Sunland Park, Anapra To Fight El Paso Electric Plant Expansion

El Paso Electric has plans to expand its Rio Grande Generating Station in Sunland Park, New Mexico, but those who live near the plant say they’ve had enough and plan to fight that expansion.

Many of those who live close to the plant in Sunland Park and Anapra complain about noise and sickness. And they say they plan to be at a New Mexico Environment Department meeting on Tuesday to air their concerns.

“That plant is older than me,” said Taylor Moore, a former attorney and a member of the Sunland Park Environmental Grassroots Group. “It was build in 1929.”

Moore and others in his group are opposed to the expansion of the Rio Grande Power Plant, which is within sight of his Sunland Park home.

“El Paso Electric needs to begin to make the transition to the future,” Moore said, “where this region is running on clean energy and the place to start is with this old plant.”

Moore pointed out that the plant has had dozens of documented violations in the past with the New Mexico Environment Department. And now EPE wants to add another gas turbine.

“It’s going to increase the pollution substantially,” Moore said. “This community has had enough. They should be taking pollution out of this community instead of adding more to it.”

Many in Anapra and Sunland Park, which has already dealt with environmental problems from a nearby landfill and copper smelter, say the communities are victims of “environmental racism.”

“They can’t give us any more stuff,” said Anapra resident Olga Arguelles, who lives in a poor neighborhood right behind the Sunland Park plant. “We can’t handle anymore.”

Arguelles says, as it is, the plant has a huge effect on the area.

“We notice our clothes get some kind of stuff on it when we put it out to dry,” she said. “The cars, something eats away the paint. Everybody’s sick, we’re all sick, we’re all tired, we’re all depressed.”

Despite that, Arguelles said she wouldn’t be surprised if the plant expansion is approved. “We’re their dumping ground,” she said. “Everybody that wants to build something and get away with it, they can come over here basically.”

ABC-7 asked for an on-camera interview from El Paso Electric to discuss the expansion of the Sunland Park Plant. Instead of sitting down to answer our questions, the station received a written statement, detailing the changes.

Those who would like to make their feelings about the plant expansion heard can attend Tuesday’s New Mexico Environment Department hearing. It’s scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. in the Signature Room at Sunland Park Racetrack.