Make plans to spend Spring Break at Cedar Mesa

Monument Valley from Muley Point El Paso Sierra Club Executive Committee member Dr. John Walton will be leading an outing March 5-11, 2016 to Cedar Mesa in Utah. The Spring Break adventure will include various hikes with short (30 degrees) elevation gains. To sign up and for more information contact John Walton (915) 539-5797 walton@utep.edu.  The outing will be a return trip to Utah’s wonderful slickrock terrain. We will camp at several locations along Comb Ridge with daily hikes onto the slickrock ...
/ El Paso Group, Events

New Mexicans seize opportunity to discuss recent methane standards

New Mexicans seize opportunity to discuss recent methane standards
Farmington, N.M. — On Tuesday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held a public hearing at San Juan College in Farmington, providing community members the opportunity to offer their support for the methane standards proposed earlier this year. Those speaking in favor of the proposed rules outnumbered those in opposition by more than 2 to 1. The recently proposed standards will reduce methane waste from oil and gas operations on public lands, complementing the safeguards proposed by the Environmental Protection ...
/ Latest News, Press Release

Sandoval County Moratorium On Oil and Gas Drilling

photo of oil drilling
If the Sandoval County Commission takes the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommendation at its February 18 hearing, it will deny a special-use permit for troubled Oklahoma oil company SandRidge Energy, which wanted to drill an exploratory fracking well just 2 miles from Rio Rancho city limits. But the next company that wants to drill in Sandoval isn’t going to make the same application mistakes or have the same shaky financial background as SandRidge, and Sandoval County may be forced to approve the ...
/ Central New Mexico Group

Community groups applaud recommendation to deny SandRidge application

no fracking logo
Community groups on Thursday welcomed the Sandoval County Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommendation to deny an application by troubled Oklahoma corporation SandRidge Energy Inc. to drill an exploratory oil well, but the groups urged the county to adopt a moratorium on all oil and gas extraction until ordinances can be developed to protect community health, air, water and other resources from such operations. Hundreds of Sandoval County residents turned out to the two committee hearings on the topic, and more ...
/ Land, Press Release

First Friday Arts @ Albuquerque Office

Tree of Life, Judith Shaw
Julie Wilt,
Sierra Club Central New Mexico Group chair The Central New Mexico Group of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter will be showcasing local artists as part of our First Friday art events at the Albuquerque office. This month the new gallery space will exhibit the work of Judith Shaw. Shaw’s work will be on display in the office through the month of February. Please join us at the opening event from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, February ...
/ Central New Mexico Group, Events

Water, Wildlands, Wildlife Day at the Roundhouse

Roundhouse rally
Rally in the Roundhouse! Please join us for New Mexico Land-Water-Wildlife Day at the Roundhouse!  Meet with representatives from dozens of conservation organizations. Attend a lobby training session to learn how you can talk with legislators and be a crucial part of the law-making process to protect our natural heritage. Join us at the Rotunda for a press conference with legislators who work to protect our public lands, water resources and wildlife. This is an opportunity for everyone who cares ...
/ Events, Latest News, Wildlife

Glass recycling for El Paso is finally here

picture of glass to be recycled
Laurence Gibson,
El Paso Group Chair All right, El Paso Sierrans…
We asked for it. We begged for it. And we waited and waited and waited for it!
Glass recycling for El Paso is finally HERE. Yes, it is only a pilot program. And there is no curbside collection…yet. But it is HERE. El Paso’s Environmental Services Department is now collecting glass at all five Citizen Collection Stations for processing into pulverized glass at the Pendale Road Station. All we ...
/ El Paso Group, Zero Waste

Leadership ‘R Us

Photo of Los Alamos skies
Jody Benson, 
Pajarito Group Newsletter editor Many of the Pajarito Group leadership are emigrating or retiring. The Pajarito Group has many projects including: Limiting single-use shopping bags; supporting Los Alamos County’s 2040 carbon-neutral initiative, including persuading Los Alamos to join the UN-sponsored Mayors’ Compact to locally deal with climate change; leading hikes; and following local environmental issues. What are you are excited about? The leaders decide direction. Become a part of our busy and dynamic team. Change happens when we ...
/ Pajarito Group

Carbon-neutral Los Alamos 2040

Carbon-neutral Los Alamos 2040
Jody Benson,
Pajarito Group Newsletter editor We refuse to do it on the national level, but with your help, we can certainly begin right here in Los Alamos. Support the local attempts to mitigate climate change. The Los Alamos Forum will have a series of Forum questions about whether the community wants to continue its already substantial investment in renewable resources as well as mitigation efforts (bike paths, free Atomic City Transit, recycling, gray-water use, hydro power…) ...
/ Pajarito Group

Valles Caldera National Park Preserve — finally! 

photo of Valles Caldera Preserve ceremony
Jody Benson,
Pajarito Group Newsletter editor Congratulations on your victory. In 1980, Pat Dunnigan — who had protected the 89,000 acres of the Valles Caldera Baca location from development and even offered to sell it cheap to the Park Service in the late 1970s (blocked by Congress) — died. His sons held onto the Baca for almost two decades, but in 1998 they met with the ranch investors to discuss building a ski resort with home sites, stores, and ...
/ Land, Latest News, Pajarito Group