• A female Mexican wolf named Asha roams almost to the Colorado border before being taken back into captivity. The US Fish and Wildlife Service hoped she could be paired with a mate to have pups that could be released to the wild.
• Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter’s Pajarito Group, including Los Alamos and Jemez Springs, rejoins the Northern New Mexico Group, which surrounds it. “We’re still working together. Only the name has changed,” says Pajarito Chair Jody Benson. 

February

•  The Fish and Wildlife Services’ annual count shows that the wild population of Mexican gray wolves in the American Southwest increased from 196 to 241 in 2022, with 136 wolves in New Mexico and 105 in Arizona.
• After residents of Mountain View, a South Valley Albuquerque neighborhood of primarily low-income people of color, band together with help from New Mexico Environmental Law Center to stop a hot-mix asphalt plant from being built in their neighborhood, the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Air Quality Control Board votes unanimously to deny further action on the plant’s permit.

March

• The Legislature handily passes a bill to reform the state Game Commission that would have, if signed, set better qualifications for who could serve and split appointments to the seven-member board between the governor and legislature. Unfortunately, it is not signed by the governor.
• President Biden announces the designation of 7,000 acres in Castner Range near El Paso, along with Nevada’s Avi Kwa Áme, as the nation’s newest national monuments. The Rio Grande Chapter’s El Paso Group worked for years with a local coalition to protect the range and its historic beauty and rare and endangered wildlife.
• The Environmental Improvement Board votes to overturn the Environment Department’s denial of Roper Construction’s permit to build a concrete batch plant near homes and protected spaces in Alto, NM. Alto residents vow to pursue legal means to prevent the plant from being built.
• Sierra Club attorney Jason Marks argues at the New Mexico Supreme Court to prevent a PNM deal that would risk prolonging the life of the aging and polluting Four Corners coal-fired power plant. Sierra Club was helping defend the PRC decision to reject PNM’s attempt to pay $75 million to offload its stake in the plant to NTEC, the owner of the coal mine, which had expressed its intent to keep the plant open as long as possible.
• On the last full day of the 2023 New Mexico legislative session, the state says “no” to being the nation’s nuclear dump. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham almost immediately signed SB53, which prevents the state from issuing permits for Holtec’s proposed “interim” storage site for all the nation’s high-level nuclear waste. “This is a momentous step forward to show the world that we can protect ourselves from never-ending radioactive waste,” says Diné anti-nuclear activist Leona Morgan.
• Legislators include the largest appropriation for the Strategic Water Reserve since 2005, allowing the state to purchase or lease water rights from other owners as opportunities arise.
• Other legislative victories included appropriation of the ETA funds to be distributed to workers and the Four Corners community after the September 2022 closing of San Juan Generating Station; passage of tax credits for electric-vehicle purchases, home energy storage, geothermal and heat pumps; passage of the Voting Rights Act that expands voting access for Pueblos and tribes as well as citizens who have served prison terms; and a permanent fund for conservation projects. But …   

April

• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issues line-item veto of most of the legislative tax package, including climate tax credits for EVs, geothermal, home energy storage and heat pumps, as well as a geothermal center and fund. The Sierra Club and partners call on the governor to regain the state’s climate leadership by passing Clean Cars and Trucks standards and supporting comprehensive and equitable climate-justice policies. 
•  Outings leader Rose Rowan leads 12 chapter members on a service trip at City of Rocks State Park, completing trail maintenance on over 2 miles of mountain trail.
• Bureau of Land Management proposes its “Public Lands Rule” allowing the agency to manage lands for health and resiliency by placing conservation on the same level as other uses, like resource extraction and grazing, that have historically been prioritized by the agency.
• American Lung Association State of the Air Report gives Eddy, Lea and San Juan Counties, the state’s biggest oil and gas producers, F grades for oil and gas smog pollution.

May

•  El Paso’s “Climate Charter,” supported by a broad coalition of community climate-justice activists, is defeated after oil and gas interests spend more than a million dollars on deceptive mailers and ads opposing it.
• NRC issues a license to Holtec for an “interim” nuclear storage facility despite state opposition. Sierra Club and partners return to court.

June

• Mexican wolf Asha gets along with, but refuses, all potential suitors as mates in captivity, so she is released back into the wild alone in the Apache National Forest of southeast Arizona.
• Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issues a final decision to ban new oil and gas development on unleased federal lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park for 20 years. The ban does not include existing leases or private, tribal, allotted or state lands.
• Dozens of organizations, including Sierra Club, write to the Department of Energy and Treasury Department outlining strict requirements that should be imposed in order for developers to qualify for lucrative new hydrogen-production tax credits. The groups warn that, without robust guardrails, billions of dollars could be spent incentivizing increased climate pollution.
• News emerges that the USDA plans to spray an insecticide that is also a potent neurotoxin over 39 square miles in the Rio Chama watershed on June 26 to kill native grasshoppers that are competing with cows for grass.

July

• The BLM, which controls much of the 25,000 acres of Rio Chama land to be sprayed, halts the USDA’s plan to release the toxic insecticide. The decision follows a powerful community mobilization when wildlife and air-quality proponents learned of the planned spraying just weeks before it was to happen. Sen. Martin Heinrich and Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard supported hundreds of activists’ requests to the BLM to block the spraying.
• Diné water-protection organization Tó Nizhóni Áni announces that 35 Navajo chapters have passed resolutions opposing hydrogen produced from fossil-fuel sources.
• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announces a proposal to adopt Clean Cars and Clean Trucks standards to require increasing percentages of new vehicles sold in New Mexico be zero-emission electric cars or trucks. 
• New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously upholds the Public Regulation Commission’s 2021 denial of PNM’s transfer of its ownership share in Four Corners Power Plant to Navajo Transitional Energy Company.

August

• Kill reports from trappers for the previous winter, the first in which traps could not legally be set on New Mexico public lands thanks to the passage of Roxy’s Law, show that fox kills went down by 56% and bobcat kills were down by 31%.
•  The Bureau of Land Management proposes its oil and gas rule, with long-overdue provisions to update the agency’s leasing program, including raising royalty rates, lease rates, minimum bids and bonding requirements.

September

• Environmental organizations and the New Mexico attorney general announce a settlement with PNM requiring the utility to issue an ETA customer credit averaging $9.28 per month after PNM delayed issuing Energy Transition Act bonds that would have reduced bills thanks to the closing of San Juan Generating Station. See Page 5 for more.

October

• The Department of Energy releases its selection of regional “hydrogen hubs” to receive $7 billion in federal funding. New Mexico’s hub is not selected. New federal tax credits and other state funds could potentially direct billions of public dollars toward fossil-fuel hydrogen, which presents climate, pollution and safety risks. We will continue to oppose public funding for harmful hydrogen development in 2024 and beyond.
• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announces the creation of the Climate Investment Center, or “Green Bank,” to help low-income families and rural businesses finance money-saving climate solutions like solar panels and heat pumps.
•  Sierra Club and Beer Central New Mexico Group meetings are revived! After two and a half years, meetings were held in October, November and December.
• San Juan Solar breaks ground on a 200-megawatt solar facility in the shadow of the closed San Juan Generating Station, hiring hundreds of construction workers.

November

• After wandering back into New Mexico from Arizona and spending several months roaming slowly northward, Mexican wolf Asha crosses I-40 again and reaches the Jemez Mountains.
• In a major step for climate and health in New Mexico, the state Environmental Improvement Board and Albuquerque-Bernalillo Air Quality Control Board vote to adopt Clean Cars and Clean Trucks standards.
• Eighteen of 23 endorsed candidates and ballot measures win in the November local  elections, including important wins for equity. One Albuquerque race goes to a runoff. See page 11 for details.
• Northern New Mexico Group members join the Caja del Rio Coalition for trash pickup on the Caja Mesa near the shooting area, filling two huge county trailer-dumpsters with close to 10,000 pounds of junk.
• The Environmental Protection Agency finalizes its oil and gas methane-reduction rule. Thousands of New Mexicans submitted comments supporting strong safeguards. See Page 5.

December

• Nichole Rogers wins her Albuquerque City Council runoff, becoming the 19th of 23 candidates endorsed by the Rio Grande Chapter who won their elections in 2023.
• The tracking collar of Mexican wolf Asha shows her staying around the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Scientists have already determined that this is suitable habitat for Lobos. But on Dec. 11, Asha is taken back into captivity, where wildlife officials say they will try again to breed her in hopes that next summer she can be released back to the wild in the official wolf recovery area, perhaps with pups.
• Resisting pressure from the fossil-fuel industry, the U.S. Treasury Department releases draft guidance on qualification for 45V hydrogen-production tax credits. The guidance includes many of the strict requirements that Sierra Club and other climate advocates had requested.  “Without critical guardrails, hydrogen could actually increase climate emissions and air pollution,” Sierra Club Climate Policy Director Patrick Drupp said. “We urge the Administration to finalize strong standards that fully reflect the total emissions impact of hydrogen production.”

Contact: Camilla Feibelman, camilla.feibelman@sierraclub.org

Matt Gerhart, Sierra Club Environmental Law Program senior attorney, matt.gerhart@sierraclub.org

On Friday, Public Regulation Commission hearing examiners issued a 360-page recommended decision in PNM’s rate case. They recommend the commission find that PNM acted imprudently in extending its participation in Four Corners Power Plant beyond 2016, and they recommended the commission adopt a roughly $84 million disallowance.  

In PNM’s pending rate case, PNM has asked the Commission to approve rates that include more than $200 million in costs associated with operating the Four Corners coal plant after 2016.  Those are costs that PNM incurred after it decided to renew its stake in the coal-fired Four Corners plant after 2016, when the prior coal supply agreement expired. This issue was first litigated in PNM’s 2016 rate case, in which the hearing examiners found those expenditures to be imprudent, but the commission ultimately deferred a decision on prudence until the next rate case and approved a settlement that allowed PNM to recover a reduced amount in rates. 

The current case regarding more than $200 million in Four Corners costs comes after PNM’s 2021 proposal to transfer its 13% stake in Four Corners to NTEC, the owner of the mine that feeds the plant. The commission rejected that transfer, and Sierra Club and commission attorneys successfully defended that decision at the Supreme Court this year. 

The commission will review the Recommended Decision and make the final decision on the Four Corners prudence issue and other rate issues. Sierra Club attorneys and its expert, Jeremy Fisher, put on a persuasive case on PNM’s imprudence, refuting PNM’s expert on prudence, refuting PNM’s expert on the remedy, and demonstrating that ratepayers are entitled to a very significant disallowance for PNM’s bad decision-making with this coal plant, backed by financial calculations and analyses that PNM was unable to effectively refute. “We expect the Four Corners recommendations to be adopted by the Commission, for the reasons that are given in the recommended decision,” said Sierra Club attorney Jason Marks.  

Photo of Four Corners Power Plant in 2011 courtesy San Juan Citizens Alliance

After close to 10 years of work by environmental and frontline communities in New Mexico and around the country, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham joins Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan at the UN Climate Summit (livestream 1 a.m. MT) to announce EPA safeguards to slash methane and other harmful pollution from the oil and gas industry, a major win for climate and public health.

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, has driven about one quarter of the warming our planet has experienced to date. The climate-heating gas first became a widely known issue in New Mexico in 2014 when NASA satellite images showed the methane hotspot over the Four Corners area.

Thousands of New Mexicans have spoken out in favor of strong methane and ozone rules in the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. Additionally, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s administration has passed nation-leading methane and ozone safeguards that have provided a strong model for the rules the EPA is releasing. And importantly for families in New Mexico’s Permian Basin, federal protections will apply to extraction in Texas, where methane emissions are nearly unregulated.

Each year, the U.S. oil and gas sector emits 16 million metric tons of methane into our atmosphere. Each year, oil and gas operations in New Mexico alone release enough methane into the atmosphere to heat every home in the state. The nation’s largest methane emitter, Hilcorp, has 60% of its facilities in New Mexico and they are the largest operator in the San Juan Basin. Meanwhile on the other side of the state, New Mexico is now extracting the second-most oil in the country, the impact of pollution in the Permian Basin is especially clear.

Reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is the fastest, most cost-effective way to slow the rate of climate change and avoid the further escalation of unpredictable, severe, and catastrophic weather events like those we’ve seen in New Mexico including the wildfires and subsequent floods that ravaged the northern part of the state and the heat dome we experienced this summer.

Additionally, oil and gas methane is emitted alongside other health-damaging pollutants, such as smog- and soot-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carcinogenic air toxins like benzene and formaldehyde. These operations are situated in communities who are already dealing with disproportionate environmental justice, public health, and socioeconomic burdens.

According to a recent study, oil and gas production is responsible for billions of dollars in health damages annually, including early deaths, childhood asthma, and asthma exacerbations. This is in addition to increased rates of cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer, and other adverse health impacts among those living closest to development. In New Mexico, 144,377 New Mexicans, including 38,749 children, reside near or attend schools or daycares within a ½-mile radius of active oil and gas operations.

According to EPA’s analysis, the final standards have the potential to avoid 58 million tons of methane through 2038, as well as 16 million tons of volatile organic compounds and 590,000 tons of air toxins. These reductions will be achieved through requirements such as strengthened leak detection and repair requirements for all wells, regardless of size or operation status; the installation of non-polluting pneumatic equipment; a phased-in prohibition on routine flaring of gas at new wells; and a community monitoring program to target particularly large emission events also known as super-emitters.

This rule is a critical step to cut methane pollution from oil & gas production. Reducing methane emissions is not only good for the air we breathe and the climate, it also would create hundreds of thousands of new, good-paying jobs in manufacturing and service companies. According to a study by the BlueGreen Alliance on economic impacts, the leak detection and repair provisions alone will create 136,000 permanent jobs nationwide.

Community organizations react to the news:

“I am the mother of two young children, one of whom developed asthma while living in Southern New Mexico’s poor air quality. Her symptoms drastically improve when we leave the area because we are downwind from the Permian Basin. Kids like my daughter will need these rules to be energetically enforced. Regular leak detection and repair, and managing super-emitters will be crucial to keeping our communities safe. All of the recent fly over projects I have seen show that emissions are vastly underreported, especially on the Texas side of the Permian. Aerial surveys have shown that in NM there are vast methane clouds above both the San Juan and Permian basins. As air pollution knows no boundaries, it is the job of the EPA to create meaningful federal rules that set a minimum standard for new and existing oil and gas operations — the best tool we have to protect communities from harmful pollutants. These rules are necessary to protect public health and the environment in New Mexico. It is critical that a final, strong rule be implemented as soon as possible to ensure that our communities’ air gets cleaned up for healthier, fuller lives.” — Antoinette Reyes, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, NM and West TX organizer

“New Mexico passed nation-leading rules in 2021 and 2022 to significantly reduce ozone precursors and methane emissions from oil and gas operations in the state. We applaud the Biden administration and the EPA for strengthening federal air pollution rules that will protect the health of frontline communities, who are also impacted by the fossil-fuel induced climate crisis. Federal methane rules are a quick way to reduce climate pollution. They will also help address a situation like that in the Permian Basin, where Texas’ oil and gas operations emit double the pollution of those on the New Mexico side. But rules are only as good as their enforcement. We hope the EPA puts into place strong enforcement capacity for the methane rules and then moves quickly to address other sources of pollution from the oil and gas sector.” — Demis Foster, Conservation Voters New Mexico Executive Director

“New Mexico has taken bold steps to protect local communities from the extreme damage caused by methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, and we applaud the efforts of national leaders to ensure all communities across the country are similarly protected. Addressing the low-hanging fruit that the extreme waste and harm of venting and flaring specifically causes is a great first step and we will continue to push for greater and greater controls over the fossil fuel industry.” — Lucas Herndon, Energy Policy Director, ProgressNow New Mexico

“The National Parks Conservation Association applauds the Environmental Protection Agency’s increased protections against the methane pollution that’s harming our national parks. From melting glaciers in Glacier National Park to hazy overlooks in Acadia National Park, the consequences of pollution know no bounds. After years of advocacy alongside partners protecting public health and visitors’ experience within parks, it is heartening to see EPA has heard our call and taken action to protect the air we breathe and reduce methane pollution to prevent climate change from worsening.” — Natalie Levine, Interim Campaigns Director of the National Parks Conservation Association’s Clean Air Program

“We have known for well over a decade that reducing methane pollution from oil and gas production is one of the quickest and best ways to mitigate the climate crisis. It is gratifying that the Biden administration has embraced a leadership role in promulgating these sensible and critically important rules. Much work remains to be done to address the harms caused by fossil fuels, but such leadership provides further hope that we are indeed opening new doors to a thriving, climate resilient future.” — Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, Executive Director, Western Environmental Law Center

“We are proud that New Mexico has led the way on oil and gas methane and smog reductions, really helping to set a strong floor for the national standards we’re seeing today. Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Lujan Grisham and the countless community members who have fought so hard for this, New Mexicans, especially those in the Permian along the border with Texas, can be assured of healthier air. Today’s announcement is good for the climate and good for our health.”  — Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Director

Further Information:

• The Oil Conservation Division at the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department crafted methane rules that went into effect in May 2021 and ban routine venting and flaring.

• The New Mexico Environment Department’s “ozone precursor” rules went into effect in summer 2022. These require oil and gas operators to inspect all wells for leaks on a frequent basis without exemptions and require more frequent inspections to find and fix leaks in proximity to homes and schools. The Independent Petroleum Association of NM has sued over these safeguards on issues where they failed to provide any witnesses or testimony during the rulemaking proceeding at the Environmental Improvement Board.

• Proposed BLM methane safeguards are expected to be released soon as well.

• The American Lung Association’s 2023 State of the Air Report found that Eddy County ranked as No. 19 among the most polluted counties in the U.S. for ozone, one of only two only rural counties among the top 25 in the US for ozone pollution. Eddy County has seen an increase in high smog days in each of the past five reports and earned an “F” grade.” in the report. (Earthworks Video Footage of Methane release)

• New Mexico Threat Map fact sheet

• NM Threat Map data spreadsheet

Contact: Antoinette Reyes, 575.342.1727, antoinette.reyes@sierraclub.org

Photo of methane flare in San Juan County courtesy San Juan Citizens Alliance. 

Anita Gonzales

A native New Mexican, Anita was born in Las Vegas, NM, to the Lopez family of Villanueva, NM, and the Gallegos family of Las Vegas, NM. A middle child, Anita moved between Las Vegas and Albuquerque and graduated high school from West Mesa High School. After completing the majority of her degree at Texas A&M University, she returned home to Las Vegas to complete her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at New Mexico Highlands University. She is the mother of a 9-year-old son and currently lives in Las Vegas, NM.

Anita has worked at New Mexico Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (NM MESA), Inc for over 17 years – which empowers and motivates New Mexico’s culturally diverse students with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) enrichment. NM MESA has allowed her to network with partners, industry leaders, educational institutions, and contacts from across the state.

Prior to COVID, Anita was an active STEM and parent volunteer for Don Cecilio Elementary, a volunteer with the Samaritan House, Team Mom and volunteer for the Meadow City Havoc in the Northern New Mexico Children’s Football League, and has served as a long-term family caretaker. Anita has also served as Commissioner for the Acequia de los Madres Vigiles and the Grzelachowski Ditch and is a member of the San Miguel Women Democrats and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. Recently, Anita was a Democratic Candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives, District 70 and was an endorsed candidate from the RG Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Susan Martin:

Born in Southern California,  I got here as soon as I could. Product of the University of California — BA UCSD, JD/MBA Berkeley, and a fused ankle from UC San Francisco. Counsel, Energy and Commerce Committee,  US House of Representatives; attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council; planner director, Environmental Improvement Division of the New Mexico Department of Health. Member, Santa Fe Planning Commission; fan, NM United.

Jody Benson

Jody Benson joined the Pajarito Group at its inception when the group’s primary goal was helping to save the Valles Caldera from being sold by the owners for private development. That national triumph helped energize the group to work on local issues, some short-term, many, alas, still on-going.  During her 20 years with the Pajarito Group she has served as publicity, recording secretary, and chair, along with other conservation positions.  The primary concern of the Pajarito Group is the expansion of nuclear weapons triggers at LANL, making “pits” the focus of the Lab’s mission, a direction that will require new houses, businesses, infrastructure, and transportation for the up-to 7000 new households by 2025. The Pajarito Group invites others who love the landscape and all that live within it to join us in the leadership position with your ideas and passion.

Central New Mexico Group Executive Committee:

Patrick Burton:

Patrick Burton has been a member of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club for five years. He has made active transportation a significant contribution to a sustainable lifestyle. He would like to improve opportunities for more people to bike for transportation as a member of the Central NM group.

Ray Shortridge:

Shortly after retiring as an information technology executive and re-locating to New Mexico, Ray assumed the volunteer Treasurer position for the chapter and served about five years in that capacity. He has also served on the boards of both the Chapter and the Central Group. He regularly hikes in the Bosque with his dog and spouse and delights in watching Sandhill Cranes do their thing.

David Ther

David Ther has been a member of the Sierra Club since 1979 and has served previous terms on the Central Group ExCom.  He is especially
interested in the science of climate change and the implementation of effective local and global strategies for de-carbonizing the economies
of the world.  He is currently the Group Treasurer.  He is an active climber, runner and hiker.

Northern New Mexico Group Executive Committee:

John Buchser:

My family arrived in NM in the early ’60s.  I had the pleasure of growing up in Embudo, and later in the Española Valley. Sierra Club activist Norma McCallan, after years of arm-twisting, talked me into being involved in the Sierra Club after I graduated from NM Tech.
What I most enjoy about NM is the outdoors.  Our family told folks for years that it was a terrible, dry place — we wanted to protect it for our own enjoyment! But the secret is out — it is a great place to live.I want to help keep it a wonderful place.  It requires an active community to do that.  We have expanded the geographic diversity of representation on the Northern Group of our executive committee, leading to a better understanding of the regional challenges.
I am proud of the many areas that our activists have been engaged in.  Our political acumen and technical knowledge is substantial.
A lot of what we deal with is reactive but to be expected — Californians have realized this is a great place to live!  So Santa Fe has particularly pressed for housing, and LANL’s expansion continues the risk of industrial and radioactive pollution to anyone downstream.I appreciate the support of our members and look forward to guiding the Northern Group as we look forward to the release in 2021 of the 9th edition of our hiking book.

Susan Martin:

Born in Southern California,  I got here as soon as I could. Product of the University of California — BA UCSD, JD/MBA Berkeley, and a fused ankle from UC San Francisco. Counsel, Energy and Commerce Committee,  US House of Representatives; attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council; planner director, Environmental Improvement Division of the New Mexico Department of Health. Member, Santa Fe Planning Commission; fan, NM United.

Shannon Romeling:

Shannon has been a volunteer on the Rio Grande Chapter Executive Committee since 2018, and secretary of the Northern Group Chapter of the Sierra Club since 2019. She is the chapter delegate to the national Council for Club Leaders, a group that brings Chapter resolutions to the Sierra Club Board of Directors. For her full time job, Shannon has been working on water quality projects in NM for 9 years as a part of Amigos Bravos. One of her first projects was to work with the Sierra Club Water Sentinels Team and she continues that work, organizing volunteers and sampling water pollution regularly, as well as upon request of concerned citizens. Amigos Bravos is a non-profit whose mission is to protect and restore the waters of New Mexico. Shannon completed her Master’s in Biology at Missouri State University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on the effects of wind turbine-caused mortality on the future of the federally endangered Indiana bat.

Southern New Mexico Group:

Kurt Anderson

Kurt Anderson is a retired NMSU Professor of Astronomy whose current activities center on water planning and conservation, hydrology, and riparian restoration. He serves on the board of a Mutual Domestic Water Company, the Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District, and is a member of the NM Produced Water Research Consortium. A Sierra Club member for 54 years.Cheryll Blevins: 

I’m a native of Doña Ana County and have been active in the Sierra Club for many years.  I care deeply for Southern New Mexico’s environment and conservation issues.

Cheryll Blevins: 

I’m a native of Doña Ana County and have been active in the Sierra Club for many years.  I care deeply for Southern New Mexico’s environment and conservation issues.

Dan Lorimier

Dan Lorimier is a former longtime Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter employee and lobbyist and has led the New Mexico coalition championing the rights of residents living with the impacts of large dairies. He lives in Truth or Consequences.

SANTA FE, NM – New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently announced bold action which will give New Mexicans more electric car and truck options in the coming years, and a new report shows the state can deliver the most health, jobs, and energy savings benefits to New Mexicans by following the trend of fully adopting its planned-for new clean car standards through 2035.

The New Mexico Advanced Clean Cars II Program report released July 17 shows that New Mexicans could receive up to $44 billion in benefits through 2050 from public health and climate improvements, savings to drivers of electric vehicles, and utility customer savings — by fully adopting the standards through 2035.

“New Mexicans are on the road to breathe cleaner air, secure new jobs and be able to buy cleaner cars and trucks—if the state fully adopts clean cars and trucks standards through 2035,” said Kathy Harris, Clean Vehicles and Fuels Advocate at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “Pushing the pedal down now will deliver the most benefits to New Mexicans from improved public health, savings for clean vehicle owners, less polluted air, and reduced impacts from climate change. Let’s floor it, New Mexico.”

These standards will boost sales of zero-emission vehicles in New Mexico and build on the Clean Car Rule the state adopted last year to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, and ozone-and smog-causing pollutants from new passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs.

California, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington already have enacted the full Advanced Clean Car II standards. New Mexico and five other states are working on the standards but have not yet finalized them.

ERM prepared the report on ACC II for Western Resource Advocates (WRA), NRDC, and the Sierra Club. The report outlines three scenarios for how manufacturers might meet requirements if New Mexico adopts the Advanced Clean Cars II program through 2035. The report finds that by 2050 the program delivers in New Mexico:

• Cumulative net societal benefits (the sum of public health and climate benefits, net cost savings for vehicle owners, and net utility costs from increased electricity demand for electric vehicle charging) of up to $44 billion.
• 85 to 93 avoided premature deaths, 80 to 86 avoided hospital visits and 48,291 to 52,482 avoided health incidents like asthma attacks from breathing polluted air, for a total of $1 billion to $1.1 billion in health benefits.
• Reductions of up to 116 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, 38,000 metric tons of NOx, and 3,300 metric tons of particulate matter.
• Creation of up to 940 jobs, many in well-paying positions in electrical component manufacturing and construction of charging infrastructure.
  Lifetime savings for individual owners of zero-emissions vehicles of between $14,000 and $16,800, depending on the year the vehicle is purchased, and vehicle miles traveled, adding up to more than $30 billion in total savings for drivers through 2050.
  Up to $24 in annual electricity bill savings for the average New Mexico household, and up to $185 annual savings for the average commercial customer, regardless of whether they drive an electric vehicle, or not.

With the state’s adoption of Clean Trucks safeguards, those benefits increase to 136 avoided deaths and 76,000 avoided health incidents.

“Gov. Lujan Grisham’s commitment to strong clean vehicle standards is a significant step towards a sustainable future,” said Aaron Kressig, transportation electrification manager with WRA. “The release of this report reinforces the transformative benefits that can be achieved by adopting the full Advanced Clean Cars II standards through 2035. These standards not only drive the transition to zero-emission vehicles but also bring substantial public health improvements, job creation, and cost savings for vehicle owners and utility customers. It is imperative that we embrace this opportunity to curb climate pollution, enhance air quality, and prioritize the well-being of communities across the state.”

“Car and truck pollution is bad for communities that live along roadways and is the second biggest source of climate emissions in New Mexico. We’re grateful to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Secretary Kenney for acting to adopt this program to put cleaner cars on roads to protect our kids and families,” said Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Director Camilla Feibelman.

The Advanced Clean Cars II program will require vehicle manufacturers to increase sales of light-duty zero-emission vehicles in New Mexico, including full battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. If it is extended through model year 2035, it could require 100 percent ZEV sales by 2035.

In New Mexico, there are 1.5 million light-duty vehicles— vehicles weighing under 8,000 pounds including passenger cars, SUVs, crossovers and pickup trucks—that annually travel more than 67 billion miles and burn more than 2.9 billion gallons of gasoline, the report shows.

Emissions from internal combustion engines contribute to air pollution and climate change. Because the nation’s light-duty fleet is projected to grow 59 percent by 2050, the problem will grow much worse, so we must shift now to clean zero-emissions vehicles.

Nationally, light-duty vehicles account for about 90 percent of all on-road vehicle miles traveled and emit about 67 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions annually from the on-road vehicle fleet. Light-duty vehicles also account for 33 percent of the nitrogen oxide and 30 percent of the particulate matter emitted by on-road vehicles.

Together, these pollutants worsen air quality and harm public health in many urban areas, including in low-income and communities of color often disproportionately affected by emissions from nearby transportation infrastructure.

The “New Mexico Advanced Clean Cars II Program” report is here.

A blog co-authored by NRDC, WRA, and the Sierra Club, is here.

Additional comments from supporters of the clean car standards follow:

“The suffering we already see around us from climate change begs us to continue to take ethical and moral responsibility to address ways to stop the most harm in our sacred life community. Adopting strong clean car rules is another important step to care for our communities and life in Our Common Home,” said Joan Brown, Executive Director, New Mexico & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light. 

“New Mexico getting to 100 percent zero-emission vehicles will improve the health of its people and boost the economy of its businesses. Adopting Advanced Clean Cars II shows clean transportation companies that the state is open for business investments and ready to create a strong, clean workforce,” said Orville Thomas, State Policy Director for CALSTART.

“Switching to electric vehicles is one of the best things New Mexicans can do to save money and reduce pollution,” said Tammy Fiebelkorn, New Mexico Representative for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. “Let’s charge ahead.”

“The adoption of Advanced Clean Cars II rules will be a windfall for New Mexicans who want to see the state meet its climate goals, avoid shouldering increasing costs from climate-related disasters, live in an overall healthier environment, and increase economic opportunity in the cleantech sector,” said Susan Nedell, E2 Mountain West Advocate.

“We welcome the swift action taken by Governor Lujan Grisham’s administration in filing the ACCII and ACT petition,” said Samantha Kao, climate & energy advocate for Conservation Voters New Mexico. “Addressing climate pollution from the transportation sector is directly tied to other concerns of frontline communities: air quality and the health of their family and community, jobs beyond the oil & gas sector, fires and drought, and the stranglehold of oil and gas on the New Mexico economy. Adopting the full clean cars and trucks rules is an important part of the just transition that will take New Mexico down the road to a future that works for all New Mexicans.”

“Advanced Clean Cars II rules mean New Mexico consumers will be able to test drive a greater variety of electric cars and trucks and keep their dollars in state when they purchase EVs,” said Tom Solomon, Co-Coordinator of 350 New Mexico.

After four long days of hearings, New Mexico’s Environmental Improvement Board and Albuquerque-Bernalillo Air Quality Control Board voted to adopt Clean Cars II standards through 2032, as well as Clean Trucks and Heavy-Duty Omnibus Standards, after 9 p.m. Thursday. 

A broad coalition of state climate, environmental justice, and business groups known as New Mexico Clean Air welcomed the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board adopting the Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and Heavy-Duty Low NOx standards at the conclusion of public hearings Nov. 13-16. These critical standards will improve air quality and boost jobs and the state’s economy as they accelerate a transition to clean transportation.

The Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) and Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) standards, proposed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on July 3, will provide New Mexico drivers with many more zero-emission clean vehicles to buy. Together, the new clean vehicles standards will go into effect for model year 2027 cars and trucks arriving in showrooms. The clean vehicle standards will require 82% of new vehicles sold in the state by 2032 to be zero-emission.

Adopting these stronger clean cars and trucks standards is critical in addressing rising gas costs for families, combatting the climate crisis, and protecting public health. The measures will limit air pollution from vehicle tailpipes and require auto and truck manufacturers to deliver an increasing number of zero-emission electric vehicles, which includes plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs), for sale in the state. Electric vehicles and associated federal and state incentives will save consumers money over the vehicle’s life. ACCII applies only to new vehicle sales.

Advanced Clean Trucks establishes annual zero-emission truck sale requirements that vary by vehicle type and increase over time. The Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus will significantly reduce smog-forming pollution from new diesel-fueled trucks by strengthening the standards for nitrogen oxides and particulates.

The state adopted the Advanced Clean Car II standard through model year 2032. According to an analysis by ERM, they will cut nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050. As a result, the standards will help prevent 73 premature deaths, 68 hospital visits, and 41,300 minor health complications.

The Low NOx standards require manufacturers to cut the emissions of diesel trucks by 90% by 2027, update engine testing and durability, and extend engine warranties to ensure that harmful emissions are regulated in the vehicles being sold in the state.

Air pollution from cars and trucks is the second-largest source of climate pollution in New Mexico, harming health, environment, and climate. Transportation pollution is a public health crisis in New Mexico, disproportionately impacting lower-income communities, communities of color, children, elders, and anyone with respiratory conditions like asthma. Zero-emission cars and trucks are the fastest way to curb the transportation sector’s toxic air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

“These rules will save New Mexico residents and businesses billions of dollars while dramatically cutting pollution,” said  Travis Madsen, Transportation Program Director at the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. “With this vote, New Mexico has secured a position as a leader in clean, efficient transportation. Thank you to Governor Lujan Grisham for proposing these important rules, to the state and city staff who worked hard to draft the policy, and to the Board Members and Commissioners who voted to charge ahead.”

“I am grateful Governor Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Keller have adopted common-sense ready-made policies to accelerate zero-emission vehicle deployment in New Mexico to improve our health, protect our climate, and save us money: the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks Standards. These standards guarantee that clean cars and trucks will come to New Mexico,” says Ona Porter, Clean Energy Leader and Founder Emerita at Prosperity Works.

“New Mexicans will be able to breathe easier, buy more clean, affordable vehicles, and help put the brakes on climate change with the adoption of Clean Cars and Trucks Standards. Updating sensible and achievable standards for cleaner cars and trucks would help address the climate crisis and improve public health by sharply cutting tailpipe emissions from new motor vehicles sold in the state while also saving New Mexicans money,” says Alexis Mena, New Mexico policy director at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). 

In the New Mexico rulemaking process, David R. Baake, Baake Law, LLC, and Charles de Saillan, New Mexico Environmental Law Center, provided legal representation for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, 350 New Mexico, Western Resource Advocates, Prosperity Works, Conservation Voters New Mexico, Sierra Club, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, Center for Civic Policy, Western Environmental Law Center, CALSTART, and 350 Santa Fe.

Following are statements from a few of the intervenors and coalition partners:

“Adopting the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks Standards amid a once-in-a-lifetime influx of federal funding for clean vehicles from the Inflation Reduction Act means that now New Mexico will be able to make the most of federal dollars to support the deployment of clean cars and trucks, boosting the state’s economy and creating clean tech jobs. These standards will further secure an affordable and healthy clean transportation future while helping the state chip away at the root cause of increasing costs from climate-fueled weather disasters,” said Susan Nedell, Mountain West Advocate for E2 – Environmental Entrepreneurs.

“Clean Cars and Trucks Standards will literally save lives in New Mexico. The boards heard from experts who showed how EV owners save at least $14,000 over the life of the cars. They heard from commenter after commenter about buying EVs they love for less than $25,000 and how they plug their car into a wall outlet overnight to charge. But most had to go out of state to buy their EVs. Clean Cars standards will allow everyone to find the cars they want in New Mexico, said Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter director.  “The boards said ‘yes’ to one of the most effective climate policies New Mexico could possibly adopt. Now it’s time to make sure New Mexicans know how to access existing incentives like utility rebates that can cover the cost of buying and installing EV chargers; to fulfill the governor’s promise to pass state credits for purchasing new and used electric vehicles; and to ensure that the state keeps up its recent impressive progress at installing fast charging stations in locations like Socorro, Española, Rito and Elephant Butte.”

“It’s a good day for the future of New Mexico’s climate and air. The passage of the New Mexico Clean Car and Truck standards marks a massive step forward in the state’s efforts to address climate change and improve air quality. These standards will save drivers money at the gas pump, increase the availability of zero-emission vehicles for consumers to purchase, and promote equitable access to these vehicles for all New Mexicans. We applaud the Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque Air Quality Control Board for adopting these critically important rules,” said Aaron Kressig, Transportation Electrification Manager for Western Resource Advocates.

“CALSTART applauds New Mexico’s leadership in adopting these market-transforming policies,” said Alissa Burger, Regional Policy Director for CALSTART. “By enacting the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks Standards, New Mexico will cultivate a supportive ecosystem for zero-emission vehicle deployment while decarbonizing the state’s on-road transportation and substantially improving public health for New Mexicans.”

“We are pleased by today’s action on the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks Standards. Because children are still growing and developing, they are more susceptible to the harmful impacts of air pollution – so these standards make sense not just for the health of our children today but for the health of their planet tomorrow,” said Bill Jordan, Interim Co-Director, New Mexico Voices for Children.

“Climate change is the largest ethical and moral concern of our time, and we are grateful and encouraged that important actions were taken to protect the health of New Mexico communities and all of creation by adopting the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks Standards,” said Clara Sims, Assistant Executive Director, New Mexico & El Paso Region Interfaith Power and Light. 

“This is an exciting time for New Mexico– including Tribal Nations and Pueblos to be part of the EV transition. It’s hope-filled. When I think of these rules being adopted, I picture an inter-tribal EV charging network in collaboration with state regulatory bodies and utilities. I see charging infrastructure wholly owned and managed by Tribes and Pueblos, providing additional revenue to these communities, workforce development, and tourism in rural areas. And it all starts with this early rulemaking decision. Again, this is an important step in creating more opportunities for state and Tribal Nations to collaborate as equal partners in clean energy challenges, or as I like to call them– opportunities.” said Catherine Zingg (Ho-Chunk Nation), Director of Indigenous Partnerships, Vote Solar.

“As health professionals in New Mexico, we are grateful that our state has taken a significant step towards reducing toxic pollution from cars and trucks. These standards are actually life-saving. By reducing harmful tailpipe emissions, the standards will help to alleviate the burden of diseases such as cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and detrimental effects on pregnant women and children.  This is an important climate solution that protects health and promotes equity for our state,” said Shelley Mann-Lev, Executive Director, New Mexico Health Professionals for Climate Action.

“New Mexico has enormous electrification potential. We’re excited to see this administration make real progress toward cutting one of our most significant sources of air pollution. Working in tandem with the Inflation Reduction Act, New Mexico’s Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks Standards will make life better for New Mexicans, full stop. With standards like these, the state is proving itself a leader in electric transportation,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, Executive Director of the Western Environmental Law Center.

“Everyday New Mexicans will be able to breathe easier with the adoption of these much-needed clean cars and trucks standards. Transportation, including the oil and gas industry that fuels it, is the largest source of pollution in our state. We are grateful that the Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board were able to see through the misinformation. We look forward to New Mexicans having increased access to electric vehicles that don’t pollute our air and are less costly to maintain,” said Sammi Kao, Conservation Voters New Mexico Climate & Energy Director.

New Mexico Clean Air is a coalition advocating for standards to reduce smog pollution in the state from tailpipes harming New Mexicans’ health and our climate. The coalition says that full adoption of the Advanced Clean Cars II standard through 2035 will make it easier for all New Mexicans to replace their dirty, polluting cars with low or zero-emission electric vehicles and improve air quality in our most impacted neighborhoods. By increasing the number of electric buses, pickup trucks, delivery trucks, and semi-trucks on our roads, Advanced Clean Trucks standards will help transform the freight industry to benefit our communities, especially those most harmed by air pollution.

New Mexico Clean Air hopes the state can build on this significant progress, moving toward adopting the full Advanced Clean Car II standard through 2035 as soon as possible.

###

The New Mexico Clean Air coalition includes consumer groups, EV drivers, conservation, climate, social-justice and environmental-justice advocates, businesses leaders, local government and elected officials, health voices, frontline communities, and labor representatives. NewMexicoCleanAir.com

Sierra Club fact sheet

Comprehensive Q&A on EVs.

Personal Information Collected

We may collect the following personal information from you:

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How We Use Your Information

Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter is committed to protecting your privacy online.

When you register, contribute, sign up to receive updates, or take any other action on our site, we may ask you to give us contact information, including your name, address, telephone number and/or e-mail address. We may obtain information about you from outside sources and add it to or combine it with the information we collect through this site. We use this information to operate this site, send you news and information to you about Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter & to solicit your participation in Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter programs, events and activities, and obtain and confirm RSVP’s to events and programs. We use your e-mail address to send such information by e-mail and may use your telephone number to call you for these purposes.

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Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter uses industry standard security measures to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control. Our server is located in a locked, secure environment. Permission to access your information is granted only to you and Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter employees or contractors who need to know that information to provide services to you. Although we make good faith efforts to store information collected by this website in a secure operating environment, we cannot guarantee complete security.

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Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter website uses cookies, and marketing pixels for measuring aggregate web statistics, including number of monthly visitors, number of repeat visitors, most popular webpages and other information. Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter will also use cookies to facilitate your online visit by maintaining data that you provide for online activism activities so that you will not need to resubmit certain information.

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People who subscribe to e-mail lists via this website will receive periodic updates from Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter by regular mail, and/or e-mail. You may opt out of receiving future information via e-mail by using the unsubscribe procedure specified on the e-mail message.

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We may revise and update this Privacy Policy if we change our practices, add new site features, or change existing site features. If we make any material changes, we will notify registered users by email and post notice to this site. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest version of our Privacy Policy

How To Contact Us

Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be directed to:

Email: newsletter@riograndesierraclub.org

Phone: (505) 243-7767

Last updated:  October 25th, 2023

TERMS OF USE

These Terms of Use govern your use of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter website (currently located at riograndesierraclub.org) (the “Site”), which is owned and operated by Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter (“we” or “us”).  We may modify these Terms of Use from time to time, so we encourage you to check this page each time you revisit the Site.  The date of the latest revision will be listed below so you will know if the terms have changed since you last accessed the Site.  Your use of the Site indicates your acceptance to be bound by the provisions of the Terms of Use in effect as of the date of your use.  If you do not accept these terms, do not use the Site.

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All content and graphics created by Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter that are contained on this site are owned by Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter and are protected by intellectual property laws as well as other state, federal and international laws, regulations and treatises. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, post or otherwise distribute this content without the express written permission of Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter.

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You may not use the Site (a) in violation of any applicable law or regulation, (b) in a manner that will infringe the copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights of others, (c) in a manner that will violate the privacy, publicity or other personal rights of others or reveal confidential information without permission, or (d) in a manner that is profane, defamatory, violent, obscene, threatening, abusive, hateful, inflammatory or otherwise objectionable under common standards of decency.

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This Site and any related applications may contain links to other third party sites. We do not control what those sites say or do. Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter is not responsible for other sites’ content, information collection practices, or use of the information they collect. We are not responsible for and do not endorse the content of those sites. Your use of third party sites is subject to the terms and conditions of those sites.

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We respect the intellectual property rights of others.  If you believe that any material on the Site violates your intellectual property rights, please provide us with written notice that includes the following information:

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Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter
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STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

Any claim under these Terms of Use must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action arises.

GENERAL

By using the Site, you agree that you are of sufficient legal age in your jurisdiction to create binding legal obligations.  These Terms of Use shall be governed by the laws of the state of New Mexico, without regard to its conflict of law rules.  Any and all disputes arising out of or related to the Site shall be submitted to the state or federal courts located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico  If we are required to go to court to enforce any of our rights, you agree to reimburse us for our legal costs and expenses if we are the prevailing party.  Our failure to insist upon or to enforce strict performance of any provision of the policies on the Site shall not be construed as a waiver of any right.  If any provision of any of the policies on the Site are determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be replaced with a provision that complies with applicable law and best reflects the intentions of the parties.

ABILITY TO MODIFY TERMS OF USE

We may modify these Terms of Use at any time without notice to you by posting revised Terms of Use on this site. Your use of Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter’s Site, Application or Services constitutes your binding acceptance of these and any modified Terms of Use.

If you have any questions about these Terms of Use or the Site, please contact us at:

Email: newsletter@riograndesierraclub.org

Phone: (505) 243-7767
Last Updated:  October 25th, 2023

City Council District 1: Alma Castro
Castro’s lifelong embrace of the environment and her pledge to electrify city equipment, increase transit frequency, offer rebates for energy- and water-efficient appliances to income-constrained Santa Feans, and support gas-free new construction, won our support.

Council District 2: Michael Garcia
Councilor Garcia chairs the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Group, which has produced a pathbreaking strategic plan that can lead toward a city much safer and enjoyable to walk and bike. The Rio Grande Chapter is proud to endorse him for another term.

Council District 3: Pilar Faulkner
Pilar Faulkner is a small-business owner who was born and raised in Northern New Mexico. She pledges to protect open spaces, conserve natural resoucres, and protect Santa Fe’s  night skies by limiting light pollution.

Council District 4: Jamie Cassutt
Councilor Cassutt chairs the Metropolitan Planning Organization, where she has consistently advocated for funding projects that provide more trails and sidewalks as well as connections among them. She has been a strong advocate for equitable climate solutions.

Santa Fe Community College Board: Lina German
Lina Germann, resident of Santa Fe for 26 years, holds both a Ph.D in chemistry and an MBA.  A self described citizen lobbyist, she is a firm believer in the college emphasizing STEM education and environmental studies.  Germann prides herself as a scientist on knowing how to ask the right questions and prodding for data on trends.  She would like to put underused portions of the campus to use for better and more courses.  And Germann would welcome Santa Feans to come to the campus for monthly series of talks and workshops, especially related to the environment.

Ballot measure: Yes
The Rio Grande Chapter supports the Santa Fe affordable housing initiative, which would provide a dedicated funding source for the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund by imposing a 3% tax on the portion of the sale price of Santa Fe homes that exceeds $1 million.

Albuquerque

City Council District 2: Joaquin Baca
Baca is running for the open seat currently held by Ike Benton, who is retiring. Baca is a hydrologist whose career has focused on both protection of water resources and riparian restoration, policy-wise as well as on the ground. Joaquin is also a current member of the MRGCD board and has held an array of public and nonprofit board positions with conservation of natural resources as the common theme.

City Council District 4: Abby Foster
We’re lucky to have Abby Foster. Foster has made it her mission to unseat a bad incumbent in City Council District 4. Foster states that “it is difficult to overstate the urgency with which humanity needs to act to mitigate climate change” and that “we need to work on electrifying everything,” exactly the kind of commitment to addressing climate that we need on Council!

City Council District 6: Nichole Rogers
A native New Mexican raising her kids in South Los Altos, Rogers is a New Mexico First board member and has worked in the City’s Office of Equity & Inclusion, experiences that led to her emphasis on collaboration between community and government. Rogers sees the need for concrete climate solutions, like providing ways for more and safer cycling, better public transport and helping with conversion to electrification.

Public Schools Board District 1: Janelle Astorga
Astorga is a young organizer who has worked on education issues from a community perspective since she was in high school, including opposing the privatization of education. She is now co-director the Learning Alliance of NM and development director at SWOP.

Public Schools Board District 2: Ronalda Tome-Warito
Tome-Warito is a Native woman who for 25 years has advocated for Native students with disabilities. She will bring a knowledgeable voice on special education and the needs of Native students to the board.

Public Schools Board District 4: Heather Benavidez
Benavidez is CEO of The Arc of New Mexico, which advocates for New Mexicans living with disabilities. She emphasizes the accurate teaching of science so that students will be prepared to address climate change and have a place where they will be able to thrive and raise their families.

Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District: Daniel Conklin, Maria Young, and Thomas Allen
Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District is little known, but administers important conservation, restoration, and urban agriculture programs. Conklin, Allen, and Young are incumbents who have demonstrated their commitment to the restoration and conservation missions of Ciudad by their support for and active participation in these programs. If you live in the district, you will be able to vote for all three.

Las Cruces

Mayor: Kasandra Gandara
Gandara says Las Cruces needs to aggressively address climate change, and the two-term councilor walks the walk. She supported the city’s climate action plan, which has allowed it receive 25% of its electricity from solar, and a plastic-bag ban, electric buses, and the City’s PowerUp Expo to educate citizens about electrification.

City Council District 1: Cassie McClure
McClure is a city Parks and Recreation Advisory Board member.  She is a cyclist who enjoys seeing the agricultural side of Las Cruces through its ditchbanks and trails. She supports moving away from fossil fuels as fast as possible.

City Council District 2: Tessa Abeyta
Incumbent Abeyta’s career has been dedicated to advocacy for children, public health and the environment. She has been a Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce board member and an advocate for the formation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.

City Council District 4: Johana Bencomo
Johana Bencomo is a New Mexico Environmental Law Center board member and has been executive director for NM CAFÉ. She is proud of her votes to end use of plastic bags in Las Cruces and to create the crisis intervention team.

Las Cruces Public School Board District 1: Patrick Nolan
Nolan has been involved with the Green Chamber since he joined as executive director of the Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. He also served as union representative for American Federation of Teachers NM.

Public School Board District 4: Teresa Tenorio
An incumbent, Tenorio is proud of her votes to approve an equity and excellence policy and a gender-inclusive schools policy, as well as policy in response to the Martinez-Yazzie decision in support of at-risk students.

Public School Board District 5: Edward Frank
Frank, an incumbent, supports diversity, equity and inclusion in our schools and beyond. He believes that outcomes improve when students feel respect for their cultures in the curriculum.

Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District

Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District: Pam Cordova, Duana Draszkiewicz, Abel Camarena
Cordova, Draszkiewicz, and Camarena are incumbents who support the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area, operated by the District, and other conservation and restoration initiatives of the District.

On Nov. 16, New Mexico’s Environmental Improvement Board adopted Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Trucks and Heavy-Duty Omnibus standards that will bring profound health, economic and climate benefits to New Mexico.

The state’s proposal requires automakers to make increasing percentages of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles available to New Mexicans, topping out at 82% of new cars delivered to New Mexico in 2032. Automakers get early-action credits for EVs they sell before the standards go into effect starting with the 2027 model year. Clean Trucks would require an increasing percentage of medium- and heavy-duty trucks be electric. Heavy-Duty Low-NOx Omnibus, a third standard, reduces smog-forming pollution from new diesel-fueled trucks.

Because automakers prioritize Clean Cars states for EV availability, shoppers often have a hard time finding electric vehicles on New Mexico lots and often have to go out of state if they want an EV. These standards will provide much more choice. And yes, of course you can keep your gas car for as long as you like, and buy a new one if you really want, even at the peak of the proposed requirements.

EVs save money and lives

Recent studies find that Clean Cars standards would provide New Mexico up to $44 billion in economic benefits, including public health and climate improvements, savings to drivers, and utility  savings — by  fully adopting the standards through 2035.

These rules would reduce climate pollution by hundreds of millions of metric tons by 2050, about the same amount as the total pollution New Mexico produced in 2018, making these among the most effective climate policies New Mexico could adopt.

A recent analysis shows that New Mexicans could receive up to $44 billion in public health and climate benefits just from adopting Clean Cars II through 2035. Clean Cars and Trucks together would:

• Avoid 136 premature deaths by 2050 and prevent 76,000 respiratory incidents from breathing polluted air;
• Create nearly 1,000 additional jobs, many in well-paying positions in electrical-component manufacturing  and construction;
• Save individual EV owners between $14,000 and $16,800 during the life of the vehicle and deliver more than $30 billion in total savings for drivers through 2050.

Other cost benefits of electric cars and trucks:

• Federal $7,500 tax credits are available for selected new EVs and $4,000 credits for used cars. These will be transferable to dealers so they can be taken off your purchase price.
• New Mexico utilities now offer rebates of up to $2,500 for home EV chargers and installation — often enough to cover the entire cost.
• Plug-in hybrids are included in the Clean Cars II standards. These cars use battery charge for the first 30 to 50 miles and then switch to gas. Most hybrid drivers rarely have to buy gas because their daily driving doesn’t exceed 30 miles.
• Because EVs remain parked most of the time, they are a highly flexible resource. Charging vehicles when the grid is underutilized allows utilities to spread their fixed costs and puts downward pressure on rates, saving the average New Mexico household up to $24 on electricity annually.
• EV drivers contribute an estimated $806 million more to the economy than associated costs. Another study predicts similar benefits to New Mexico. These vehicles will likely be harder to purchase unless Clean Cars standards are adopted.
• Electric vehicles are expected to reach upfront cost parity by model year 2027, when this rule is implemented, and already many EVs cost less upfront than gas cars, even without incentives. EVs benefit consumers on Day 1 in most cases. Low-income customers spend a larger portion of their income on fuel, so this will have disproportionate benefit for low-income customers.

Improving Equity

Reducing vehicle pollution from trucks will protect public health, particularly in low-income, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities that live closest to transportation routes in New Mexico. The Advanced Clean Trucks standard will hold trucking companies accountable for the pollution impacting New Mexicans’ health.

• A recent report analyzing the projecting total cost of ownership in 2027 for several medium- and heavy-duty market segments (including transit and school buses, shuttles, delivery vehicles and refuse haulers) shows that EVs are better investments than their fossil-fuel counterparts.
• By 2027, the purchase price alone will make many categories of electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (including transit and school buses; delivery vans and trucks, and refuse haulers) less expensive than their fossil-fuel counterparts.

Still have questions? Check out this great Q&A. 

Related: View this issue on the National Sierra Club page.

Update! Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on July 3 announced that her administration would propose Clean Cars and Trucks rules this month to the Environmental Improvement Board. The administration filed the petition on Friday, July 7. 

A  broad coalition of New Mexico climate, environmental-justice and business groups is advocating for the state to adopt Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks standards by the end of 2023 to save lives and money and create climate solutions in New Mexico.The standards would limit air pollution from vehicle tailpipes and require auto and truck manufacturers to deliver an increasing number of zero-emission electric vehicles for sale in the region, providing considerable consumer savings on gas and maintenance.

New studies have found that these standards would reduce fine particulate matter and prevent dozens of premature deaths and tens of thousands of cases of respiratory illness by 2050. These rules would reduce climate pollution by hundreds of millions of metric tons by 2050, making these among the most effective climate policies New Mexico could adopt.

Advanced Clean Cars II requires auto manufacturers to make zero-emission vehicles a gradually increasing percentage of sales through 2035 and reduce pollution from gas vehicles sold in the interim.

Advanced Clean Trucks establish annual zero-emission sales requirements that vary by vehicle type and increase over time. The Heavy-Duty Low-NOx Omnibus, a third standard, would significantly reduce smog-forming pollution from new diesel-fueled trucks by strengthening the standards for nitrogen oxides and particulates.

Air pollution from cars and trucks is the second-largest source of climate pollution in New Mexico. Transportation pollution is also public-health crisis in New Mexico, disproportionately impacting lower-income communities, communities of color, children, elders, and anyone with respiratory conditions like asthma. Zero-emission cars and trucks are the fastest way to reduce the transportation sector’s toxic air pollution and climate emissions.

“Right now, Gov. Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Keller can adopt common-sense, ready-made policies to accelerate zero-emission vehicle deployment in New Mexico to improve our health, protect our climate and save us money: the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks standards,” said Ona Porter, Clean Energy Leader and Founder Emerita at Prosperity Works. “These standards are the only way to guarantee that clean cars and trucks will come to New Mexico.”

If the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board approves the standards this year, the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks standards will go into effect for model-year 2027 cars and trucks, arriving in showrooms in 2026.

“Adopting the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks standards in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime influx of federal funding for clean vehicles from the Inflation Reduction Act means that New Mexico will be able to make the most of federal dollars to support the deployment of clean cars and trucks, boosting the state’s economy and creating clean tech jobs,” said Susan Nedell, Mountain West Advocate for E2 — Environmental Entrepreneurs. “These standards will further secure an affordable and healthy clean transportation future while helping the state chip away at the root cause of increasing costs from climate-fueled weather disasters.”

“Studies show that adopting Clean Cars and Trucks standards will literally save lives in New Mexico. It will also help us address the climate emergency and help New Mexico access millions in federal funding to boost EV infrastructure and make clean cars more accessible, affordable and convenient,” said Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter director.

“Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks rules will expedite access to zero-emission vehicles while providing tremendous benefits to New Mexico’s economy and improving its air quality,” said Aaron Kressig, Transportation Electrification Manager for Western Resource Advocates. “These standards will save drivers money at the gas pump, increase availability of zero-emission vehicles for consumers to purchase, and promote equitable access to these vehicles for all New Mexicans. The state should seize the opportunity to adopt these standards together in 2023 to get cleaner trucks and cars on our roads sooner.”

In 2022, the New Mexico Clean Air coalition of more than 35 organizations supported the first Clean Cars standards passed by the state and the City of Albuquerque. However, those standards are moot because they weren’t passed early enough to go into effect before California passed updated standards. State vehicle-emissions rules that exceed federal standards must be substantially similar. Passing the updated Clean Cars standard along with Clean Trucks and the Heavy Duty Omnibus NOx standards will bring New Mexico back in line with life-saving pollution standards.