Alysha Shaw
Energy Democracy as Anti-Colonialism
Public Power New Mexico | Santa Fe, NM, USA
The ongoing legacy of settler colonialism and militarism in the New Mexico State has resulted in the current energy system that continues to devastate ecosystems and indigenous lands through fracked oil and gas, uranium mining, and toxic waste dumping. The investor-owned utility, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, and its corporate and military allies have controlled the energy system in New Mexico for far too long.
It’s time for a change.
Public Power New Mexico (PPNM) is a coalition of grassroots organizations across the state. We are all working to create a locally- controlled, affordable, reliable, and renewable, energy future that invests in communities.
Our communities and geographies in New Mexico are diverse, and our approach to organizing reflects this: PPNM is comprised of municipal utilities, tribal utilities, rural electric co-ops, as well as community solar and battery projects. We know there is no one solution to energy justice. Facing a villain as big as the investor-owned utilities and their allies in the fossil fuel and military industries, our decentralized and diverse approach strategically sides with the people and with the land.
Currently, PPNM is building out a toolkit to highlight the alternatives to energy institutions, and projects that communities are already creating. Even while we continue to pressure and advocate for changes to the existing profit-centered energy system, we are supporting people to reimagine new futures.
It’s time for public power, in all its variations. Another world is possible when power is back in the hands of the people!
There are so many examples of autonomous communities and self-governing entities doing really innovative things within the worst situations and contexts. As communities and as people, we can come together to change our circumstances. And if the politicians don’t help us we can do it ourselves.
Alysha Shaw
