Environment
Lawsuits for lobos
Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies got a break last Friday as they regained endangered species status—thanks to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of environmental organizations, including Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council. The decision comes as environmental groups in New Mexico await a decision on one lawsuit involving the Mexican gray wolf, and continue to pursue two others.
NMI Interview: Pearce sticks to his guns on energy, aims at Udall
Pearce brings years of experience in the oil industry to bear on what he sees as a pivotal issue in this year's campaign. And his prescriptions -- more domestic drilling, expanded nuclear power and renewable alternatives too -- flow from his view that the major problem is not enough supply.
West Siders beware
Although most people in Albuquerque remain unaware, a Texas based oil company, Tecton, has signed a lease to drill for oil on 50,000 acres of the West Mesa. Tecton has already started looking for oil, using three wells.
If Tecton strikes oil, Albuquerque residents could see more than a thousand wells on the horizon. The medical and public health communities believe strongly that this is the wrong prescription for Albuquerque. The actual act of drilling an oil well poses serious risks to Albuquerque’s way of life. Oil companies inject chemicals into underground aquifers, thus putting precious water supplies in danger. Oil wells also release toxic chemicals, increase ozone levels and smog, and contribute to air pollution.
A voice against nuclear energy
In a conversation with the Independent, Arjun Makhijani said the pursuit of nuclear power is an unwise course given the danger it poses to international security, even if it is appealing given the need to bring down carbon dioxide emissions. “Why solve one problem if doing so will aggravate another?” he asked.
No slam dunk
In April 2007, just a few months after a hard-fought and ultimately successful battle to ban energy development in northern New Mexico's pristine Valle Vidal, local conservationists were brimming with confidence and had their sights set on another chunk of rugged beauty near the Colorado border. A year later, conservationists are still waiting.
Honeybees at risk
New Mexico’s bees are faring better than in most places around the world, including the neighboring states of Colorado and Texas, where instances of the phenomenon known as bee colony collapse are decimating hives and putting beekeepers out of business. But that’s not to say bees are not threatened. “All of our pollinators are in trouble, including hummingbirds,” one expert says.
Southern NM developer stands to make millions from controversial lease
You know those controversial leases the State Land Office has been routinely entering into over the past few years? Well, planning work under one was recently completed by Las Cruces developer Philip Philippou and the land is now up for sale. When you crunch the numbers based on the minimum acceptable bids for the parcels, Philippou stands to make several million dollars. The original appraised value of the land was $8,000 per acre, or $1,968,000 given the total of 246 acres up for sale. If the land office receives bids for each of the 13 parcels offered that Philippou did work on, the minimum required bid amounts will total $17,180,000, or $15.2 million over the original appraisal. Philippou will get a majo cut of that.
The big H2O transfer
The demand for water has driven up the value of Middle Rio Grande water rights more than tenfold in the last 20 years, and landowners are cashing out in what appear to be record numbers. But even as water transfers speed up, so has opposition from farmers and pueblos alike. In recent months the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has chimed in over concern for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow.
Survey: Many want wolves to thrive
A large majority of New Mexico voters support reintroducing the Mexican gray wolf, according to a statewide poll released Monday. Conservationists hope the survey results will give them ammunition to persuade elected officials to work harder to protect the wolves—even if lawsuits filed earlier this year fail.
All tapped out
There's been a lot of talk recently about increasing U.S. domestic oil production, and one might think New Mexico — the sixth-highest oil-producing state in the nation — would be a candidate for helping fill the order. But for reasons ranging from a dearth of drill rigs to a lack of promising land, don't expect a flood of black gold out of the Land of Enchantment.
The protected polar bear
A symbol of what's at stake ...
In the past few weeks, the American public has seen an intense debate about the future of our energy policy, with New Mexico's two senators leading the debate at the national level.
Drilling Debate
With rising fuel prices, the public debate over how to bring them down is reaching an ever higher decibel level. Opponents to drilling for oil and natural gas say more should be spent on renewable technologies. But representatives of the oil and gas industry say they'll never be enough fuel produced through renewable technology and drilling has to happen to fill the need.
Edward Mazria: Solar Pioneer
It’s no surprise Edward Mazria would be at the forefront of the green-build effort. He helped put New Mexico on the solar energy map in 1979 with "The Passive Solar Energy Book," a pioneering guide to passive solar construction.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: APS super blasts federal education goals as unrealistic
The head of Albuquerque Public Schools says federal No Child Left Behind goals are unrealistic. The state’s top game officer may lose his hunting privileges for two years. A former magistrate judge in Taos has sued a Taos newspaper for libel over an article published in May. And the much-discussed but long-delayed improvement to the road into Chaco Culture National Historical Park looks like it’s still a long way off.
Green growth gambit
Depending on whom you talk to, five new zoning codes currently being considered by Albuquerque’s Environmental Planning Commission are either a positive step forward, toward less sprawl and more transit-oriented development, or they’re potentially a Trojan horse that will allow developers to more easily deviate from existing neighborhood sector plans. The new codes are called “form-based,” which is a wonky way to describe a new way of regulating how the city develops.
The risks and rewards of desalination
Yet another plan has emerged for desalinating the vast brackish water supplies deep below the ground west of Albuquerque, pushing to three the number of possible future projects. But there are many "ifs" surrounding the projects that may take their toll, either technologically or politically.
Clean water under attack
Clean water is at a premium around the world and in New Mexico. Nothing, in the long run, is more valuable. It is irreplaceable. To clean dirty water so it’s drinkable again takes huge amounts of energy and staggering costs. That’s why the thought of jet fuel from Kirtland Air Force Base contaminating the aquifer around the Ridgecrest neighborhood in Albuquerque is so appalling. The area is near some of the city’s most important wells. And Albuquerque still uses only well water from the aquifer to drink and run the water systems of the city, though that should change soon when the San Juan-Chama Project sends river water into our pipelines. But that’s not reassuring either...
Santa Fe national forest will be a quieter, sweeter-smelling place
Santa Fe National Forest will be a quieter, sweeter-smelling place under a U.S. Forest Service proposal released Thursday that calls for closing more than half its existing road and trail network to motorized vehicles.
Off-road, motorized recreation is a hot topic among forest users nationwide, and the Santa Fe forest plan has already drawn both praise and condemnation, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported today.
Your government at work
The State Land Office has been at the center of a controversy involving the development of public lands. Questions of pay-to-play have surfaced. An equally important, but less emphasized, aspect of the controversy is how little community input has gone into the agency's development deals in Las Cruces, which are changing the landscape of that city.
Guv in the hot seat: N.M. role in cap-and-trade plan revealed next week
An ambitious plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico and other western states will be unveiled Tuesday, but the proposal could present Gov. Bill Richardson with a politically sensitive decision. One key element of the plan is whether to give away millions of dollars in pollution credits to power plants and other industries or instead auction off the credits and use the revenue for public purposes. In New Mexico, it will be Richardson's call.