Rio Grande Chapter

New Bill to Permanently Protect Columbine Hondo Area

Please call your Senators and say thank you!

Senator Jeff Bingaman: 1-800-443-8658
Senator Tom Udall: (202) 224-6621

Senator Bingaman today introduced S. 2468, the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Act, to permanently protect the 45,000-acre Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Study Area. The legislation is being praised by a coalition of New Mexicans who have been working for years to see this wild land preserved. Senator Tom Udall is cosponsoring this important bill.

Albuquerque, NM – On Tuesday, April 10, dozens of New Mexicans rallied outside Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM) headquarters demanding that the utility begin directing their large corporate profits towards clean energy instead of relying on old, dirty coal-fired power plants. Members of environmental, health, Native American, and com-munity groups including the Sierra Club, SouthWest Organizing Project, Dine CARE, 350NM, and CREDO Action rallied outside the building at noon, then delivered more than 3,000 petition signatures addressed to PNM CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn. PNM spokesperson Valerie Smith accepted the petitions on the company’s behalf.

The Rio Grande Chapter is seeking a Chapter Director, who is a savvy non-profit leader with background in fundraising, energy conservation and political advocacy to lead activities of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Apply here.

Originally published in the Albuquerque Journal on March 29
By David Van Winkle / Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club

Over the past year, Public Service Company of New Mexico has criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s work in New Mexico, claiming that the EPA’s plan to reduce nitrous-oxide emissions and protect New Mexico’s environment would cost much more than needed, would raise electricity rates the equivalent of one monthly electricity bill each year and would hurt New Mexico’s low-income customers.

The Journal endorsed this view in an editorial on March 8: “State Coal Plant Plan Makes Long-Term Sense.” … There are some facts missing from the storyline.

First is that PNM’s own rate increases in the last few years, on behalf of its shareholders, have increased electric rates the equivalent of five monthly electric bills. No mention by PNM of low-income customers in that regard.

Sierra Club Calls on PNM to Move New Mexico Beyond Coal to Clean Energy

Albuquerque, NM -- Today the Sierra Club reached a legal settlement obligating the utility Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) and San Juan Coal Company (a subsidiary of BHP Billiton, Ltd.) to stop ground and surface water contamination that the group alleges comes from toxic coal ash waste and other sources at the San Juan Coal Mine and San Juan Generating Station coal-fired power plant. The settlement obligates the companies to build structures including a “slurry wall” and a recovery trench to prevent contaminants from traveling toward the San Juan River, pumping the pollution instead into a lined storage pond.

By Dexter Coolidge and Sanders Moore, Director of Environment New Mexico - Published in the Albuquerque Journal on March 21, 2012

When we switch on a light or turn on the TV at night, most of us aren’t thinking about where the power comes from or why it costs what it does. But a recent report on New Mexico’s largest utility, PNM, was a reminder that it’s worth finding out.

The average New Mexico resident is paying PNM $250 more each year for electricity since 2008. It turns out that the great majority of this (79 percent) has gone toward huge increases in PNM corporate profits. By comparison, PNM directed less than 6 percent of the rate increases toward clean-energy development or energy-efficiency programs that benefit New Mexicans.

By Jody Benson

The insights and enthusiasm of the winners of the Pajarito Group’s Special
Environmental Awards for the 2012 Science Fair inspire us to remember the
joy of asking questions and seeking answers about the natural world that we love.

For the first time, the “Best of Show” went to an elementary student for her thorough inquiry into theelements that build a green energy system. Mikala Buckling examined whether windmills really are zero emissions by showing the energy and resources it takes
to build that windmill.

By Mary Katherine Ray, Wildlife Chair

Wolves
The wolf population count for 2011 is in. Despite nine known Mexican wolf deaths last year and the fires and the drought, 2011 was not a bad year for wolves. The official count is up to 58, which is eight more in the wild than at the end of 2010. Arizona has 32 and New Mexico 26.