Environment & Climate Change
N.M. to write feds on cooperation over White Sands cleanup and reparations
NASA flight controllers board a NASA KC-135 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, during an emergency drill to prepare them in the event that the primary Mission Control Center is out of operation, 14th December 1987. They are bound for NASA's White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Tests and hazardous waste management at the site led to two contaminant plumes. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)
Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District voting begins for three open positions
Early voting starts on Tuesday for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District where three positions are up for election. Board members of the Conservancy District make decisions that impact all of us, like maintaining river flood protection, drainage, and water storage for irrigation in the middle Rio Grande Valley, from Cochiti to Socorro. The district […]
BLM wants to protect the Placitas area from oil and gas extraction
A proposal by the Bureau of Land Management would prohibit any new extractive industry activity for the next half century in the Placitas area of Sandoval County in central New Mexico. U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna) wants to withdraw nearly 4,213 acres of public lands from oil and gas extraction for 50 years “to […]
Objections to Rio Grande SCOTUS settlement could drop in October
The clerk of the Supreme Court granted an extension for parties to submit arguments against a settlement proposal in the decade-long lawsuit over Rio Grande water. U.S. 8th Circuit Judge Michael Melloy – overseeing the case as a special master – gave the nod in early July to a plan proposed jointly by attorneys from […]
After a century, oil and gas problems persist on Navajo lands
It’s a Saturday morning in late June and Garry Jay, a member of the Navajo Nation, pilots a white crew-cab Chevy pickup on a lumpy dirt road across the grasslands north of his house in Shiprock, New Mexico, heading for the round, wood-framed hogan his grandfather built by hand in the 1970s. His route weaves 20 miles […]
Colorado mountain renamed Mount Blue Sky
After a nearly three-year-long dispute to change the name of a mountain in Colorado, the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes received a final decision from the U.S. Board of Geographic Names Friday that concludes the tribe’s fight for historic accountability and healing. Mount Evans, named after the second governor of the Territory of Colorado, John Evans, […]
Pueblo leaders travel to Washington, DC, to reaffirm support for Chaco drilling ban
Representatives of the All Pueblo Council of Governors went to Washington, DC, last week to protest a proposed law that would reverse a freeze in drilling and mining around Chaco Canyon after efforts by Republican representatives from Arizona to roll back a rule passed earlier this year. In June this year, Secretary of the Interior […]
Iñupiaq woman focuses on Indigenous-led renewable energy efforts in New Mexico
Growing up as an Iñupiaq woman with family roots in northwestern Alaska, Salina Derichsweiler feels at home in New Mexico surrounded by other Native communities. And leading the development of new community solar farms in New Mexico, Derichsweiler sees an opportunity for Indigenous people to lead the way in a transition to renewable energy. Derichsweiler, […]
FEMA to drop biweekly progress updates
The Federal Emergency Management Agency released the first of a series of updates Tuesday on payments to people impacted by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire. In a news release, the federal agency committed to announce payments made through the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office. The first public report released Sept. 5 on the local claim’s […]
WOTUS rule offers certainty, but little clarity for New Mexico waters
Federal environmental officials modified their rules last week to comply with a Supreme Court decision brought down in May. Meanwhile, state officials are waiting for more guidance from federal agencies around New Mexico’s waters and will continue the push for funding for a state permitting program in the upcoming legislative session. Under the new rule […]
New Mexicans have months, maybe years, to wait before they get community solar energy
It will remain a slow burn for New Mexicans waiting to save money by powering their homes or businesses with renewable energy through the state’s community solar program. While there have been delays and setbacks in the past with community solar, this is a naturally lengthy process for a first-ever program in the state that […]
Texas’ methane waste accelerates climate change while squandering state revenue
Texas produces and refines more oil and gas than any other state, and is the country’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Oil and gas production, transportation and refining are carbon-intensive by their very nature — but there’s at least one source of pollution from the industry that’s entirely preventable: methane that is […]