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.
As you’re probably aware, all local Sierra Club outings are cancelled thru August 31st and we should learn more by mid-August if the moratorium on outings will be extended beyond that date. We remain optimistic and so we’ve posted outings
This poem is about the original tour that led to Daniel Tso’s well-know fracking reality tour in Greater Chaco. Daniel recently was awarded the Sierra Club Distinguished Service Award.
Join the Central NM Group on Friday, July 31 starting at 6:30pm, for our virtual Sierra Club and Beer. The featured talk is a USFWS update on the endangered silvery minnow. Bring your own beer.
On July 16, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California invalidated the Trump Administration’s rollback of the Obama-era Waste Prevention Rule. This ruling means that the Waste Prevention Rule goes back in effect in 90 days, and the oil and gas industry will have to comply with the Rule’s requirements to prevent waste of gas on federal lands.