EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — In a public meeting on Tuesday night, El Pasoans aired their concerns about El Paso Electric’s plans for a multimillion dollar power plant project in Northeast El Paso.

The Newman 6 addition would add a natural gas generator to the current Newman power plant at the intersection of Stan Roberts Sr Ave and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

In an application filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas in November 2019, El Paso Electric estimated the cost of the project at $143 million.

In October, the El Paso City Council unanimously opposed the project, saying it could bring a rate increase of $1.45 a month for El Pasoans who were already suffering financially from the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a public meeting on Tuesday, customers raised concerns about the environmental impact of the project, saying the company should be investing in solar power instead of natural gas.

But a spokesperson for El Paso Electric said overall, its new energy portfolio would triple the amount of solar energy the company was currently making, and the Newman 6 project would be necessary as El Paso’s energy needs continued to grow.

“We have a growing region in this area, and it’s incumbent upon us to make sure that we provide our customers with reliable, sustainable power,” a spokesperson for El Paso Electric said. “And we believe this portfolio does that.”

The deadline for the state to intervene in the plan is January 6, 2021.

Otherwise, the Newman 6 addition is set to be built by 2023.