New Mexico & El Paso
In a surprise move in May, the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project announced that it is abandoning its proposed electrical transmission line on the White Sands Missile Range and the Rio Grande crossing at Escondida just north of Socorro and Bosque del Apache that had drawn deep concerns about the harm the overhead lines posed to migratory birds, especially Sandhill cranes, raptors and other waterfowl.
Mexican wolves, the most imperiled canine species in the world, have made progress in the last three months but have also suffered setbacks. In May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that a record 20 pups were cross-fostered from captive wolves into wild dens. FWS has been using this practice to insert profoundly needed genes from the captive population into the wild. Cross-fostering requires that pups from captivity be within days of the same age as pups in the wild, which means that wolf managers have to move quickly. The genetic bottleneck of the wild population is one of the largest looming threats to wolf recovery.
New Mexico has put itself into a box with its heavy reliance on oil and gas revenues — now approximately one-third of the state’s budget, a percentage that increased significantly after tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations were passed in 2003 and 2013. To be clear, the state’s economy is far broader than oil and gas, but we have failed to build a tax structure that is fair and resilient. In order to diversify our economy and build a just and equitable New Mexico we must hold Big Oil accountable. Revenues from oil and gas should be invested and used for limited projects rather than being put in the general fund.
Welcome to our virtual art show. This show features paintings by Dinah Norris Matchael.
The pandemic has shed so much light on America for many, and it illuminates how there is no liberty and justice for all, as the Constitution states. I am purposely here now to fight for what is right because black lives matter as well as all lives.
Some people call it economic diversity for Lea County, N.M. I recall the days when I would see a calm and dry desert scene common in this area, with cows and the occasional coyote or rabbit. Now I see red blinking lights and industrial activity.