After 4 hour filibuster, New Mexico senate passes landmark renewable energy bill

A high-profile energy bill passed the Senate late Wednesday night after a procedural fight sparked by a Republican lawmaker’s lengthy filibuster.Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, held the Senate floor for nearly four hours in an attempt to force changes to the bill that would reshape New Mexico’s energy landscape by imposing renewable energy standards and providing financial assistance to the state’s largest utility to offset the cost of closing coal-fired power plants in the Four Corners region.In its current form, the measure would replace all of New Mexico’s carbon-emitting generation with clean-energy resources over the next 25 years.In addition, the bill would allow fixed-rate bonds to be issued to help PNM recover the costs associated with the transition to new energy sources.