At a rally today in Santa Fe, thousands of comments regarding a proposed withdrawal of new oil and gas drilling leases near New Mexico Chaco Culture National Historical Park will be submitted to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
After considerable pressure from conservation groups, a proposal to ban future oil and gas leases within 10 miles of the park has been proposed by the US Department of the Interior.
Miya King-Flaherty, Our Wild New Mexico organizing representative for the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, said another goal of the gathering is for the federal government to provide better management and protection of the wider landscape.
“There are traditional, historically very important landscapes all over the United States that have been sacrificed in the name of fossil fuel extraction,” King-Flaherty observed. “What’s happening here in Chaco is really no different than anywhere else in the United States”
New Mexico is the second-largest oil-producing state, and the vast majority of land in the Chaco region is already leased for hydraulic fracturing. King-Flaherty pointed out that more than 40,000 oil and gas wells dot the landscape, affecting air, water, health and cultural resources. The rally will be held at the BLM State Office in Santa Fe at noon.
King-Flaherty is encouraged US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says it’s time to consider more durable protections for the Grand Chaco, a sacred place for indigenous peoples.
“We hope she will also ensure that meaningful tribal consultations are taken seriously,” King-Flaherty said. “That members of the community who are impacted by oil and gas activities be taken into account.”
Due to its wealth in uranium, coal, oil and natural gas, the Grand Chaco region in the northwest corner of the state was officially designated an “energy sacrifice zone” in the 1970s by the Nixon administration. The area spans nearly 8,000 square miles, with the Chaco Culture National Historical Park at its center.
Disclosure: The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club contributes to our fund for reporting on climate change/air quality, energy policy, public lands/wilderness and water. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
get more stories like this via email
Earlier this year, a federal court struck plans to run the Cardinal-Hickory Creek power line through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, which stretches from Minnesota to Illinois.
The energy companies behind the operation are challenge the decisioncausing concern environmental organizations.
Mike Senatore, vice president of conservation law for Defenders of Wildlife, said a proposed land swap between the US Fish and Wildlife Service and energy companies that co-own the power line is of particular concern because it could set a precedent for using these methods to green light development projects.
“Beyond the impacts of this particular project, we fear that if allowed here, it could set a bad precedent elsewhere,” Senatore explained. “It is not uncommon for shelters to face development pressures.”
Wildlife advocates, alongside other environmental groups, filed the original lawsuit challenging the line’s planned route through the refuge. The Cardinal-Hickory Creek co-owners argued that the project complies with federal and state laws, and that the new project will replace pre-existing power lines that ran through the protected area, reducing the electrical transmission footprint in the refuge. .
In January, a federal district court blocked construction on the planned route of the transmission line through the refuge, determining that it violated environmental laws and that its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was flawed.
Howard Learner, president and executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, which represents groups challenging the plan, noted that the court then left and referred the project’s EIS to three federal agencies for review.
“The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge is the crown jewel of the Midwest’s wildlife refuge system,” Learner said. “It’s just not the right place to put a high-voltage transmission line with 20-story pylons right in the middle.”
The transit companies and federal agencies appealed the rulings to the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Simultaneously, Learner added that they were pushing construction to the edges of the refuge, in the hope that the previous two rulings would be overturned and they would be allowed through the protected area.
“And it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money, and it creates a tremendous amount of unnecessary environmental and property damage,” Learner claimed.
In his ruling, Judge William Conley described the companies’ “wait and see” method as “little more than an orchestrated train wreck”.
Disclosure: Defenders of Wildlife contributes to our fund for reporting on climate change/air quality, endangered species and wildlife, energy policy, public lands/wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
get more stories like this via email
New Mexico may soon join more than a dozen other states in adopting California’s clean car standards.
The State and Albuquerque Air and Environmental Quality Boards will hold a joint hearing from Wednesday on the clean car rule proposal. As noted, car dealerships should sell a certain percentage of low and zero emission cars.
Tammy Fiebelkorn, New Mexico representative for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, said if passed, residents who drive electric vehicles could benefit from cleaner air and also save energy. money.
“There are no oil changes, there are no moving parts, there is no maintenance schedule,” Fiebelkorn pointed out. “It’s good for the environment, but it’s also very good for my wallet.”
New Mexico is facing some of the worst impacts of climate changefirefighters currently battling the largest wildfire in the United States
Last month, a report by the American Lung Association found that transitioning to zero-emission transportation and electricity would save the state nearly $3 billion in health care costs by 2050 and save nearly 300 lives.
New Mexico is set to receive $38 million over the next five years from the U.S. Department of Transportation to strategically deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure and establish an interconnected network to expand access and reliability.
Fiebelkorn stressed that this will make all the difference for those who travel long distances.
“And we will eventually get to the point where I can drive my electric vehicle to any part of New Mexico and get there without worrying about not being able to charge,” Fiebelkorn noted.
The governor’s office said clean car rules could mean the removal of nearly two million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, the equivalent of removing 200,000 cars from roads for a year.
Disclosure: The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club contributes to our fund for reporting on climate change/air quality, energy policy, public lands/wilderness and water. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
get more stories like this via email
Environmentalists say the 400 miles of recently constructed walls along the US-Mexico border are causing significant ecological damage and blocking the migration routes of endangered species.
“American Scar”, a film documenting the damage done to desert landscapes, online debut next week, followed by a panel discussion with the film’s director and producers. The short film examines the destruction caused in Arizona and elsewhere by the erection of steel barriers to prevent migrants and others from entering the country.
Myles Traphagen, Borderlands Coordinator for the Wildlands Network, said the film is designed to show just how much damage has been done to sensitive areas in the region.
“This is for people who are interested in border conservation and really highlight the damage that the construction of the border wall has inflicted on protected lands, water and wildlife,” Traphagen explained.
Building the wall and making Mexico pay was one of Donald Trump’s top campaign promises in 2016, but billions of US dollars later the fences only cover a small part of the 1,800-mile border.
Traphagen pointed out that the federal government built the majority of the fences along the border between Arizona and northern Mexico. He said most of the construction took place along protected federal lands, such as wildlife refuges and national parks.
“Rainfall is infrequent, there’s not a lot of surface water, so the animals have had historic migration routes for tens of thousands of years,” Traphagen pointed out. “Now we’ve basically cut off these historic watering and feeding grounds for a lot of species.”
Traphagen added that other panelists will be director and producer Daniel Lombroso and members of Wildlands Network, Cuenca Los Ojos and the Sky Island Alliance.
“They’re releasing it on April 30 because it’s been on the film circuit like the Big Sky Film Festival, the DC Environmental Film Festival, a host of others,” Traphagen remarked. “There will also be a written article that accompanies the documentary.”
Disclosure: The Wildlands Network contributes to our fund for reporting on endangered species and wildlife, environment, public lands/wilderness and urban planning/transportation. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
get more stories like this via email
