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Bernalillo County delays substation decision, requires burial study after heated public hearing
Summary
After hours of testimony for and against PNM’s proposed North Albuquerque Acres substation, Bernalillo County commissioners added a condition that transmission lines must be buried if the project is approved, required routing and alternate‑site studies, and continued final action for staff and PNM to return with technical and cost analyses within roughly 120 days.
Vice Chair Frank Baca opened a special Jan. 27 Bernalillo County zoning meeting and presided over a contentious quasi‑judicial hearing on PNM’s request to amend the Paseo Del Norte / North Albuquerque Acres sector plan and obtain special use permits for a new electrical substation.
Planning staff had recommended approval after the County Planning Commission unanimously endorsed the project, saying the area north of San Antonio lacks adequate substation capacity. “The intent of the new substation is to address the area of need where there’s an increased risk of outages due to overloaded transformers,” Russell Brito, PNM’s land‑use and permitting administrator, told the commission.
But the proposal triggered sustained opposition from nearby residents and neighborhood groups, who argued that the applicant’s siting study was flawed, that transmission routings were not adequately considered, and that the project would threaten rural character, property values and public safety. Attorney Michael…
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