Protests Expected at Open Meetings this Wednesday and Friday 

Public hearings on PNM’s application for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), commonly known as smart meters, will begin Friday, March 17, 2023. Hundreds of opponents, both individuals and organizations, including intervenors in the case, have testified before both the PRC and recently the Legislature, that RF radiation emitted by smart meters is harmful and even deadly. 

The Public Utilities Act states one of its purposes is the “preservation of the public health, safety and welfare.” Yet, the hearing examiner for the case, Christopher Ryan, has prohibited any discussion of health or environment, stricken such testimonies, and excluded all persons concerned with such issues from participating in the proceedings.   

“The assertion that implementation of AMI is unconstitutional as AMI will kill or otherwise harm New Mexicans is not one this Commission can adjudicate,” he wrote.

“There is no language in the grid modernization statute that authorizes the Commission to evaluate how much death and suffering will occur (for both humans and non-human life) from AMI implementation when deciding whether to approve a utility’s grid modernization application,” he continued. Opponents, incredulous, have moved for Ryan’s disqualification and removal from the case. 

On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., public comments will be taken via Zoom on PNM’s application for smart meters in Case No. 22-00058-UT. People from across New Mexico are expected to protest the exclusion of consideration of the health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans as well as protesting continued plans for AMI. 

On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 9:30 a.m., the PRC will host an open meeting at its offices at 142 West Palace Avenue in Santa Fe. On the agenda is discussion of two controversial bills pending in the Legislature having to do with smart meters: House Bill 243 and Senate Bill 456. Public comments will be taken at the beginning of the meeting. Testimony and protests are expected from members of the public, some of whom have been injured by RF radiation emitted by smart meters where they have been deployed in Taos, Kirtland Air Force Base, and elsewhere. 

A petition to order Ryan to admit evidence on health and environment is pending before the New Mexico Supreme Court. The motion for disqualification and removal of Ryan as hearing examiner is pending before the PRC.