bring us the solutions to this climate crisis. So, I urge you to support this project and approve the conditional use permit. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wel.

Hello, my name is Suzanne my Sloan. I live at Aanita day Mercedes in Santa Fe. Thank you. Um and I thank the commissioners for this presentation and allowing the public comment. I am here to speak in favor of the Globe Milo project. Um I am personally very uh deeply care about um increasing our reliance on clean renewable energy and decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels. uh for reasons of climate change as well as the health effects of fossil fuel development and use and the also the geopolitical consequences of fossil fuel dependence. And so with that passion being able to personally use renewable power uh is very important to me and which this project would contribute to. Um, I'm also retired, live on a fixed income, and so contributing to lower electricity rates, um, is an important part of this project for me. Um, and, you know, it's a more affordable way for me to use renewable power without putting solar panels on my own home. Um, and I also appreciate the low water usage of this project. um with our current drought situation um and the last two non-winters that we've had, I think, um low en low water usage uh projects like this are really important. Thank you.

So, uh now we have uh folks on Zoom and Karen, how do you want to swear them one by one? One. So, the first is um a person with the initials RC um and Rand something is your name. If you could come off mute, lower your hand, and if you have a camera that works, please fire that up. So, please be sworn. Thank you, Mr. Coleman. Yes. Randy, do you swear or affirm that your testimony will be the truth? Uh, I do. And could you please state your um you know your name and your address please?

Sure. Uh my name is Randy Coleman. Uh I live at 22 Fonda Road in Santa Fe in the Elorado area. Please proceed, sir.

Okay. Well, well, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm I'm Randy Coleman. I'm with uh the Clean Energy Coalition for Santa Fe County and um uh I want to thank Glenn. We've worked together before, but uh CEC is not able to either um oppose or support the project for for external reasons. Um, however, I we do want to commend Lineia for working with CEC over over the actually the last almost two years. Uh, and they've been very upfront. They they've done uh a a lot of tremendous work in putting their design together. Uh, one of the things that we want to commend them for is they continue to recognize that they are a utility scale uh, project and that from that perspective uh, they could just as easily be thought of as a solar electric power generation facility. uh which would still be uh eligible for a CUP in the zoning area that that um they are in. Uh also CEC submitted exhibit E. Uh and uh we would suggest that you continue to look at that exhibit for our recommendations. But three important recommendations that I'd like to bring uh to to light and that is that within their design uh the the linear emergency response plan they identified a 300 foot standoff should there be any type of of a fire event. Yet the site plan has the water

tank in the initial staging area less than that 300 ft away. And I think that's an inconsistency in the design. And the county may wish to uh suggest that um the site plan be adjusted to accommodate the 300 ft standoff. Additionally, we recognize that the the that the site plan may change over time. We'd like to recommend that the county identify that the that no matter how the site site plan should change that Lana should maintain the 10-ft separation for all enclosures all the way through the design process. uh so that uh at no time does this site plan uh bring those enclosures closer than 10 feet. Uh the third item is and there are swailes around the battery storage system soil 7A and 7B that that drain into basin 7. We'd like to identify that uh we think that those swailes should be controlled uh similarly to the national polluted discharge elimination system the NPDES to control storm water discharge uh sector L which is the for landfills and land application sites. uh and those recommendations identify that those swailes and the and the uh uh discharge basin should be lined. Um those are just the important things that we'd like to bring out. We hope that the county will consider those as part of the conditional uses. Um thank you for

the opportunity to speak and we we wish uh Lana the best of luck. Thank you very much, Mr. Coleman. Uh, next is uh JM June. If you could lower your hand, turn on your camera if you have one, and please proceed. Hey, June, can you hear me?

Hello, June. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Um, okay. Good. June, let me swear you in. Do you swear? Okay. Do you swear or affirm that your testimony be the truth? I swear. And your name and address for the record, please. June Morris, 06 Rex Road, Stanley, New Mexico 87056. Thank you, ma'am.

Okay. And I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak. First, I would like to state that I am not against solar or green energy. In fact, my home has been powered by photovotayics for the past 25 years. What I am against is the taking of portable water from the Estansia water basin on which we depend. Santa Fe County Water Conservation has posters. I have one here, but my camera's not working. Um, posted all throughout the county requesting us to conserve water. to quote, "Santa Fe County is in a high desert area with limited water supplies. Regardless of the fire weather or reservoir levels, water should always be treated as a precious natural resource." End quote. This is even more critical and applicable in southern Santa Fe County and the Estansia water basin which is dependent only on precipitation to be replenished and does not have rivers or reservoirs from which water can be diverted. Continued pulling of water from the Estansia basin places people's livelihoods, if not their very lives, at risk. If wells go dry, as many already have, people and businesses will move out and the whole East Mountain economy will suffer. We are asking that Lineia Globe Malow and Entrinosa Water set up a substantial reserve fund to be immediately available to drill new wells for any resident or community that experiences well depletion. or as an alternative establish a reliable and sustainable water system to all residents that draw portable water from the basin. Our second request is that eootics be employed in constructing and maintaining the project. Any loss of habitat, grazing land, and migration

patterns for the prongghorn and flyover waterfell must be considered and mitigated. What wildlife studies have been done and has the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish been notified? Of note, the southwestern willow fly catcher is on the endangered species list and the project site is located within the critical habitat management area set by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We do all we can to conserve water on a daily basis. two-minute showers, taking basins of dish water outside to water the plants, limited toilet flushing, yet entrosa water spills hundreds of gallons of water at the fill sites and on the roadways as they haul it away. We witnessed that daily during the Zeia wind turbine project. Private entities should not be able to pro sell our precious natural resource and profit at the expense and the real life risk of the local residents. We respect respectfully ask you to consider these requests and do a critical evaluation of the potential long-term impact of the proposed project on the Estansia water basin and on wildlife management and safety. Small modular reactors are the future and will make solar panels obsolete and leave our land scarred. Santa Fe County has the ability, authority, and the obligation to protect its citizens. We implore you to do the right thing and ensure residents have a sustainable water system and supply for years to come. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Morris. Um, Miss Willie, please lower your hand and come off mute. Thank you. Denise, can you hear me?

You're still muted, ma'am. Miss Miss Willie, if you could if you could hold on. Let's jump over you. You can work on resolving this mute issue. Um, Mr. Bington, I wonder if you can lower your hand and come off mute, please. Please, please be sworn, sir. Okay. Um, I think I have my hand lowered. Can you hear me? Yes. Can you hear me?

Yes. Great. Do you swear or affirm that your testimony will be the truth? I do. And state your name and address for the record, please. And would you spell your last name also?

Sure. Uh, my name is Peter Bington. B A R I N G T O N. I live at 6932 Angela Drive Northeast, Rio Rancho, New Mexico, 87144. Uh, good evening, commission, commissioners, and thank you um for your time this evening. Again, my name is uh Peter Barington. I am a veteran and a lifelong resident of New Mexico and I'm also an organizer for Veterans Powering America. I too was at the hearing um in in the hearing room earlier uh with a couple of VPA members, but they had to leave at the at the break. Um so um uh unfortunately we won't get to hear from them. But I um I again represent Veterans Powering America. We are vet veteranled organization that drives America's clean energy future. V VPA empowers veterans to lead in job creation and community resilience. I am here to advocate on behalf of the Globe Malo project and on ha on behalf of the New Mexico veterans um and BPA for the renewable energy projects like Globe Malow which we are which we know will pro provide good jobs locally and provide positive economic and environmental benefits. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bington. Um, Miss Willie, could you try your uh unmute button again?

Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you. Please be sworn in, ma'am. Yes. My name is Oh, go ahead. Do you swear or from your testimony be the truth? Yes, I do. And Denise, will you provide your name and address for the record? Uh, my name is Denise Willie, W I L I E, and my address is 6101 Sequoia Road in Albuquerque. Please proceed, ma'am.

Yes. Um, thank you. Good evening, members of the committee. Um, I my name is Denise Willie and I live in Albuquerque and I work for a nonprofit um, NAVA and I do support the Globe Malo uh, project. I support moving forward moving towards renewable energy systems. Solar protects rural lifestyles, protecting land for agricultural needs and for farming. Modern solar farms often include supporting pollinators, prevent soil erosion, and enhance biodiversity. This would help power homes, stabilize electricity prices for residents, and improve grid reliability. This proposal also aligns with New Mexico's Energy Transition Act, which requires electric utilities to reach the 50% renewable energy by 2030. and 80% by 2040. This would help us reduce our reliance on fossil fuel. I urge you to support this project. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Willie. Uh, Miss Weisberg.

Yes, I'm here. Hi, Miss Weissberg. Do you swear or affirm that your testimony will be the truth? I do. And please give us your name and address and spell your last name if you wouldn't mind. Stephie Wiseird W I S B U R D as in David and I live at one howling wolf trail to Harris, New Mexico.

Please proceed ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners, for allowing me to speak, especially since I don't live in Santa Fe County, but I do live in the East Mountains, um, where you've heard we have a lot of impact of climate change coming already. Um, we have soaring insurance rates and dried up wells. Um, and today and tomorrow are red flag days, which are becoming all too common. As someone who lives next to a national forest and in a community that has lost thousands of opinions, every time I look out my window, I grieve and I fear wildfire. What gives me hope, though, is that we have technologies existing today that can slow the um progression of our climate challenges. If we really care about water scarcity, we have to address the underlying cause of that, which is climate change. And so I want to be part of the solution uh to deploy clean, reliable, um clean energy that will replace oil and gas. Um now because we are already um feeling the effects of climate change, the solar electricity has produced the least expensive electricity in history. And with all due respect to Miss Morris, nuclear energy is one of the most expensive forms of electricity. I don't want my bills to go up like that. And nuclear also uses a lot of water. So, um I would much much rather have solar and batteries and wind. Um it's really astounding when you think about it that sand essentially quartz can transform

free solar energy light into electricity without poisoning or depleting our water. It doesn't emit air or climate pollution or dump millions of cleanup costs of abandoned wells on New Mexico taxpayers. We must support solar if we are to be part of the solution and not the problem. Globe Malow solar and storage will not increase our asthma or heat related health expenses or infrastructure costs associated with climate driven extreme weather that the counties and governments will have to bear as t and taxpayers. It will generate tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues, wages, and county investments. Projects like this spe particular in the east mountain allow landovers to receive income from their land when grazing or farming alone cannot sustain them. And it is much more sustainable use of land than if a housing project came in um which is what we're all fighting uh been fighting for decades here with Campbell Ranch. This project supports local solar companies which have already been laying off workers due to the loss of federal tax credits for rooftop solar and it will shade and cool the underlying land and insulate New Mexicans from the global energy volatility that comes from fossil fuels. This is a sensible win-win solution. So, I urge you to please approve the conditional use per permit and help secure a livable future.

Thank you very much, Miss Weisberg. Cindy,

uh, yeah, if you could come off mute, if you do have a camera, please turn it on. Otherwise, um, please be sworn in. Thank you. Um, do you Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Oh, thank you. I can't get my camera to come on. I'm sorry. It's all right. Um, my name's Cynthia Golden. Miss Golden, do you swear or affirm that your testimony will be the truth? I do. And will you also provide your address, please? I will. 111 Prairiewood Lane, Stanley, New Mexico 87056. Please proceed. Miss Golden.

Thank you all for allowing us this opportunity and for taking the time um to listen to to both pro and con. Um I would also like to thank you for asking the questions about water because that's my biggest concern. Um in I do live in a in Stanley. We're 10 miles out but it's still considered Stanley. So I did not receive a letter in being invited to the community meeting. Um had I known that I would have expressed my concerns back then also. And it all goes back to water. The Asansia basin is a closed basin. It relies on rain. There's no other water that flows into it and it's going down as we speak. Our farmers depend on it. our homes out here depend on it and without water as I previously said you know you don't have much without water um so I am respectfully requesting that uh Globe Mellow put in a water system for the Stanley residents um and until that water system is up and operational to provide emergency funds for those people who do lose their wells u And it could be a rancher that's having to haul water to his cattle. Um, and I also feel like they need to use the reclaimed water for the construction project and for the maintenance. There's no reason to use our Goodwell water for a construction project. So, that that's my two cents. Thank you all and I do hope that you will um consider that Thank you, Miss Golden.

Thank you guys and we appreciate it. And ladies,

so um that concludes the I I we have no more people online or in the room uh who are interested in making a comment. So that concludes this portion of the meeting. And um so now uh I think it's up to the commissioners to request either the uh request feedback from the applicant staff or the applicants folks online. So I see that you have questions, Commissioner Buger. So please proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh let me follow up on water uh with a question for u Mr. Davidson or designate Mr. Wilson. Thank you.

Uh so in your presentation um you mentioned that construction water estimates they're difficult to make which I found interesting. We um the last um proposal that was before us uh estimated their construction which is a third less less than a third of the scale of yours it was 100 150 acre feet you're not that they were right but that's what they presented estimated uh yours is 67. Um so my question to you then is um will you if this goes further would you agree to use non-portable water for all construction and for filling that 60,000 gallon water storage tank and refilling it?

That's a Thank you. Um, I think that's a good question and um I I don't think it's a question that I'm prepared to answer yes in this moment. And I think one of the main reasons for that is um there are not sources of reclaimed water uh anywhere close to where this project is located. And you know, Andrew might be able to help me recall there was a question earlier about the request made to Santa Fe Municipal Service. They do offer reclaimed water. Um, but I I believe that the response was that uh we're just nowhere close to the range that would be needed for them to serve. Is that accurate?

That's correct. There was a letter um which I could get on my phone, but there was a letter stating that. Also, we originally did hall route plans and so the you know from the Santa Fe County it's it's a 45 minute um drive and so I think that was also something that we incorporated into this is there's additional impacts outside of just the water that we're sourcing there's sources on other communities from the long range trucking and so inosa provides a lot closer um you know ability to serve the water needs that are needed for this Thank you. If I may, if I ask two questions and then I'll I'll defer after that to to others on uh um safety. Um uh first a comment. Thank you uh for the presentation and for u including lithium iron phosphate chemistry as uh as your in your in your batteries and that uh uh and rather than the nickel manganese cobalt.

So thank you for that. the uh uh hazard mit mitigation analysis the u uh we're not experts I'm not an expert so I look I look up definitions hazard mitigation analysis the technical evaluation required by the fire code NFPA 855 that identifies potential failure modes and systems like thermal runaway, explosion, gas release, and determine strategies to reduce, manage, or eliminate risks to life and property. So page 1516 of the NV5 report, you're the contractor for this, states that the hazard mitigation analysis that was submitted um was a template wasn't sight specific and that that's a condition of approval. But my question to you is uh uh you know given that this is important for safety which relates to a couple of the criteria that we have to find um affirmatively um how can we recommend approval of this with with a non-sightsp specific hazard mitigation analysis.

Uh thank you. And and that reminds me of a a similar question that I think we received from the hearing officer last month. Um, so I think it's it's a good question and I I think the answer is that a hazard mitigation analysis and and the response plan that goes with it is tied very closely to the specific technical details of the equipment being installed. Um, you know, you're right. We're talking about a general technology, a general chemistry LFP, but the particular vendor that we select, the specific model number that that vendor produces, they're going to be very different minute details of of each particular selection, and we have not we have not selected or ordered that equipment yet. In fact, if we're talking about, you know, this project beginning construction um you know, in November 2027, um at the earliest, the battery components wouldn't be, you know, installed until probably the last six months of that 18-month construction period. So, we're talking about batteries potentially installed, you know, in the first half of 2029. um the specs, the specifications of the batteries that this project will install just do not exist today because it's it's a it's a model that, you know, hasn't hasn't been finalized yet. And so what the intent of the HMA and the uh hazard response plan included in our application was this is a demonstration of how we will comply with the level of detailed required by the Santa Fe County Fire Department. Um if we are granted a CUP and advanced to construction, we we cannot get a building permit until we've satisfied the Santa Fe County Fire Department. And at the time we uh apply for that with the development plan and building permit at that time we will file our final HMA and final minute hazard response plan once the final

construction details of our equipment are known at that time. Thank you for that. Uh, appreciate the answer. Of course.

Uh, none of which does at least me any good in making a determination at this point in time whether this is safe or not, whether this complies with a criteria. One more question along those lines. So UL9 9540 certification are the systems required to determine compliance with code and project safety. uh and for reasons such as what you mentioned, you don't have that certification yet, but what uh what I found interesting, page 17 of the NV5 report states that quote, "In the event the final BSS equipment differs from this submitt, then another evaluation must be done to determine compliance with UL 9540. So, we're just going on what's been presented, but it may change. How much of this may change? Is it the specifications, the products, the design? It's uh if you could enlighten,

of course. And again, um thank you for the question. I would even highlight um a different thing that that can and probably will change before we approach the fire department with final construction plans. And we see an example of this in our application when we prepared that hazard mitigation plan or hazard mitigation analysis and and filed it with the planning department last spring. Um there was uh the version of NFP uh 855 in place at that time was the 2023 code. Today there's a new version 2026. And so it's not even the the equipment that could change. It's it's what are the safety codes requiring. And what I what I what I really would not want to do is, you know, a agree to a very specific design today that complies with the code that exists today and and and and rob the county fire department of the ability to apply even newer standards two years from now when we need to be talking with them about our building permit. So, I think I I understand the concern, but I think in response, I would say um we're here to talk about, you know, more of a question of land use, and the technical details um are probably a little bit preliminary and better suited for discussions with code compliance at the time of a building permit application.

It's just one comment on that. Of course,

that is the conundrum that we can face that the to determine that uh this is not detrimental to the health, safety and general welfare of the area. Uh does imply that we look at to the extent that we're it's possible for us the possible impact of a bad event. Similarly, you know, the criteria where it's create a potential hazard, a fire, panic or other danger. So, it's uh um thanks, Commissioner Buger. And and I I appreciate the the specificity of the questions. uh and comments and my understanding and and please correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that the you have stated you will comply with the applicable codes and there is a time to demonstrate that compliance and that is not now because of the nature of the process. we we give the or don't give um conditional use permit approval. You go through a you sign a deal with the offtaker. Um you go through your engineering analysis and before you can construct you have to get that development permit and it's at that time that you need to demonstrate some of the compliance and then upon construction there are other demonstrations. So, it's it's just a chicken and egg staggered situation that that puts us in a position not to be

able to answer the ultimate questions. But I I think that's the way that's the way I see it. And and that gets back to your initial comment to say putting having a section of the code that deals with this kind of facility would be really useful because we'd be able to um separate the chickens from the eggs. Thanks. Uh, any other questions from commissioners of the applicant? Just a just a couple more here, Mr. Chair. Um, so just back to water from just so I'm clear on this. The the water that you're going to use from construction is going to come from that Entranosa water association that you're going to truck in. Is that correct?

The entranosa water association or an entity like them. Okay. And then the the for the operation and maintenance of this facility, you would use the well or a well that is on the property. Is that correct? That's correct. For the operations and maintenance of the facility, we would be using, you know, water from the site itself using either the existing well or that well is not commercially viable like it's it's a very very old well. um if it's not physically capable of you know meeting meeting the need then we would seek permission to drill a new well um okay state engineers office

and then as Mr. Chairman as you mentioned that the that well what is the intended what would be the amount you anticipate on using out of that well for operational maintenance in a year out of the new well in that scenario? Yes. Yeah. Up to four acre feet per year. Okay. And Mr. Chair, I is that um so there's there's there mustn't be no water used for cooling of the batteries. Is that correct? That's correct. There's there it's not a hydrocooling system. Well, some some high efficiency batteries require water for cooling.

Now, I might be getting a little over my skis. There could be, you know, some water inside the sealed chemistry of the cell. Um, but it we're not hooking the batteries up to I believe it's a glycol cooled system. The chillers are glycol cooled. It's a liquid cooling in system unit. So that can do to dispel heat but also um you know in the case when the batteries do get close to freezing temps also warm up the battery. Right. So it's like an air conditioner that has a flu working fluid but it doesn't require filling up I think.

Okay. and and and so as you mentioned, Mr. Chair, is that the the water rights are all it's a closed basin, so they must be all fully adjudicated at this point. And so, uh the idea is that if you need more than typically when you go get a well permit in the state these days, it's one acre foot. So, this means you would have to buy or acquire another 3 acre foot of water. So, is that the intent here? That's exactly right.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, vice chair. Any other questions of the applicant from commissioners? I I had a couple. Um, and in your presentation about water, you indicated it's a closed basin. You really can't import or export water. And the the question of reclaimed water is is an issue. My understanding is that um any water you would import would be from another basin. Whether you know whether it's on a truck, I don't know how it works with the state engineer, but if you fill it up in if if you fill it up at a Santa Fe County um bulk water station or at a wastewater facility where it's reclaimed and you truck it into the closed basin, there might be cans of worms there. I I don't really know. So, I'm just sorry. I'm just thinking out loud. Um, I don't think I Yeah, I actually don't think I have any questions at this time and I wonder if any other commissioners do. Commissioner Buger. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, so fire our fire official BL has been sitting there patiently all evening as feel compelled to ask a few questions if I may. Thank you. So,

thank you, Karen. Does he have to be sworn?

I do. Xiao, 35 Kamina Hostia, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508. So in the event that there is an incident at uh uh at this site um what fire stations would respond and what would the response time be? Cherable uh Commission Commissioner Buger, Planning Commissioner Buger. The closest station would be station volunteer station two and the response time uh as you know volunteers have to respond to the station then they have to then respond to the site. So the closest uh staff station would be station 70 currently in Edgewood and or 80 which is uh on the intersection of 285 South and I25 in the Hondo area. I would assume that the response time would be about 20 to 30 minutes.

Thank you. Uh the Edgewood station might not be uh in effect after June 30th, but at least as of right now. So that wouldn't do any good unless higher authorities change things. uh cherabbo and comm planning commissioner buger there are other options if that happens to fall through and and you know we have to move out of 70 then the actual staff station would be uh station two in Stanley or station one and that would get us um a five to 10 minutes closer to the site.

Thank you. Uh do you have any comments on the uh draft emergency response plan prepared by the applicant?

As is been said before, uh that draft is a living document. both the hazardous um the hazard uh mitigation analysis and the emergency response. That's an ongoing document that it's finalized once we know where everything is located, where all the signage, all the entrances, gates, uh placement of these um containers are and knowing exactly uh which station will be responding, what personnel, what apparatus. So, it's a living document and it's been mentioned before that some of these questions will be better answered dur prior to the building permit application. Thank you. Yeah, I'm hearing that point a lot. Um the uh toward that end then between this point um today and the issuance of a building permit who uh uh from your office uh who is going to be uh ensuring that the conditions of approval of which there are many are being met and would Do you use would you even be able to use the same consultant NV5 to help you evaluate the compliance with those conditions? Um or would that change? Chair Abau, Planning Commissioner Buger, uh fire prevention division of the fire department will be uh the ones reviewing these plans. Again, if this happens to go through, then they're going to have to submit again to growth management for their application at that time, then they send it to us for review and

approval. That's when the the fire department looks at the code and make sure that everything meets uh the minimum requirements of the code. Um the second question if you don't mind just you you had selected uh I guess you had selected a consultant NV5 to uh to help you evaluate the really complex proposal. uh uh would they still be on board when the uh additional submit submitts come in?

Cherable, planning commissioner buger, I believe growth management are the ones who uh determined that they're the ones who chose NB5, but we would be more than glad to keep working with them and if not them, whoever is available at that time. But to answer your question, we would be relying on another subject on a subject matter expert to uh walk us through and make sure that at that time they're absolutely meeting every requirement not only from the code but from the conditionals of approval that we laid out in that letter.

Thank you. And uh does growth management have any comments on that?

Uh yes. uh chair and commissioner Buger. Um Michael Voss, land use administrator, 240 Grant Avenue. I do swear. Um so after uh if the planning commission were to approve this conditional use permit, uh the the applicant is required to finalize their a site development plan uh that addresses these conditions of approval. that site development plan needs to get sign off from uh the fire marshall as well as myself as the land use administrator certifying that those conditions have been met as well. Uh the NV5 contract uh does include in their scope of work to assist in reviewing uh compliance with the conditions.

Thank you. I have a I have a question and and fire marshall I have a question uh that one of the commenters asked. Um and it's just it's something we haven't really gone over. Uh and the question is how will fires from the solar panels or battery be fought? And I wanted to kind of elaborate on that question a little bit. if there's a grass fire that sweeps into the area or if there's a thermal runaway fire. I wonder if you could go through what the suppression techniques for either of those types of events might be. Chair in the case of a wild and fire, we would treat it as a regular wildland fire. Um we have a well team in Santa Fe County that uh specializes in uh in fighting wild and fires as long as every firefighter is also trained on wild and fire firefighting. As far as uh thermal runaway, um the latest industry standards are to let that container burn and just uh this the um the uh purpose of the 60,000galon storage tank is not to fight that thermal runaway. It's to actually protect exposures and in case the O o and M building caught on fire or a vehicle caught on fire or for that matter if a grassland catches on fire, we could use the 60,000 gallons to fight that fire.

Thank you. So yes, so I understand you don't open it up and try and knock it down. That's that's a practice that sadly has been used in the past, but the the practice is to use your 60,000 gallons of water for this purpose to keep everything cool around it so that the fryer does not propagate outside the container. Is that accurate chable? That is accurate. Also these containers will have several uh layers of uh prevention, mitigation, reduction. Um some of them entail um thermal runaway propagation control measures, uh notification, smoke detection, um uh deflration, uh protection. So there's many many layers of protection but the main thing is that we are not going to go there and open it when there potentially be an explosive mixture. There's also they are proposing a ventilation system where it actually keeps that explosive explosive mixture from uh building up so it just vents out.

Thank you. I appreciate it. That was a a comment from uh from someone in the community. I I did have another question unless there's another question for the fire motion. I did have another um question that is slipping away from me right now. Never mind. Um never mind. Sorry. Please. Thanks. the uh at what point in the process if this goes forward would would you uh and other the volunteer fire department as well get trained up on uh proper procedures on what to do what not to do because you would be working in concert with the Lana personnel I would presume

cherable uh planning commission Burger that would be a working collaboration with Lena to at the point where they are most likely finalizing the construction we're talking 2029 prior to commissioning the facility. That's when we would most likely gather with them and and they would tell us exactly what we need to do. more than likely they're going to tell us don't even go in there until one of our representatives arrives. And that's why that emergency response plan cannot be finalized until we know exactly what this procedures are going to be prior to the commissioning of the facility.

Thank you.

Thanks. And I do have a question of the applicants either probably Brad or Andrew. Um so um I think you mentioned earlier that you're pretty much the developers putting this together and that during the construction phase um you will hire a EP a procure a procurement and contracting specialist um and what is the general practice? What have you found? Um there's there's been concern about local staffing and although you mentioned that so so you've I I believe you say there are approximately 250 employees and I wonder if you can generally describe you need a bunch of laborers, you need a a bunch of solar installers, drivers, things like that. if you have a an understanding of that um kind of staffing mix um because you know folks are always looking for work. So

yeah, thank you chairbo. Um we do have our execution manager, construction manager on the phone and so I think he would be best equipped to answer that. Um JT, are you available? Nope. Is James is James Tilo? Okay, Mr. Trillo, can you hear me? Hello. Okay. Well, he may not be on the line.

And Andrew and Brad, this is Jeff here. He's not on the line. So, just confirming.

Okay. Thanks, Jeff. Um, yeah, it it is tough to, you know, give a whole lot of specifics at this point, but here's here's what I can say. Um, based upon experience with prior projects. Um, as you mentioned, the potential peak number of employees for a site of this size, it's a large group of people. And when you think about the EPC firm that's going to build and staff this project, what are they interested in? They are a for-profit business. And um there are an incredible number a large percentage of the of those jobs that we talk about are good quality uh jobs that don't you know require 20 years of experience or specific familiarity with that company. So a big portion of the jobs that are on site during these sorts of facilities are sourced locally because bringing a whole crew that size from out of state now you've got predium you've got you got to house them somewhere you got to pay for that and that all gets rolled into the pricing I would say if we look pretty broadly around projects like that that are currently being built in the desert southwest um uh I'll include Colorado in there um you know either a it is a local contractor and there are a couple based in Albuquerque that are would be killer for a project like this. Um but even you know if it was a contractor from out of state for the most part just speaking very generally here they are bringing in a core project management team and some site supervisors and trying to find as much local labor as they can.

Got it. That really helps because that's there's a concern that folks just drop in, do the work and fly away and there's no local benefit. So appreciate it. Any other questions of commissioners? Commissioner Lac Cruz Crawford.

Yeah. How you doing? Uh so thank you for your presentation and I also want to just um I guess um respect the fact that I've been hearing that obviously you've been working a lot with you know other stakeholders etc. There's been a couple people that have presented as well and said they're approve of the fact that you've been working handinhand with them to kind of develop everything. So, I really appreciate that, you know. Um, and that kind of goes in hand with what I was kind of what I'm just generally I've got some general questions or whatnot, but remind me again how many years of operation your business has been in operation. Our company. Yeah, your company. Uh, we were founded in 2022. 2022. So, you're only like four years,

correct? And I think but a lot of our executive team came from other renewable energy developers. And so um our CEO Cassidy, she was formerly at Cypress Creek which is a large utility scale solar developer and started her own company. And so um company's recently founded but you know we have through our executive team built a significant amount of projects and currently have seven gigawatts of pipeline in development across the US. So mobilized pretty quickly. That was my other question because I remember you mentioned there's at least one other kind of larger project that you've you've done scalewise. How many other projects of similar scale have you completed?

So right now I I forget the megawatts. I think it's 80 megawatts of P for Pine View that's in Georgia and that's a solar facility. Um we are currently just kicking off construction for um a facility in Texas that is approximately twice the size of this project. Um and then for other projects, I think there's another one I forget water. There's other projects that are about 125. And so they're early in the construction. These projects have mostly been similar to the project that we took over acquired as projects that we site and develop ourselves take about eight years to develop. And um so um you know most of the projects that we have under construction we took over in a late stage of development.

And just out of curiosity this is like kind of leaning towards all these questions but but as a young company etc. right like you if you get a you know theoretically this gets approved etc. you're going under construction, everything's going etc. and then you as a company happens to go bankrupt or something, right? What actually what happens I guess in that kind of situation with respect to you know this solar facility and the fact that it's been approved you know by the state and so on. Yeah. Um,

so I would say that that outcome is is unlikely. But in the event um, keep in mind uh, you know, these these these facilities are financed, right? Um, you bring in tax tax investor financing and you know debt financing typically. And um, when you have paid the money to build these facilities, think then how do these facilities earn revenue? They earn revenue through a long-term power purchase agreement um with a utility offtaker typically. And so what you have is a a a fixed asset that has a long-term upcoming revenue stream. And in the you know in the event that a project operator runs into financial trouble themselves um that asset is not going to you know go away. someone's gonna be very interested in stepping into it, continuing to operate it, and continuing to collect that that long-term revenue stream.

Thank you. Can you just go through or explain the decommissioning process for me? Um, because I guess overall I'm just kind of thinking, right, these these solar facilities go into place, they get installed, etc. they ran for x amount of years and then of course you've got all these solar panels and batteries etc. and then you got to take it all apart, put it all away, get rid of it, etc. So just kind of generally give me a good explanation of absolutely what happens.

Yeah, at at a at a very high level, you know, something Andrew mentioned during the you know the presentation earlier is that when you think about a solar facility at the end of the day, um they can be large. They're actually very simple. Um there are very few components uh that make these things up. there's just a lot of them. Um, rinse and repeat. And, um, one of the nice things about solar is that, you know, it has such a long useful life that even some of the earlier, you know, large solar projects that were installed, we're not to a point where any of these are being decommissioned yet. Um, they're just nowhere close to the end of the useful life. So, there there haven't been, you know, many, if any, that I'm aware of examples of you know, commercial scale solar facilities being decommissioned yet. They've got decades to go. Um, but in a in a very high level, and I think this is represented in the draft decommissioning plan, it's construction in reverse. Um uh the notion is um with with a few exceptions that when decommissioning is done and site restoration is complete, the facil the the the property is essentially you know going to look and feel very similar to before construction began in the first place. you're you're beginning to physically dismantle and remove from the site to either proper disposal location or proper recycling location all above ground infrastructure, the solar panels, the racks, the support posts, the inverter pads, the battery containers, um, etc. Some infrastructure is below grade, the support posts go down several feet. There's also underground wiring and conduit and standard practice um typical decommissioning uh strategies is for that infrastructure to be removed to a depth of 3 ft. Um and and then other elements and I would list

gravel access roads, perimeter fencing and the on and m building if they potentially are of some use to the the the next iteration of the property whatever whatever is coming next. if those elements could be still useful, um those might not necessarily be removed. That makes sense. Um I was going to introduce we have our consultant from Jensen and use who prepared our fire um studies, but he also would like to make some comments here. So,

yes, ma'am. Uh my name is David Tomichek. My business address is 10170 Church Ranch Road, uh, unit 200, uh, Westminster, Colorado 80021. Um, to your your question, it's actually a very good question, pertinent. Um there are dozens of large-scale solar projects that have been abandoned all over the country and those come from an era when uh large corporations were attempting to get into the solar business early. So you'll see names like Sun Edison um GE Westinghouse and things like that. Those companies um actually had a financial incentive just to abandon them and move on. um companies like Lennia and others in the modern age um understand that there's a recycle uh component to this that to your question if they went bankrupt the first thing they do is go remove all the equipment sell it off to other vendors or get into the recycle uh portion of it to reclaim as much money back out of the system because these types of facilities are on the increase all the time. So there there's actually a financial incentive now to return to a green field than it is to just leave it there.

Thank you. Yeah. Could you speak a little bit? Again, this is more not planning zoning related but more just curiosity. No, you guys are here, you guys are knowledgeable, etc. Just as far as the efficiency of some of these PV panels because obviously the you know the technology has gotten better over the years, much better. And also just as far as like your own u you know how do you choose which panels you use and and I don't know obviously you haven't really necessarily figured all this out yet right you haven't you you're only at 30% of your construction docks so nothing specified etc but how do you go about determining you know what is the efficiency of the panels that you're going to use so on and so forth same thing with the batteries and you know just give me just kind of a general breakdown

efficiency lifespan stuff for we'll let our engineer on the call Jeff Weber who presented the battery section. He'll do fantastic here. So, I'll let him take that. Jeff, are you still on the line? I think we might have lost Jeff. Um, but uh Oh,

David, please. So, um, there's a a business incentive to use, uh, technologies that are as efficient as possible, and solar panels have gotten significantly more, uh, efficient over the decades. And there's actually a push to make them even more efficient in the the modern age. So back in the 1970s they were only 7 to 11% efficient and now those numbers are up over to 60 to 70% efficient and they're pushing into the 80 and 90% efficient using the newer technologies and production capabilities. Same thing happens with batteries. Um but there's a um balance between safety and energy density. So lithium ion uh with the nickel cobalt tends to be the most energy dense at the current but there are significant safety issues with it. So by using the uh iron phosphate type the efficiency is actually a little bit lower but the potential for thermal runaway um impact to the batteries and so on over long periods of time is much much less. So you actually get a safer condition at the expense of efficiency, but the cycling um over the long term uh is better with a iron phosphate battery. So even though initially you would get better with the nickel cobalt type technology, you're getting a better long term with iron phosphate. So there's actually two or three more technologies that are coming on in the probably the next three to five years that may fall in the span that improve on both ends of that. They're more efficient and they're safer. So there there's a benefit to sort of hitting right where these guys are right now.

Follow up between the two types of batteries and the LFP that you propose, right? Y as far as how does that battery get disposed? Could you explain a little bit that like what's is is there like Yeah. Is there a hazardous component to it etc. versus the versus the nickel that that you're not proposing to use? How does it get both? I know there's a presentation you guys mentioned you guys are estimating you know operational for 40 years but your pres presentation showed like a 25 year lifespan for batteries. So obviously you're going to be replacing these batteries throughout the lifespan of those

facility. Um, all batteries are hazardous from the double A batteries that you've got in your remote control at home all the way up. Um, the the more modern types u starting with NICAD batteries, if you remember those from the 1990s and early 2000s, they all require recycling instead of putting into landfills. And most of the folks who are going to be doing recycling will take all the various types of batteries just like everybody will take just about any type of electronics that you have now. Just like those are reclaiming gold and silver and lead and all sorts of other things that are in your your iPhone and your computer. The same folks will be reclaiming the the lithium, the cobalt, everything else, various materials out of the electronics from those batteries. Gotcha. And then the follow-up question on that with respect to the LFP batteries and the bees facility, how many because I saw your graph, right, that you showed, okay, you know, when back when you were using these different types of batteries, there were more accidents that were occurring, right? And now there's kind of this graph that

there's less act accidents occurring now. Yep. But can you give us some numbers as far as how often do you see incidents, thermal runaways happening? you have numbers as far as what happens with PES facilities that employ LFP batteries.

Yep. So, um there's an international group that's putting together the the statistics for the graph that you guys saw in your your packet. um their reporting pulls in from all over the world and they're finding somewhere between 15 and 20 incidents every year of all types of uh battery systems from UPS's that would normally support buildings all the way up to the B best systems that are there. Um that's the span they look at. They exclude EVs and and other things that are more prone to damage. So since about 2018, that number per year has leveled off. Um and uh lith the iron phosphates make up about six to seven out of that 15 to 20. Um so the number in an absolute sense is starting to plateau off uh in that range, but the number of u units is going up significantly almost asmmptoically over the last couple of years. So the number per population of units as a whole is getting smaller and smaller all the time. So when you look at it from a probabilistic risk standpoint, you're improving the risk profile um as the new technologies come on. All right. Thank you. Now I had a question for the fire marshal here and stuff which is just the same thing. Just curious as far as like how many, you know, of these incidents, these uh thermal runaways have has the county had to deal or has the state in New Mexico has to had to deal with

in, you know, in recent history or whatnot, you know, charable planning commissioner Lac Cruz Crawford, to my knowledge, there has not been an incident in New Mexico to date. I could be wrong, but not none that I'm aware.

I would support that. I'm helping another organization do one down in Roswell, New Mexico. We had exactly the same question. We went through all the statistics we could find, news reports, so on and so forth. Um, not only has there not yet been one in New Mexico, there's not been one in uh Colorado, there's been two, as far as I remember, in Arizona, one that's fairly famous for a death incident due to an older style of design that we don't do anymore. Um, I think there's been one in Nevada, um, sort of give you the the four state region around. So, there's been a few over a 12-year period. Okay.

Thank you. appreciate it. Um I just have two last comments. I guess this is more like staff uh comments and and maybe recommendations with a couple just things that I hearing. So one was with respect to the N MV5. I know I believe that we have uh in the oh the conditions of approval it does mention um oh that the where oh reimbursement of some kind where is it I forget where I knew I saw it somewhere right but there was a reimbursement I believe uh condition right to be reimbured that the county would be reimbured for the MV5 and these other reports that were conducted is that correct Yeah. So, in our ordinance fee, it does um list that the fee up to $10,000 um would have to be reimbursed back to uh Santa Fe County.

Okay. My question, my follow-up question was that because I know it mentions on there and I found it that it was, you know, to be reimbured for third party reviews conducted by MV5 and cleared pertaining to the submitt prior to the recordation of the CUP. Uh I believe there was a mention that the MV5 may also be uh contracted to continue future scope right to continue uh reviewing the process. Is that something that we can request to be reimbursed as well as a matter of condition? I just want to make sure that that so their current what it covers.

Yeah. So cherabo commission member lacru crawford so their current scope of work takes them you know beyond so so the project you know like everyone else has said doesn't stop you know at the cup process or the cup approval or um you know it it continues to go to the cup site development plan and so everything then gets onto paper um those conditions you know need to get reviewed so their scope of work takes them beyond these meetings and uh you know into that that that step there. And so we don't foresee having to, you know, procure them and their services again to prolong this with this project. Um we would have to do it for a separate project for new projects that came along either them or a different company. But for this particular project, they're pretty much locked in for the review to to continue working on this project.

Great. So the provision that we have in our the language that we have in the conditions of approval right now that was recommended covers you know the reimbursement for all work by MV5 up until approval. Could I could I just point out so C CU recordation is after issuance of development permit is that is is that a way to

no together? So, there's the the COP approval um which would then go on to a final order, come back to you all for an approval recorded down in the clerk's office. Um during that time, we would work with the applicant on the CUP site development plan. So, it's a site development plan of the of the entire parcel. Um you know, conditions of approval, you know, more design work, um you know, to be updated and whatnot. Once that document is ready to go, that document will go down to the clerk's office. It goes on to myar. Um, you'll also have a couple of Xerox copies that will go down to the clerk's office to get recorded. Once it's signed off by the fire marshall, land use administrator, um, rule addressing. And then once that document is recorded, then the applicant can start working on their construction documents or their development permit documents. But again, the reimbursement of the third party review is only up to $10,000 that the applicant is uh responsible for.

Okay. It's only up to 10,000. Anyway, I guess I just wanted to make sure that the language on here doesn't just cover these preliminary reports for this for this meeting, right? But any other subsequent reports that might occur. But like you're saying, I guess regardless, it's only up to a $10,000 correct limit.

Okay. Um the last little comment I had was just with respect to the 4 acre feet of uh of water that's been you know mentioned etc. And that I believe is also in our conditions of approval. Um, but that it's specifically I think that the change and it's not here on the the dock that we're looking at, but I believe in the one you presented, it has some language saying that that a 4 acre feet of water uh sorry, something about the fact that with that they may be allowed to uh drill another well, but there' be a max of 4 acre feet of water, right? Uh I'm just curious if we want to make sure that we is it possible to add to our condition that that same 4acre feet of water is towards a new well or even if they're using that existing well if they get approved to use that existing well. I just want to clarify that language.

Definitely. Well, so I cons I conferred with um Boot Pierce from uh Geo Science Getta Geoscience. And so if they were to have the existing well um and then drill a new well and they had 2 acre feet, you know, from one well and then two acre feet, it's a 4 acre feet total. Um there's not a 4 acre feet for one well and 4 acre feet for another. It's it's total for the parcel for the for the project. Gotcha. So is and that's the way I just want to make sure the language is written such in the condition of approval that it's just 48 acre feet flat out whether it's half and half or whether it's all through the existing or whether all through the new etc. Definitely. Yeah. Correct. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you commissioner. Any other questions of staff or applicant by commissioners? Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion. Please do. Thank you. Uh, I'd like to go into executive session for for the purpose of deliberate deliberating on this application pursuant to section 10-15-1.H3 of the New Mexico Open Meeting Act. And I think a roll call vote is needed to do so members desire. Thank you. Do we have a second for that motion?

Yes, I'll second that. So, we have a motion and a second. Could we get a roll call vote? Uh, I

Yes. Yes. No. Yes. Okay. So, so we'll find a room and uh talk about what we want to do and come back. Thank you very much.

Uh, thank you all. Um, may I get a motion to come out of exec? Yes, sir. Mr. Chair, upon um I'd like to make a motion to come out of executive session. The motion should clarify that that only the deliberations identified in the prior motion were discussed, nothing more. Thank you. Do we have a motion to leave executive session? Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Can we roll call to Can we all come out of executive session? All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I.

Anyone opposed? Okay, we're back. Um, thank you all. Um, I'd like to I'd like to move that for I'm sorry, my papers got shuffled. I I'd like to move that for case number 25-5180 and 25-5190 be approved subject to the conditions imposed by staff plus an additional condition that all water used during the construction phase of this project for dust suppression must be reclaimed water. May I get a second? Second. So, we have a motion and a second. Um, may I get a a roll call? Yes, it's long. Yes.

Yes. No. Yes. Thank you all very much. We appreciate your application. Those who are who may still be online, we appreciate your participation and thanks to staff for your work on this. Next on the agenda, we have matters of public concern. Is there anyone from the public who is concerned? Who has matters? Hearing none. Um, matters from the commission. Do any commissioners have anything? Matters from the attorney?

Nothing to bring up tonight. Thank you. Thank you. And matters from staff. Nothing from staff. Thank you very much. Our next regular meeting is May 21st. And make it a motion to adjurnn. I so move motion to adjurnn. Thank you. And a second. Second.