Press Room

The state of New Mexico and PNM announced Friday afternoon that they had struck a deal with the EPA to close units 2 and 3 of the four-unit San Juan coal plant and put pollution controls that are less expensive but less effective on the remaining two units to reduce nitrogen oxide. Below is the Sierra Club's response.

Thousands of activists have joined our campaign transition away from coal at San Juan and everywhere to protect our children from health-damaging pollution and disastrous climate consequences. If this deal goes through, you have succeeded in shutting down nearly 900 megawatts of coal -- enough to power 900,000 homes. No jobs will be lost, and PNM will invest at least $1 million into the Four Corners area for economic development.

However, the deal specifies only natural gas as a replacement power, not renewables or efficiency. The Sierra Club will continue to work to clean up the air in the Four Corners area and across the country.

Protecting New Mexico Water
Renee Blake, Public News Service-NM

(01/28/13) SANTA FE, N.M. - The Citizens Coalition (made up of Amigos Bravos, the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club and Caballo Concerned Citizens) is troubled by the direction being taken by the New Mexico Environment Department and the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) in connection with groundwater. Two industries, in particular, are the focus of recent concerns: the dairy industry and the copper industry.

At a public meeting regarding the Mexican Wolf Blue Range Reintroduction Project
Replacement Release Outline for Arizona 2013 held in Alpine, Arizona, Mr. Chris Bagnoli of the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) announced that public comments on the release proposal would be accepted through October 27, 2012. In response, the White Mountain Conservation League, has submitted a letter signed by 19 organizations, including the Grand Canyon and Rio Grande chapters of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Wildlife Conservancy and many others.

Sierra Club Mission Outdoors - The Organ Mountains Campout
by Liz Walsh

As you know the Sierra Club’s mission is to explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Through our four Mission Outdoors programs, we are expanding the conservation movement by providing access to outdoor experiences for more people, organizing grassroots and administrative support for the value of outdoor experiences, and building alliances and partnerships that involve diverse communities in protecting their natural heritage. Part of this initiative focuses on engaging military families and veterans.

Relocation Site at El Malpais National Conservation Area Allows Recreational Shooting

Dirty Coal Is Just So Last Century

A FEW YEARS ago I toured the massive coal-burning power plant that has generated much of New Mexico’s electricity for the last 40 years. It’s a huge, impressive behemoth of a plant. And, like the behemoths of the age of the dinosaurs, its time has come. San Juan Generating Station should be retired, not retooled.

NEW MEXICANS DELIVER THANK YOU CARDS TO SENATORS FOR PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH, VOTING AGAINST TOXIC LEGISLATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2012

CONTACT: Shrayas Jatkar, 505-459-2718, shrayas.jatkar@sierraclub.org

New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Ray Powell in May 2012 named Rio Grande Chapter leaders Norma McCallan and Ken Hughes to be part of a 12-member Conservation Advisory Committtee for the State Land Office.

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.