Rare photos and State Department documents to be revealed at Sierra Club presentation
The El Paso Sierra Club Group will sponsor a special presentation entitled “Rewriting the History of the Big Bend International Park Movement, 1933-1963” on Tuesday evening, 7:00pm on November 17 at the West Side Regional Command Center, 4801 Osborne Drive in El Paso. Jason and Zachary Abrams, of Forgotten Frontiers.com will present a selection of previously unexamined material located in the National Archives that challenges the known history of the U.S.-Mexican International Park movement. The presentation will also include the first-ever ...
Take action against dirty copper-mining rule
In 2013, the Martinez Administration committed one of the most flagrant violations of the public trust in recent memory. After years of work by technical experts and an advisory committee composed of stakeholders from all sides, a draft rule to protect the state’s groundwater from copper-mining pollution was submitted to the Environment Department by the department’s technical staff and consultant Bill Olson (a former Groundwater Quality Bureau chief for the department). Freeport-McMoRan, the copper giant that owns the three biggest copper ...
When: Sunday, November 15th from 9:00am – 3:00pm Location: Albuquerque Metro area, exact location TBA (we’ll let you know asap) Cost: If we get ten people signed up for the class the total cost of the class is $42.50. If more people sign up it’ll be less, so we’ll let you know the balance of the cost the day of the class. Sign up:
- Send a deposit check of $30 made out to the Sierra Club to 2215 Lead Ave ...
NM fell farther than any other state in energy efficiency in 2014
Revoking of energy-saving building codes cited as likely cause of lack of progress For immediate release: Oct. 22, 2015
Contact: Camilla Feibelman: 505-715-8388, camilla.feibelman@sierraclub.org
Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, 2215 Lead Ave SE, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, 505-243-7767 A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says New Mexico dropped farther than any other state in its annual state rankings. “New Mexico dropped the farthest in 2015, losing four points and falling six positions from 25th to 31st ...
Contact: Camilla Feibelman: 505-715-8388, camilla.feibelman@sierraclub.org
Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, 2215 Lead Ave SE, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, 505-243-7767 A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says New Mexico dropped farther than any other state in its annual state rankings. “New Mexico dropped the farthest in 2015, losing four points and falling six positions from 25th to 31st ...
Lagging in Las Cruces: El Paso Electric, please explain
By Stephen Fischmann Our local electric utility, El Paso Electric (EPE), just submitted its 20-year operating plan for approval by the Public Regulation Commission. It’s a real wallet-buster for consumers, and a head-scratcher for anyone who follows the utility industry. If you like history, it makes for a revealing excursion into 1960s energy-industry thinking. Here are just a few of the many plan features that can use some explaining: Plant Investment Four newly built gas-fired power plants dubbed Montana 1-4 ...
High e. Coli levels found in Rio Fernando
By Eric Patterson Water Sentinels — Rios de Taos has completed its 2015 monitoring schedule. We have added new members to our monitoring team. Disturbingly, we have found high levels of e. coli in several places in the Rio Fernando de Taos that indicate that further testing is needed. Sentinels have started testing two additional sites on the Rio Grande this year and hope to add additional monitoring sites in 2016. Sentinels would love to add monitoring sites on downstate ...
New Mexico sues to block water protections
By Rachel Conn, Amigos Bravos interim director Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration has again jumped at an opportunity to diminish protections for our drinking water. In September, the EPA finalized a Clean Water Rule that clarifies that waters that were historically covered under the federal Clean Water Act, such as small tributary streams and wetlands, are once again covered by the federal law. The Martinez administration, joining 12 other states, filed a lawsuit to block the rule. A federal judge has ruled ...
Methane regulation: Time to act
Denise Fort, Research Professor, UNM School of Law; Chapter Energy Committee chair New Mexicans are well aware that we have the dubious honor of contributing to an enormous methane hot spot that hovers over the Four Corners Area. Methane is a pernicious greenhouse gas and a pollutant that affects health at ground level. And lost methane means lost revenues, because royalties and taxes would otherwise be owed on it. The Obama Administration is moving forward with methane regulation. The regulations ...
El Paso Group forms Sierra Student Coalition
By Neysa Hardin, El Paso Group Sierra Student Coalition leader On Sept. 8, Americas High School Sierra Student Coalition partnered with the Chamizal National Memorial to celebrate International Literacy Day. SSC students performed a reader’s theater of the children’s story “The Campfire that Changed America” to fourth-graders at Loma Verde Elementary. The students re-enacted the Yosemite camping trip between President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, that led to the establishment of our national parks and monuments. “Teaching ...
State House panel asks tough questions on Gila diversion
By Dan Lorimier New Mexico’s interim Legislative Water and Natural Resources Committee met in August in Silver City to hear about the proposed Gila River diversion project. The public and many officials have objected to the project for several reasons: There are real questions about whether a diversion can be successfully constructed; cost estimates have ballooned to $1 billion, which would have to be borne by New Mexico taxpayers and water users; and the diversion would sacrifice our state’s last ...
