FARMINGTON – A hacker last week crippled the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission’s website, and the agency, which is considering the fate of the San Juan Generating Station, has resorted to hand-delivered documents.

The PRC said its site has been nonoperational since Jan. 9. IT engineers are working to restore the system, but internet and intranet systems were affected, a PRC news release said Tuesday.

After a third-party contractor conducts a risk assessment, required by the New Mexico Department of Information and Technology, the network should function again within 10 days, PRC Chief of Staff Jason Montoya said in the release.

PRC is charged with approving the utility company’s replacement power plan to continue providing electricity to customers after the utility’s scheduled abandonment of the coal-fired plant in 2022.

Additional hearings for the Public Service Co. of New Mexico’s abandonment application begin Jan. 21 in Santa Fe. The first day will be dedicated to public comments, including possible testimony submitted online.

However, until the site is restored, people cannot submit documents electronically to the commission’s records section. The PRC asks that people now drop off documents at the third floor of the PERA building at 1120 Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe or mail them to P.O. Box 1269, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1269.

lweber@durangoherald.com