Rio Grande Chapter

Sandoval County has developed a new ordinance in the wake of last year’s outrage related to SandRidge’s proposal to drill for gas just 2 miles from Rio Rancho’s borders. Both Sandoval County and Rio Rancho are looking at oil-drilling proposals. Rio Rancho City Council had a work session on this issue. The video starts around 39:15. Sandoval County’s Planning and Zoning Committee has a meeting to finalize this ordinances at onTuesday, August 30. There is a follow-up meeting at on Tuesday, September 6 at ...

On Monday, August 15, NASA released a study on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. The report, based on intensive aerial surveys and ground crews, is a follow-up on the 2014 satellite report that initially found the “hotspot” in the region, and sought to further identify and explain its causes. The study identified 250 large methane plumes emitted from well pads, storage tanks, pipelines, gas processing plants, and venting from ...

Update! The Ninth Edition has been published. By Teresa Seamster, Northern New Mexico Group chair We did it! The Northern New Mexico Group has published the eighth edition of our popular Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area. And this is not your grandfather’s guidebook. The eighth edition contains 410 pages, 68 hike descriptions that, counting all the options and variations provided, cover more than 125 individual day hikes, 71 maps including two in color, and 95 black-and-white photographs, most of which are ...

By Laura Paskus, New Mexico In Depth | 08/09/2016
From New Mexico In Depth Water issues throughout the arid West are complicated. And when it comes to water, people tend to stand solidly in their own camps, wielding anecdotal information when a fight breaks out. Today more than ever, as the region warms – and both our surface and groundwater supplies become increasingly constrained – it’s a good time to check the facts and try to understand one another. In that spirit, here’s my crack at a ...

As oil and gas development draws closer to Chaco Canyon, citizens await answers about the Delaware-sized methane “hotspot” looming above the Four Corners, and new national regulations reduce toxic emissions from the oil and gas industry. Come hear an update on oil and gas issues in New Mexico and watch the award-winning documentary Split Estate. RSVP here ...

By Richard Barish, Bosque Issues Chair The City of Albuquerque has begun its public process to obtain input on Phase III of its trail construction. This phase will extend the groomed trail for almost two miles, from Campbell Road to Montaño. It appears that Mayor Richard Berry’s administration is continuing to attempt to limit broad-based public input on its project. The administration is again violating the procedures for robust public participation that it agreed to in March 2015. Instead, the city’s ...

By Miya King-Flaherty, Chapter Public Lands fellow In June, the Bureau of Land Management announced that it would postpone a planned lease of three Chaco Canyon-area parcels intended for oil and gas development until at least January. But the BLM’s Farmington Field Office has already approved nearly 300 wells for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and has leased roughly 91% of public lands in the greater Chaco Canyon area. The BLM claims to thoroughly review the direct, indirect and cumulative ...

By Allyson Siwik, Chapter Executive Committee and Gila Resources Information Project With just a few months left before initiation of the environmental-compliance phase and with no proposed action identified yet, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission continues its push for a Gila River diversion project to capture as much water as possible. The local New Mexico Central Arizona Project (CAP) entity, responsible for the design of a diversion under the Arizona Water Settlements Act, must decide on a proposed action ...

By Mona Blaber, Chapter Communications Director PNM is hitting speed bumps in its efforts to recover its costs from a nuclear-energy purchase and raise customer rates. The PNM rate case, under consideration now at the state Public Regulation Commission, contains both positive and negative components for the climate and ratepayers. The utility wants to raise the base service fee from $5 monthly to $13, which would discourage energy efficiency, hurt low-income ratepayers and penalize solar owners, who would see the return ...

By Susan Martin, Rio Grande Chapter Executive Committee The national Sierra Club’s Honors and Awards Committee notified Eric Patterson on June 25 that he was the recipient of the Club’s 2016 Special Service Award, which honors Sierra Club members for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over an extended period of time. Here’s an excerpt from the award submission from our chapter: Fighting the causes and results of climate change will take the energy of our next generation to prevent ...