Wildfire: Private Rights vs. Public Safety
With two wildfires in the past couple of weeks, the East Mountain Area has already entered the heart of the long fire season. It will not end until the onset of the summer monsoon rains, usually in early July.
The early fires, at the Doc Long Picnic Area on the lower mountain and near Placitas on the west side, were both in the Sandias, both small and both quickly brought under control. But even such minor events were enough to frighten residents and firefighters alike. The U.S. Forest Service says the Sandias have not had a major wildfire in a century and has a buildup of vegetation that could ignite at any time...
The One Book: Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything”
If you are planning to read a book this year I strongly suggest Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything. Climate change and global warming are real, tangible, and undeniable, the evidence is concrete, and it is planet-wide. The only serious question remaining is whether or not something can be done to slow or otherwise mitigate it in the face of powerful political opposition. This book reminds me of Ralph Nader’s Unsafe At Any Speed. The sounding of an alarm reflexively resisted by vested interests but of vital interest and value to everyone else...
Semolina
Semolina is a nearly 14,000 acre new proposed community in Southwest Bernco named for coarse, purified wheat middlings, a very romantic association, if I do say so.
If approved by the Bernco Commission, Semolina could maybe possibly potentially bring in 38,000 imaginary residents for 75,000 existentially deficient invisible jobs. Good deal and just in time. These ghosts will bring their own water from wherever, so not to worry. The water thing is just a Trojan horse anyway, or a horse of another color, so back up your hard drive and get over it...
Oil and gas industry ‘run amok’ on New Mexico’s highways
Route 285, which runs near our home south of Eldorado near Santa Fe, is a big part of my life. Last week, my wife and I looked forward to traveling home on it from its southernmost point, a small Texas town called Sanderson, 20 miles from the Mexican border. We expected a beautiful drive through sparse cattle country. Instead, we found ourselves in a Western version of Mad Max meets Dante’s Inferno meets L.A. freeway at rush hour. The culprit: our oil and gas industry run amok...
An Open Letter to Bernalillo County Commissioners on Santolina
Dear Commissioners,
I am writing to urge you to NOT approve the Santolina Master Plan and hope you will vote against this Proposal. Some of the most compelling reasons for rejecting this expansion include:
1. The geographic expansion that has dominated the County’s growth pattern over the past several decades has contributed substantially to the economic stagnation and quality of life erosion for Bernalillo County citizens. The benefits that have accrued to private developers have been at the expense of essential urban infrastructure development. Approval of the Santolina Master Plan will further dilute our already scarce resources...
Bulldozing Public Trust in the Bosque
In an extraordinary display of disdain for the wishes of the public he nominally represents, Mayor Richard Berry ordered a trail to be plowed through the Bosque on Tuesday. Although not literally done in the dead of night, the Mayor could not have been more secretive. The Mayor's intentions for the design of the trail were never disclosed, and the plans to begin construction on Tuesday were never divulged, but were only discovered by accident after construction had already begun. The Mayor reneged on the City's promise to allow the public to review and comment on specific design options before a final plan was selected...
PNM is Greenwashing their Plan for More Coal and Nuclear
“More Sol. Less Coal” is PNM’s latest spin in their “green” campaign, but what they aren’t telling you is that PNM is in fact adding more coal and barely scratching the surface in their adoption of “Sol”. Here is the truth…they are proposing to bring more coal, nuclear and natural gas into the mix at a cost to ratepayers of $66 million annually. This cost does not include any future carbon or coal regulations that might be incurred, nor does it factor future rises in fossil fuel costs...
PRC should reject PNM’s fossil fuel-laden plan
Esteemed Public Regulations Commissioners,
I humbly request that you reject both PNM’s proposed power replacement plan for the San Juan Generating Station and the proposed rate case on economic, public health, and environmental grounds to make way for clean, renewable energies in the Land of Enchantment.
Spending a combined $576 million on gas, coal, nuclear energy purchases and generating capacity does not serve the best interests of the public. Similarly, a dramatic rate increase falling disproportionately on residential customers has no benefit for the vast majority of New Mexicans; contrarily, it bodes well for PNM’s investors (who received an 8.1 percent dividend increase on December 9th)...
Wind power benefits New Mexico
Though we are lucky here in New Mexico that almost every day is sunny, 2014 is on pace to be the hottest year on record for the planet as a whole, according to the latest U.N. analysis. Scientists say we are already experiencing the impacts of global warming, such as drought and wildfires.
None of us wants to leave the next generation a world where drought and wildfire are the new normal. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists are clearer and more emphatic than ever that we must cut our dependence on dirty fossil fuels in favor of clean, renewable energy...
Logic fails to disuade county sprawl push
Yesterday marked a historic moment in Albuquerque but not for the good of the people, well I guess that really depends on what side you're on.
For those of you who still haven't heard or who have been detached from the whole thing, the Bernalillo County Planning Commission (CPC) approved the massive and now looming Santolina Master Plan in a vote of 4 to 2. The Santolina Master Plan is a 13,700-acre development with a projected population of 95,000 proposed for the West Side...