Just Transition Alliance Podcast

"We want to let people know everywhere that this is happening": Alejandría Lyons Calls out False Solutions, Honors Mentors, and Reflects on Food Sovereignty

• Just Transition Alliance • Season 1 • Episode 3

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In this episode, JTA board member Alejandría Lyons discusses coalitional organizing against false solutions and the neoliberal Blackstone corporate takeover of TXNM, the parent company of New Mexico's largest utility provider. The interview also highlights the importance of movement mentors and elders (see Alejandría and JTA's José Bravo in this episode's featured photo!), building coalitional people power, food sovereignty, and more. This episode acknowledges the important work of the NM No False Solutions coalition, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA), Los Jardines Institute, Pueblo Action Alliance, Labor Network for Sustainability, and Hoodwinked in the Hothouse. 

To learn more about the proposed Blackstone takeover, follow @nofalsesolutions on social media and the websites linked above!

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Learn about the Podcast's Musical Sounds!

  • Artist: Xica Sonica
  • Album: 13 Rabbit - Ancestral Pulse / Future Memory
Catalina de Onís:

Hello, and welcome to the Just Transition Alliance Podcast. This show strives to center and consensually amplify the struggles of frontline workers and fence line communities united for justice. I'm Catalina de Onís, the Communications and Training Associate at the Just Transition Alliance, or JTA. On today's show, we're honored to be joined by New Mexico No False Solutions' Alejandría Lyons, who also is the newest JTA board member. Welcome, Alejandría!

Alejandría Lyons:

Thank you so much, Catalina, for having me. I'm excited to be on.

Catalina de Onís:

It's so great to have you here. Alejandría dedicates her organizing efforts to environmental justice, food sovereignty, climate justice, and water rights activism. Alejandría, thank you so much for joining us today. And to get us started, how would you describe the work of New Mexico No False Solutions?

Alejandría Lyons:

I am very privileged to be the coordinator of our coalition New Mexico No False Solutions. We began really with the carbon pricing training, which is a curriculum that was developed by some of the sister alliance, such as Indigenous Environmental Network. Just Transition Alliance is also a part of that. And in 2019, there was a lot of education being done with community to educate them about what was happening with false solutions because what we were seeing at the international level is that you know a lot of the quote nature-based solutions, net zero were targets for climate leaders, and New Mexico is one of those places where these technologies continue to be tested, and our coalition was fully founded after 2022. We had a state legislative session where we saw our governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, pushing a lot of proposals for specifically hydrogen, which is another false solution that is similar to other geoengineering. And basically, for those who may not be familiar with all these buzz terms, is they're basically greenwashed climate scams that are helping our government feel like they're doing something about the climate crisis without addressing, you know, what that means for communities, frontline communities, Indigenous communities, workers. And so our coalition came together to teach these carbon pricing trainings, and it has just completely enveloped us. We do policy work, we continue to do education work, we do a lot of building at the local, state, national level, and we do this through an orientation around some of our points of unity, some of those that even include very important pieces like the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing. So New Mexico has always been really crucial to environmental justice. And so we seed ourselves, and the New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition is a multicultural and multi-generational coalition working using those principles to combat false solutions. During the Biden presidency, we saw a lot of turn towards what they call "advanced technologies." And so a lot of that is basically getting more energy on the grid. This is a big topic now as we see big companies like Google and Facebook trying to put up data centers because they need a whole lot of energy. And one of the energies that New Mexico has been trying to launch is carbon capture sequestration, which is kind of similar to hydrogen energy, but it's essentially trying to capture like steam methane from, like, you know, a fossil fuel plant, right? And then that gets put into the ground and there's all kinds of permitting. So what we've seen since, since the Trump administration is that there's been a lot of different states that have been seeking what they call Class VI well primacy, and that's the kind of well that they need. And our argument is that you know we're still trying to fight to end fossil fuels, right? Or at least have some commentary because we know how the petroleum industry is affecting our communities, and we still haven't gotten to the goals for just transition, and here we are proposing energy sources more because there is a higher demand for energy for all of these things, right? Instead of looking at what is it that community wants? How can we help folks like those in Navajo Nation because this is where a lot of those carbon projects have been proposed, and these companies, you know, they want to do more of the same old, same old. So New Mexico, that's what we're fighting. We're also fighting right now this big merger that is with Blackstone. They are a private equity company and they're looking to buy our local utility company. They first announced a merger with Texas NM, which is the parent company of the public service company of New Mexico. And um this is a really bad move we see because again, it gets us farther away from just transition. It gets us farther away from our principles of community having ownership of their own self-determination for their energy and all the things that come with that system, right? This is at the the reverse of environmental justice. So, right now, our two big campaigns are on carbon capture sequestration and Blackstone. And um, you know, we have a monthly meeting circle that is open, and we hold those monthly meetings to educate our community about these kinds of hearings that are coming up, but also to continue to elevate that these things are happening and they're systemic too, you know, what our our national governments are doing and at the international level, because right now we're in the the pre-period before COP30, which is going to be a historic COP that's gonna be in November of [2025]. And this is like, you know, the first time we're going to have a people's COP and where Indigenous Peoples can really weigh in. And what we've been seeing rather from the state, the nation states, is that they want to do more of the same old. They want to invest in the market and not in people-centered solutions. So the way to help us is like continue this fight against false solutions, learn about them, read Hoodwinked. That's a really great collective that put together a really great zine that talks about all this.

Catalina de Onís:

Thank you so much, Alejandría, to you and your comrades for this very hard work to try to fight the false solutions. And then Blackstone is a major barrier to advancing a just transition. Regarding this Blackstone takeover, what have you learned from your campaign so far? And what does this organizing work have to do with advancing just transition?

Alejandría Lyons:

Folks in New Mexico have been fighting for localized energy sources, such as, you know, energy democracy projects. There's a small amount of projects that are aiming towards, you know, actual renewables, but that's that's only the surface, right? The issue again with Blackstone is that they are a private equity company, and that means that they are going to be responding to their shareholders. They're not going to be responding to people who are paying the bill. Right now, PNM is a publicly traded company, which isn't our desire, right? We want to be in control of our energy grid. And this is a huge threat because of the fact that I was mentioning earlier about data centers. What we've seen is this company Blackstone is they have been in other states. They promote things like nuclear energy, which in the history of New Mexico, we know the entire fuel chain of nuclear, it is not necessarily safe. And that, you know, uranium mining, we are still affected by cleanup, and that these companies not only will be in charge of you know bringing and providing power to our customers, meaning that you know they're not they're not gonna care about shutoffs, they're not going, that's gonna be very top-down. Um, but also that we're concerned about the places that they want to invest our energy economy. And so this gets us farther away from just transition because, you know, the tenants of a just transition, I think for, you know, us, and I know Just Transition Alliance is like this is worker-led, this is worker-owned, and the type of energy, again, too, you know, it gets to kind of these big projects where the people say it's gonna be great for the economy, but we know those are just small construction jobs, right? These aren't these long-term things that are investments in our communities. And the other really big piece for us in New Mexico is water, you know, a lot of these energy sources that have been proposed, including hydrogen, carbon capture, they use massive amounts of water. And in New Mexico, we're a drought-stricken state. This last year in 2025, our farmers were not able to finish their growing season. And so these affect local food systems, right? And so it's a rippling effect. So what we did is, during this last Climate Week, our coalition, we all came together, and we did a large action in front of the Blackstone headquarters. And we let them know that we weren't happy. Some young people even actually got arrested and put their bodies on the line. Our coalition has gone to the Blackstone headquarters for the last three years because there was a company that was, you know, wasn't even living the principles that we're saying, right? There's a, there's a an energy company called Tallgrass Energy, they were proposing a hydrogen project, and they were bribing Diné elders to go to these, you know, these presentations about hydrogen, and they would give them a $25 gift card, and they would ask them to sway their elected bodies to allow this pipeline project to happen. And that's what we're dealing with. And to us, this is the exact opposite of what we need when we're, you know, we want community-based solutions. We want solutions that the community has Free, Prior Informed Consent because that is, you know, the motive for a lot of our things. We want self-determination, and there's just a slew of human rights violations, even by Blackstone. So it's a lot.

Catalina de Onís:

Certainly. And as we're recording this, toward the end of October 2025, what are you anticipating next with this struggle with Blackstone? What's ahead for you?

Alejandría Lyons:

So, what we're seeing right now, New Mexico at the beginning of each calendar year, we have our New Mexico legislative session, and that's when all of our state representatives kind of come together to do bill creation. This upcoming year in 2026, it's going to be a budget year. And so it will be a really big fight in New Mexico locally to make sure that a lot of the subsidies, really like tax dollars, aren't going towards this project, these projects. The other thing is is so the way that this merger would happen is it is a decision that will go to the Public Regulation Commission, which in itself is an issue because we used to have a five-person board and our governor decided to make it a three-person board. And those three people are going to be voting yes or no towards allowing Blackstone to merge with Texas NM. And so the Public Regulation Commission, they make decisions on our utility company. So that's that body. And they're elected by the governor, or they're appointed by the governor, right? And so um, you know, there's a couple things, you know, if we think about democratic processes, New Mexico's in the middle of um, we're gonna have a governor race at the end of 2026. And um we also, one of our organizing tools, right, is we can, you know, write to the PRC. Folks have been talking about going to just regular PRC meetings, they have open comment periods and talking about their dissent towards Blackstone. And our coalition, the way that we've approached this is that trying to look at Blackstone as this holistic issue towards against a just transition, right? Like painting the picture of why this company is a threat to, you know, if they they come in, it's not game over, but it's gonna make the fight a lot harder. And so, you know, we're continuing to do education, we're getting ready for the next upcoming legislative session, which will be just after Dr. Martin Luther King Day in 2026, and we're going to fight this merger at the PRC level. So we have a couple hearings, but then more than anything for us, it's it's the capacity building, continuing to share information and build with our other comrades that have, you know, had had issues with with Blackstone because the general public doesn't know, you know, when it comes to utilities, most families are looking at how they're gonna pay their bills and not, you know, who is the owner of like my energy. And so breaking that down for people and meeting them where they're at is is kind of the approach we're taking in our education strategy against Blackstone.

Catalina de Onís:

That's such important work, and I imagine a lot of people would like to learn more, including about the Blackstone merger. So, what are some ways interested folks can follow New Mexico No False Solutions online and in other spaces?

Alejandría Lyons:

So, online, if folks are just looking us up on the on the website, our website is nofalsesolutions.com. And we actually have a page on Blackstone where we have a couple press releases and some information about the direct actions that our coalition has taken. There's also more information about false solutions in general if folks are curious. We are online. We have an Instagram page, our handle is no false solutions, and we're on Facebook too. We have a couple things on YouTube as well, which I think is just our NM No False Solutions because we do some education. But one of the other things that's really important is our our coalition, we have several steering committee members who help guide the work, one of which being Pueblo Action Alliance, who's also a member of the Indigenous Environmental Network. And they have a lot of great information too on their YouTube page. I think that education and popular materials are really important, and Youth United for Climate Crisis Action, YUCCA. They have all those same social media pieces that I mentioned, Los Jardines Institute, which was one of our legacy environmental justice groups, with our two co-coordinators, Sofia Martinez and Richard Moore, who are very essential to the New Mexico environmental justice movement and Indigenous lifeways. So all those groups have a lot of information, not only on Blackstone, but on false solutions. And if folks you know, I will, I'm sure we'll have links in like the show notes. Um and yeah, we're just a resource to give information to our community. We want to let people know everywhere that this is happening.

Catalina de Onís:

We'll post several links about what and who you mentioned in the show notes so folks can follow along. Alejandría, you're the newest JTA board member. What about JTA's work interests you and what do you hope can come from deepening connections with JTA and New Mexico No False Solutions?

Alejandría Lyons:

Thank you for that question, Catalina. Yeah, I was approached by José. I've I've known José for a while, just as like another movement elder and mentor. To me personally, clearly my style with my, can't probably can't see them, but my my my black glasses, that's you know, but yeah, I've always appreciated the work of the Just Transition Alliance because we have to make the the struggle towards environmental justice about people and our communities. And I feel like Just Transition Alliance has always kept people at the center of the issue. Even you know, there's a very popular movement to end fossil fuels. And we have to remember we are all a part of the of the of the fossil fuel chain. We consume petroleum products. We, you know, maybe not by our choosing, have to participate in an economy that is centered around oil and gas. And I feel like just transition, instead of, you know, shaming people or, and I'm not saying that End fossil fuels is doing that, I just feel like it's it's a more realized approach to think about a just transition and how we are building a new alternative for ourselves and our economy. Because I think when we think about environmental and climate justice, we have to think about the economy because this is what our families, our communities are thinking, our family members. We are workers ourselves, and we have to see ourselves as part of that kind of movement, or else we will continue to just be labor and then environmental justice people, right? And that coming together back in, I believe it was 2024, with the help of Labor Network for Sustainability, which is another amazing group, you know, came together with Just Transition Alliance to bring these conversations together. Because in 2028, right, there's gonna be a general strike. And for me, I I want to be a part of that momentum of you know, how do we bridge these seemingly different communities when we really we're all we're all in the same household? And so for me, Just Transition Alliance, I I feel has been really good at, you know, kind of checking folks and you know, realizing that we are part of this work, doing that deep community building. And you know, just transition is a buzzword for some people, but I think that it's important the approach that Just Transition Alliance is taking, because it is centered around our our deep structure of our environmental movements that you know come out of like the First People of Color Summit. And so to be a part of that history has been really important for me as a young organizer, being cultivated by folks like other folks on the board, like Richard [Moore], like Tom [Goldtooth], like Pam [Tau Lee]. And so, yeah, for me it's just it's it's it's such an honor to be working with such amazing folks.

Catalina de Onís:

It's an incredible board, and your addition, Alejandría, continues to make it so. What reflections do you have on keeping up the fight amidst so many compounded crises, careless acts, and violent power?

Alejandría Lyons:

I just continue to be reminded that these are intersectional movements, that you can't talk about food sovereignty unless you're talking about, you know, water, water sovereignty really. You know, my family in New Mexico, we are a part of an acequia. I'm Chicana, and you know, for us, water definitely is life. And I know in in a vast state like New Mexico, we know those connections. We have a lot of Indigenous communities here, and our culture is is center to us, and that to me is is the fight, right? And that's that's the thing that it is, you know, some of people are very grounded and land-based. And for me, it is important to keep those those cultural connections, those land connections. It it's a fight for the future because New Mexico has always been a place that has been a sacrifice zone. But yes, here we are, we still exist. There's the Pueblo Revolt of the 1680, and they were fighting the Spanish, right? And and they did it with just knots, and you know, I think those are times that we have to reflect that we are in violent times, these are very scary times, and our ancestors have gone through also things that are very intense. And what held them, I think, was their culture. So, you know, that's the way that I connect everything and try to keep hope in this time.

Catalina de Onís:

In trying to keep up that hope and acknowledging these long, long, deep histories of struggle and how to continue building movements from those experiences, there's a lot of labor in multiple forms involved in all of this. So I'm curious what's one thing or experience you're really into these days that that helps you keep going?

Alejandría Lyons:

It's funny. Before this, I was watching, I was watching a video, and people have been talking about how like growing food and making food at home is a recession indicator. But I think the like labor of doing that food production has been something that has, you know, one recentered me personally, like I said, that I, you know, came into this work doing food sovereignty, the ability to like, you know, it's it's we're gearing up for the winter season, being able to like, you know, produce my my own food, make pastries for family and those kind of things, and just thinking about, you know, that that like that bigger, that bigger food chain. Because, you know, even as I talk about, you know, our our ancestors haven't gone too far. Like, we don't have to go too far in the past to think about, you know, even our food systems and how, you know, even to this day, people are being poisoned by the petrochemicals that are in their food. And it really is an act of of justice to grow your own food to to make a pie, you know, say you grow some fruit or something or tomato and you make a salsa, and it doesn't seem like, of course, that's not gonna feed you and your family forever, but it is it is those small things, and it takes you time to reflect. So it's it's that labor I'm holding very tightly to that because even like José, you know, my my great-grandfather, he was a Bracero, and you know, they were exposed to all those chemicals. I don't think it's a coincidence that my family, like we have thyroid issues and all these things because we know our workers were being poisoned. And so for me, that's the labor I want to continue to to invest in. I think that that's that's something that is important and what's getting me through, right? Because it connects connects you to to your ancestors, maybe not even from so far along. I'm always very happy to to be in the space. I can't I can't express um my gratitude for Just Transition Alliance because, you know, even you know, our local elders, like I mentioned, Sophie and Richard, you know, they were part of the of the Black Beret movement. Right now, you know, they're working to compile that history. And I think it is it is really important. You know, I think the dicho, or the saying, that they always say that actually came from the First People of Color Summit, this is something that guides our coalition. One, it goes, remember whose shoulders you stand on, remember where you come from, and always give back what's been given to you. I think that those struggles and and that need for us to come together is very important. I think what I've seen with our coalition, our coalition, the multi-generational piece, is ever so crucial. And I really encourage young organizers, you know, not to look to the internet and not to look to influencers because we are so inundated with so much information. And it's really, it's it's our it's our elders who are holding that information. And I think it's really important right now, more than ever, that we connect on that human-to-human level. And and that's what this coalition has been about, right? Is building a coalition for real new Mexicans that is has a global narrative that is looking to our our relatives in the Global South and across this nation, even, right? And across the world. So, you know, I would say I hope people continue to do coalition work. It is very difficult, but it is really rewarding, and that's what keeps us together in these moments.

Catalina de Onís:

Thank you for all the ways you re-energize so many people and groups. So much respect and appreciation for you, Alejandría. It's been wonderful chatting with you.

Alejandría Lyons:

Thank you, Catalina, for having us and promoting our No False Solutions work.

Catalina de Onís:

Yes, we'll continue to do so, as many groups and communities persist in the resistance efforts against Blackstone, while centering people power in community-led real solutions. We've been having a conversation with JTA board member Alejandría Lyons. I'm JTA Communications and Training Associate Catalina de Onís. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the Just Transition Alliance Podcast. Let's keep up the fight for and with frontline workers and fence line communities united for justice.