Environment & Climate Change
New Mexico Republicans line up against environmental bills
Saturday was a big day for environmental issues at the New Mexico Legislature. The House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee had two game-changing bills on their debate plate: HJR2, the Environmental Rights Act, which would amend the state constitution to make a clean and healthy environment a constitutional right, with the state serving as trustee […]
Lawmakers hope to derail radioactive waste permit
Across the United States, there is about 100,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons development, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reaching the end of their safety and environmental reviews for a proposal to build a storage facility for that […]
White House methane plan funds orphan well cleanup, rewards reduced farm emissions
The federal government will provide $1.15 billion this year to help states cap defunct oil and gas wells, the White House said Monday, as part of a broad plan to reduce methane emissions. The government-wide methane reduction plan comes about two months after President Joe Biden joined a pledge at the United Nations Climate Conference […]
Federal judge cites climate effect in canceling Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale
A federal judge invalidated leases to drill for oil and gas in a broad swath of the Gulf of Mexico, telling the Biden administration to weigh climate impacts before allowing development. The ruling late Thursday handed a victory to environmental groups that had challenged the Interior Department’s move to comply with a separate court order […]
Bill spurring New Mexico hydrogen production stalls in committee
A House committee on Thursday tabled a bill aimed at making New Mexico a hub of hydrogen production, adding a major hurdle for one of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s signature policy proposals this legislative session. The 6-4 vote to table the bill included two Democrats and came after six hours of debate in the House […]
New Mexico Downwinders demand recognition, justice
The story of the Trinity Test Site is mapped onto the bodies of thousands of New Mexicans, slipped between stories of losing family member after family member to cancer. For Tina Cordova, bringing light to the legacy from the secretive testing of the first atomic bomb near thousands of people in the deserts of Southern […]
Renewable energy tax breaks pull big public support in NM
Three pieces of legislation offering tax incentives for renewable energy use saw broad support this weekend even as they were passed through committee on a partisan vote. One bill benefits New Mexicans with solar panel systems, another for those with geothermal systems and the third offers tax incentives to kickstart renewable energy storage systems at […]
New data show massive climate-warming leaks by NM oil and gas operators
In New Mexico, new state rules sparked a dramatic increase in reported incidents of vented and flared natural gas in 2021 — and reveal that the oil and gas industry has been losing vastly more of the climate-change-driving fossil fuel than previously reported. “The state’s updated reporting requirements were long overdue,” says Jon Goldstein, senior director […]
Anticipating barrage of lawsuits, state’s top water officials ask for more employees
Officials in charge of New Mexico’s water said they need more staff to fend off lawsuits clawing at the state’s water supply, which is limited and shrinking. They expect more court battles to come as human-caused climate change increases average temperatures and aridity in the Southwest. “Controversies arise about waters that are crossing state boundaries, […]
Federal pipeline standards backed by top energy regulator after Colonial Pipeline hack
New federal powers are needed to prevent major energy disruptions like the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline that left the East Coast short of gas at the pumps for days, the chairman of the federal commission overseeing energy and some U.S. House Democrats said Wednesday. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee discussed a proposal by […]
Biden says ‘big chunks’ of his spending bill could still succeed, including climate plan
President Joe Biden said Wednesday the climate and child care provisions in his domestic spending agenda could still become law this year, even as the larger plan has stalled in the Senate over other items that Biden conceded may not pass — such as an expanded child tax credit. In a nearly two-hour news conference, […]
Forest Service in ‘paradigm shift’ to use logging, controlled burns to prevent wildfires
The Biden administration will use $3 billion from last year’s infrastructure law to revamp the federal approach to wildfire management, introducing a 10-year plan to deal with the large swaths of the West scientists consider most at risk of destructive blazes. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, announced the new strategy in Phoenix, […]