www.encantadomag.com
High Desert Dialogue
By Pete Christensen
N
ew Mexico has between 180 and 230 sunny days a year but we get only 3% of our power from solar sources,
despite this readily available clean, renewable source, we get 63% of our energy from coal and petroleum. That’s
like turning down a gourmet meal at a luxury restaurant to go dumpster diving.
New Mexico has over 120 windy days per year but we only have eight wind farms across the state. By contrast
Texas hasn’t as many windy days but produces the most wind power in the nation. If we were talking about hot
air, I believe Washington D.C. accounts for most of that. That aside, it’s obvious we’re dead last in job creation
yet we’re completely ignoring a huge opportunity. Coal produces 80 thousand jobs, while solar is producing 209
thousand. Did all our elected officials get their degrees from the ‘Truck Driver Training Academy and Culinary
Institute’? If a dopey schlemiel like me can figure this out, don’t you think one of our $164. A day legislators
could take some of that money and buy a clue?
The fastest growing industry in the state is, wait for it…microbreweries. Yes, you heard it right. We’re a magnet
for alcoholism. I’m so proud. My uncle had a drinking problem. He once got so blasted, he chipped a tooth
trying to give a hickey to a statue in the park. Seriously, microbrews, brewpubs, and regional breweries produce
jobs, create a market, and often sustain related business, (distributors, in store sales, bottling, labeling, etc.) The
business of brewing gets most of its source material from within the state. The only thing we import is hops and
they CAN be grown here easily. Hops, by the way is the ingredient in beer that makes you sleepy. King Louie
the fourteenth had his pillows stuffed with hops so he could sleep better. I don’t want to say they were boring,
but I’m fairly sure my college professors had ingested hops before every lecture I was forced to sit through while
they droned on for what seemed like hours. Unlike the chimp like mentality
of the frat boys I knew in college, I wasn’t a drinker. I figured I’d have plenty
of time to binge drink once I graduated and got a government job.
The film industry is doing great in the state. It will improve even further if
Antonio Maestas bill 113 passes and removes the 50 million dollar tax credit
cap for film makers. In fact, I’ve worked on numerous films and have been
told often that we can become America’s new film capitol if that happens. I
could’ve been a star except for one thing…talent, I didn’t have any.
We’re a poor state but we don’t have to be. If we get our heads out of our pro-
verbial backsides, and look to modern resources to improve our future. After
all, I don’t want to end up in a run down rooming house living on Top Ramen
and cruising the want ads for jobs one step BELOW technology.
High Desert Dialogue - Pete Christensen
61