Developers moving forward with New Mexico power grid project

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Developers of what was once a $1.5 billion effort to link the nation's three major electricity grids through a transmission hub in eastern New Mexico say the project is still moving forward despite the relinquishment of a lease covering thousands of acres of state trust land. The State Land Office suggested late Tuesday that the Tres Amigas project had folded. Tres Amigas chief financial officer Russell Stidolph says the company isn't abandoning the project. He says advances in technology and changes in the business model have reduced the amount of land required and that Tres Amigas has identified a significantly smaller parcel of land in Curry County as a backup site. The project was first announced in 2009 as a way to get more renewable energy to market.