Would a proposed El Paso Electric substation harm property values?

Drive down Soledad Canyon Road and you’ll meet resident after resident enchanted by the Organ Mountains in their backyard.

“That’s why we moved here!” said Nancy Fonder, who moved to the area with her husband Dave, nine years ago. “Where can you get that view anywhere else?”

“From sunny California, we moved from the beach to here,” said Perry Ashby, president of the Talavera Community Association. “Just for that view right there.”

After the sun sets on the mountains east of Las Cruces, millions of tiny stars are the only lights visible in the night sky. However, El Paso Electric wants to build a four-acre $10 million substation in the area, which could change the light in the area.

“The quality of life will be directly impacted by both the lights of the substation, which will directly impact the value of the homes up there,” said Shannon Reynolds, the new Doña Ana County commissioner for district three.

“Don’t put a junkyard at the base of our national monument,” Fonder said.

According to the utility company, the substation is necessary to provide electrical infrastructure for the expanding east side in Las Cruces.

“The additions will eliminate the risk of overloading and reduce the risk of extended forced outages for our customers,” said Ricardo Gonzales, the utility company’s director of New Mexico External Affairs.

On Thursday, New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission will determine if a study is necessary to justify El Paso Electric’s need for the substation.

If approved, the station would not be built for a few years, said the spokesman from El Paso Electric. The utility company would front the cost and then have to ask to raise rates for New Mexico customers at a later date.

“They can build what they want, where they want,” said Ashby. “We all get to pay for it, whether we need it or not.”

In a follow-up text on Wednesday, the spokesman said El Paso Electric already addressed the lighting concerns during the Bureau of Land Management permitting process.

“Lights that are installed are motion sensor activates with overrides in case crews need to work at night,” he wrote over text.

He also said the utility company must comply with the Night Sky Protection Act by guaranteeing that lights will be shielded, horizontal and pointing down, with an eight-foot wall around the perimeter.