Gary Kowalski

Club priorities for 2026 Legislature. Rio Grande Chapter plans to make the most of session by focusing on climate action durability.

The upcoming year and its 30-day legislative sessionh will be last for Governor Luján Grisham. This administration, legislature and grassroots supporters have achieved so much, from decriminalizing abortion to establishing free pre-K, all while stabilizing impacts from the boom-and-bust fossil fuel economy and protecting us from global collapse. Here’s what to expect in the upcoming session …

Big Oil loses produced water bid. Commission vacates its decision to rehear fracking wastewater discharge case on rulemaking

D. Reed Eckhardt Editor, The Rio Grande Sierran dreed1969@msn.com After more than two hours of impassioned public comment, the Water Control Commission reversed its earlier decision to begin rulemaking aimed at nullifying a ban on the discharge of toxic oil

Backroom Deal Ignores Public Safety: Oil and Gas Proposes Overturning Produced Water Prohibition

Since 2022, New Mexico Environment Department staff have worked to develop a science-based rule for reuse of treated and untreated produced water outside oil and gas operations. Produced water is a highly toxic waste generated by oil and gas production.

Deregulation: The Climate Version of Clear-Cutting

In just a few short months, the federal government has swung an axe at the foundation of US clean air protections – and the splinters are already hitting our lungs.

Six months ago, on March 12, the Environmental Protection Agency under Administrator Lee Zeldin launched what it proudly called the “biggest deregulatory action in US history.” Thirty-one safeguards were targeted, including oil and gas methane rules, all in the name of “unleashing American energy.” Translation: Polluters profit, people choke.

Protecting the Valles Caldera National Preserve

It has been called a “once in a lifetime” moment and a “land of superlatives”. It’s that moment of awe when you see a perfect valley shining with high-altitude light, green abundance and outstanding beauty. This is the feeling many express when they first set eyes on the giant Valle Grande in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Big Energy Should Pay For Its Own Messes

New Mexico is rich in oil and gas. With that wealth comes a mess – literally. The state is home to more than 60,000 wells that will eventually need to be plugged to prevent methane leaks, groundwater contamination and long-term environmental degradation that place New Mexicans’ climate and health at risk.

La Mancha Wetlands Restoration Project

What was once a concrete dumpsite in the drought-stricken southwest became a four-acre oasis, known as La Mancha Wetlands, along the Rio Grande near Las Cruces.

The La Mancha Restoration Project, a vision of Kevin Bixby who then lead Southwest Environmental Center, took years of planning, permitting, fundraising and hard work to come to fruition in 2010. It provides habitat for numerous species of waterfowl and other wetland dwellers.

Mexican Wolves: Steps Forward, Steps Backward

This spring marks the 11th year of wolf pup cross-fostering. Seventeen Mexican wolf pups were transferred from captive dens into wild dens to increase the wild population’s genetic diversity. Now the Fish & Wildlife agency has released good news about the wolf Asha.

Victory for ban on Produced Water Discharge to New Mexico’s Ground and Surface Waters

Over the course of the last year and a half, the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter and Amigos Bravos, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center’s Tannis Fox, took part in a critical rulemaking for New Mexico’s clean water supply. A Water Quality Control Commission proceeding addressed whether to prohibit the discharge of “produced water” …

Responding to the Supreme Court Decision Allowing Storage of High Level Nuclear Waste in New Mexico

Today (June 18, 2025) the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that New Mexico and Texas, and groups like the Sierra Club, did not have the right to challenge Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for “interim” high-level nuclear waste storage facilities in their respective states. The NRC denied intervention for these entities in the licensing process and therefore the court claimed that the states did not have the right to challenge the license.

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