Environment
Albuquerque opens new path and bridge, aims to be more bike-friendly
Albuquerque opened a new bicycle bridge this week and it has plans to extend bike trails in coming years. But much more work is needed to make the Duke City the bike-friendly metropolis Mayor Martin Chavez envisions.
'Building Green Economies' a border issue
For the first time in its history, the 26th Border Governor's Conference has been combined with a Green Technology Expo that opens today at the "Building Green Economies" conference being hosted by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ten border governors, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, were among those scheduled to attend the invitation-only conference. The Green Tech Expo today and Friday is open to the public at no charge.
An official conference press release said Schwarzenegger's decision to hold the conference at Universal Studios, to incorporate the Green Tech Expo and to give the conference its overall environmental theme "is resonant of his desire to raise awareness among the general public that cross-border issues are about much more than illegal immigration."
'Cracking the code'
Architecture 2030, the Santa Fe non-profit whose 2030 Challenge has been adopted by trade groups and municipalities worldwide as a goals statement for energy efficiency by the year 2030, has followed up with a guidebook for cities, counties and states to achieve those goals. The guide is a white paper entitled "Meeting the 2030 Challenge Through Building Codes."
'Should I be on list?' prof wonders
A local research professor is questioning his placement on a list of scientists who do not believe in a man-made effect on global climate change. The Heartland Institute, a prominent conservative think tank, unveiled a list of 500 scientists with “documented doubts of man-made global warming scares” last September.
2000 Gold, Part II
A big, dirty mess
Responding to congressional demands and a series in the Los Angeles Times in 2006, the federal government has laid out a $161 million plan to prevent the spread of radioactive contamination on sites across the Navajo nation.
The plan calls for the clean up of the Northeast Church Rock Mine near Gallup as well as a survey of structures and wells for contamination.
A design to curb greenhouse gases
The Western Climate Initiative released on Wednesday the draft design of a proposed regional cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The initial cap-and-trade goal of the WCI, a partnership of seven western states including New Mexico and four Canadian provinces, is to cut aggregate greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to amounts 15 percent lower than 2005 levels. The program would continue beyond 2020, with new targets set three years in advance.
The idea behind this proposal is to set a cap on the emission of greenhouse gasses, primarily carbon dioxide, but also including methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. The cap would be gradually lowered each year, until desired greenhouse gas emission levels are reached.
A goal already missed
We’re using too much water in Albuquerque/Bernalillo County. The ABQ/Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has a new graphic on their website showing that year to date we’re 627 million gallons over our conservation goal of 11.8 billion gallons.
According to the website, the goal is set at a level that would reduce per-person usage to 165 gallons per day in 2008, versus 167 gallons per day in 2007.
A little fish with a bright future
The silvery minnow once was found throughout 3,000 miles of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, but dams and habitat destruction in the 20th century nearly caused its extinction. The species was declared endangered in 1994. Now the fish, the biggest and oldest of which are about 4 inches long, are found only in pockets of the river between dams, including the stretch running through Albuquerque. But the Rio Grande is flowing deep and strong this year, giving hundreds of thousands of the endangered fish all the wiggle room they need — for love. The river is also giving biologists a better understanding of when, where and why the tiny silver fish reproduce — or fail to.
A referendum on the Rail Runner
When voters in two new transit districts go to the polls in November, they'll be asked whether to approve an eighth-cent hike in their gross receipts tax to fund public transportation projects from Taos County to Valencia County.
But in many respects, the vote will be a referendum on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, the commuter rail line that started service in 2006 and that, by December, will run from Santa Fe to Belen.
A stubborn plant may meet its match
Salt cedar, an invasive shrub that sucks up millions of gallons of water along western U.S. rivers like the Rio Grande, has been attacked with fire, bulldozers, chemicals and goats. Now two counties in southern Colorado are hoping to wipe out the ubiquitous, water-wasting plant with another weapon — beetles.
A tell-tale ring
The white horizontal stripes on the arid land around New Mexico's Elephant Butte Lake come to mind as one watches a BBC news segment airing in Europe about the driest Spanish winter in 60 years.
Coming out of that winter, the BBC correspondent says in the piece, one of the main reservoirs furnishing water for the 5 million people of Barcelona is at 18 percent capacity. Not only are its lakeside rocks striped with a bathtub-type ring, a medieval city flooded by the reservoir in the 1960s is newly exposed.
The point of the story: Barcelona is being forced to ship in water from elsewhere to meet the needs of its citizens, an action scientists are predicting many other European cities will be forced to follow, the BBC report says.
I write this as I wait for a driller to sink a new well for our household in the mountains east of Albuquerque. For more than 32 years, a 250-foot depth has been sufficient, although at one point a new pump was needed to keep a decent flow. The new well will go 100 feet deeper.
A very wet bargain
Albuquerque has a lot of water conservation to do in the next few years even after sucessful toilet rebates and educational campaigns. But the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has shown little interest in another conservation method that has worked in Santa Fe, Alamogordo and other arid communities: The more you use, the more you pay.
A vigilant vegetarian suddenly ponders food safety
Being mindful of one's food is probably a learned trait. For myself, I find that I take much of my food for granted, like most Americans probably. I have a pretty simple, routine vegetarian diet that I don't give a whole lot of thought to. So it was odd to be stopped dead in my tracks at lunch yesterday, gazing down in consternation at my leafy green salad covered in tomatoes. Could I trust the restaurant owners to know if the tomatoes were safe?
ABQ takes up water conservation
The Albuquerque City Council will take up a water conservation measure Monday. Among other things it would change how the city penalizes those who overuse water. It also would require restaurants to serve water only when customers request it.
AF burns alternative fuel over NM at speed of sound
White Sands Missile Range was the historic setting in March for the Air Force's first test of alternative fuel at supersonic speeds -- and it proved successful, according to a story in this week's Wall Street Journal.
It's not that the Air Force is trying to go "green" (although that's mentioned in their press release announcing the feat). Rather, the continually rising price of oil is fueling the military's foray into alternative energy.
According to the WSJ article, the U.S. military consumes 340,000 barrels of oil a day. That's not gallons, but barrels, every day.
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.
Artifacts at risk?
Four years ago, when a group of individuals and agencies succeeded in prompting passage of the Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act, they had no idea the land surrounding the 24 sites they sought to preserve would be eyed for potential oil and gas drilling down the road. Today, the sites are outside any direct danger of being exploited for mining or drilling. But there are hundreds -- even thousands -- of other archaeological sites in the basin, according to state officials.
Atrisco strikes brackish gold
A company drilling for natural gas on Albuquerque's West Side has struck another valuable commodity — water. Atrisco Oil & Gas drilled into an aquifer believed to be 50 square miles in size and at least 1,000 feet deep. The discovery of a large aquifer could make it easier to accommodate the anticipated growth of another 100,000 homes on the West Side in the next 20 years, said Atrisco CEO Peter Sanchez.
Battle over the West Mesa
Several veteran Democratic state lawmakers find themselves in tough primary battles this year.
And one issue their opponents are harping on is their perceived close relationship to big-money developers. As evidence, they point to a June 1 get-out-the-vote rally sponsored by Atrisco Oil & Gas and SunCal companies where three Democratic lawmakers from Albuquerque -- Sen. Linda Lopez, Sen. James Taylor and Rep. Dan Silva -- are featured as special guest speakers.