Rio Grande Chapter

By Rick LoBello, El Paso Group Executive Committee The current wave of development in cities around the world threatens both businesses and quality of life. Here in El Paso, when two men spotted a bulldozer blading a road across a pristine part of the Franklin Mountains in 1978, they inspired citizens across the community to take action to help stop the ravenous rampage of suburbia. Today, a new conservation effort is underway as new bridges are built, roads are widened ...
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Zero waste means no toxic waste in the environment. Summertime, gardening, veggies and flowers mean pest control. Before you reach for a commercial product, read these tips: 1. Rabbits in the garden? Plant some food outside the garden for the bunnies.
Wormwood in a border will repel animals and, after it’s established, tolerate drought. 2. A dusting of powdered aloe helps keep away insects. 3. Snails and slugs: Tried and true, set out a container of beer. They love it, ...
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Come join your fellow Sierrans for a Sierra Club and Beer gathering at The Commons, 2300 West Alameda, corner of Camino Carlos Real, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 9. Terri Martin of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance will share some beautiful images and an inside update about the magnificent but still unprotected Redrock Wildlands of southern Utah. The future of the redrock hangs in the balance this year! Learn about the Greater Canyonlands and Bears Ears monument proposals ...
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By Sharon Guerrero, Zero Waste Team Most of us have questions about the new recycling initiative being implemented in Santa Fe city and county. Here are some helpful hints and websites to clarify any questions you may have. If you still have questions, contact Adam Schlacter, education outreach coordinator, Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency at 505-424-1850, ext. 420, or e-mail: aschlachter@sfswma.org. • All City of Santa Fe residents should have two recycling bins: One for glass ONLY and a second for mixed recycling (everything ...
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By Ken and Christine Newtson, Southern New Mexico Group On May 11, El Paso Electric (EPE), which serves Southern New Mexico and the El Paso area, filed with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission for an increase in electric rates of 7.1 percent of non-fuel-based rates. These proposed rates will result in a 9 percent increase, on average, to Southern New Mexico total residential bills. As EPE last filed for a non-fuel-based rate increase in New Mexico in 2009, an appropriate rate increase is reasonable. Of concern ...
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The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission in May rejected PNM’s rate-hike proposal, which would have required New Mexico families to cover tens of millions of dollars in costs for the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station and added a hefty monthly fee for anyone who installed rooftop solar. The decision follows a recommendation from a PRC hearing examiner that criticized PNM for failing to provide sufficient information to support its proposed rate increase. The Sierra Club intervened in the case to ...
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By Jody Benson Last September, the Los Alamos community was astonished to see a bighorn ram wandering along Trinity Drive. He is one of 35 adults (plus 10 lambs) trapped from the large herd on Wheeler Peak, and helicoptered to a holding pen before being trucked to Cochiti tribal lands. From Cochiti Canyon, the herd dispersed north and south (including to Los Alamos), but reconvened in time for breeding season. As of April, there has been only one mortality, a ewe ...
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By Jody Benson, Pajarito Group newsletter editor After 21 months of strategizing, communicating with the local government and Krogers Corporate, after research, meetings, letter-writing, public presentations, and op-editorializing — after addressing the SavetheBaggers’ issues by changing our request from a bag ban to a per-bag charge that would have given all of us, environmentalists and free-choice consumers alike, pretty much what we wanted (you want a bag, you can have it; just pay the merchant’s cost) — after all this, ...
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By Robert Tohe, Our Wild America New Mexico coordinator Chaco Canyon’s ancient legacy and the oil and gas industry have been on a collision course since oil was first discovered in 1920s. The early role of the federal government, through the Department of Interior’s Indian Office, was to expedite private enterprise to lease and exploit oil resources within the Mancos Shale. Traditional headmen for the Navajo remained steadfast and refused to grant land for oil leases. Navajo people considered traditional ...
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By Teresa Seamster, Northern New Mexico Group How can oil-drilling leases cause the loss of an individual’s safety, private property and ability to follow religious practices? The greater Chaco area in northwest New Mexico’s San Juan Basin is experiencing a ramping up of oil and gas development that has shaken residents with multiple impacts. A stretch of federal highway that runs through Counselor, Lybrook and Nageezi and a web of new dirt access roads to well pads near these small ...
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