New Mexico Communities Sound Alarm on Blackstone-PNM Deal: “Wall Street Shouldn’t Control Our Power”

Coalition to Send Delegation to New York Climate Week to Oppose Corporate Takeover of Essential Services.

Organization Press Release – Press Release From No False Solutions

ALBUQUERQUE, NM– The New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition (NM NFS) is raising the alarm about the proposed $11.5 billion acquisition of New Mexico’s largest utility by Blackstone and Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM).

The coalition warns that private equity’s control of the state’s power grid threatens affordability, accountability, and the state’s transition to a clean energy future. Due to this announcement, NM NFS will be heading to New York in September to voice this message on a national platform.

In May 2025, Blackstone, in partnership with PNM, announced plans to acquire TXNM, the parent company of the state’s largest utility provider. On Monday, August 25, 2025, PNM petitioned the Public Regulatory Commission (PRC) for approval of the deal, which both companies expect to close within a year.

“Blackstone is not a climate savior. They are a trillion-dollar private equity giant that profits from housing shortages, rising costs of living, and the climate crisis itself,” said Alejandria Lyons, Coalition Coordinator of NM NFS. “Handing over our utility system to Wall Street investors will only deepen corporate overreach into the essentials of daily life.”

The coalition points to Blackstone’s $1.21 trillion in assets and its influence across housing, energy, technology, and water systems as evidence of the risks posed by the takeover. The company’s investments in other states have drawn controversy, including rising costs for ratepayers and environmental harms.

The proposed takeover comes amid New Mexico’s efforts to diversify its economy and modernize the grid. However, the coalition notes that many of the state’s so-called solutions: such as hydrogen, carbon capture, and speculative water projects, amount to corporate greenwashing that fail to deliver real benefits to frontline communities.

NM NFS has been vocal about the controversy surrounding Tallgrass Energy, whose controlling owner is Blackstone, which has violated tenets of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Tallgrass Energy has also been a major proponent of hydrogen projects in the northwest part of the state.

As part of a growing national movement, NM NFS will send a delegation of organizations and individuals to New York Climate Week to call out Blackstone and amplify demands for climate justice. The coalition joins frontline communities nationwide in the call to

“Make Billionaires Pay.” Lyons reiterated, “We know what’s at stake. You can’t drink oil. You can’t survive in an unlivable climate. And New Mexicans shouldn’t have to depend on Wall Street to keep the lights on.”

“Communities across New Mexico are fighting for energy democracy and a Just Transition rooted in real solutions. Blackstone’s takeover is the exact opposite,” said YUCCA Campaign Organizer Jonathon Juárez.

“If approved, this deal would place our energy future in the hands of Wall Street billionaires, locking our communities into an energy system that answers to private equity shareholders instead of the people. Blackstone’s record of pushing false solutions like hydrogen projects to corporate exploitation across sectors proves that they will put profits over people every time.

“These kinds of takeovers drive up bills for our families, tying our energy system to water-intensive projects and AI buildouts that drain our resources while our communities pay the price. Billionaires meeting behind closed doors in Manhattan skyscrapers shouldn’t be making decisions for communities they’ve never set foot in. We won’t stand by and allow our future to be sold off to the highest bidder.”

The NM NFS Steering Committee stated, “essential services like electricity, water, and housing should never be reduced to financial assets in the portfolios of billionaires. Our communities deserve energy democracy, not corporate capture and false solutions being perpetuated by bad actors in the NM State Legislature, our own governor, and others that seek to continue to legacy of extraction and exploitation in our homelands.”

More on the New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition

The New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition is a statewide alliance of grassroots organizations, frontline communities, and advocates working to advance environmental justice, protect community self-determination, and resist corporate-driven false solutions to the climate crisis. The NM NFS Steering Committee includes Indigenous, frontline, and legacy environmental justice organizations such as Pueblo Action Alliance,

YUCCA, Los Jardines Institute, Indigenous Lifeways, and Earth Care. Our network includes individuals and organizations working across the state of New Mexico.

Alejandria Lyons, Coordinator, New Mexico No False Solutions, nmnofalsesolutions@gmail.com

Gracie Aragon, Communications Manager, Pueblo Action Alliance, gracie@puebloactionalliance.org

Sofia Martinez, Co-Coordinator, Los Jardines Institute, justice@losjardinesinstitute.org

Zoey Craft, Communications Manager, YUCCA, yucca@earthcarenm.org