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White House Urged to Speed Up NM Clean Energy Development

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM – Nearly a dozen New Mexico business leaders have written to the White House advocating that Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and President Barack Obama quickly transition to clean energy using public, private and tribal lands.

Before President Obama left on vacation, he met with people at various stops in the Midwest, and one member of the group that met with the president in Iowa was David Melton, CEO of Sacred Power Corporation, based in Albuquerque. Melton was there to deliver a message and letter from about a dozen New Mexico business leaders. He says the letter, also meant for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, urges the president to work more quickly with tribal, federal, state, and private partners to create local jobs while protecting the country's national treasures...using solar power.

"You have no carbon dioxide, you have no fossil fuels that have to be dug up and processed, you have no nitrous oxide, you have no sulfur dioxide, you have no mercury. "

Melton says switching to solar would be good for the environment and add thousands of jobs to New Mexico’s rural economy through the entire development process.

"You have the job creation at the module level, at the inverter level — these are all large-scale manufacturing operations — at the integration level and then at the construction level. And then after that, the operation level."

The Interior Department is finalizing its plan for siting solar energy projects on public lands in six Western states. It has identified three study areas that encompass more than 100-thousand acres as potential solar energy zones in New Mexico.

For more information about the solar energy zone locations go to http://www.doi.gov

Richard Alan reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

Internet's Future Runs Through the Duke City Tonight

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Albuquerque - A member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in Albuquerque to talk about the Future of the Internet, and the public is invited. Tonight FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and leaders from the state's diverse populations host a special hearing on Internet access and freedom.

Andrea Quijada is executive director of the Media Literacy Project, one of the groups hosting the hearing. She says they've been collecting stories about Internet access and freedom for the past two years, and expects to hear some of the same things when members of the public are each allowed to give 90 seconds of testimony, "So, we'll hear from young students who are in third or fourth grade telling us that they can't do their homework at home when they don't have a connection. We hear people reminding us that they also use the Internet to access immediate medical services or support."

Just over half of New Mexico households lack access to high-speed Internet connections. Quijada says she also anticipates discussion of Internet freedom, sometimes called Net Neutrality. The hearing is not an official FCC hearing, but the event features several speakers and is free. It starts at 6:30 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Members of the public who'd like to testify but can't make it to the hearing can leave their 90 second testimony for the FCC by calling 505-609-8547.

Quijada says it makes sense to hold the hearing in a place like New Mexico, "The FCC will have the opportunity to hear directly from rural communities, to hear from Native communities and Latino communities. We are a minority majority state, it's really important that people hear what are the unique needs of New Mexico."

The address for the Center is 1701 4th Street SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102. The hearing is co-hosted by Free Press, the Center for Media Justice and the Media Literacy Project.
Eric Mack reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

Kids Count Report - New Mexico Backslides

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Albuquerque - The new national Kids Count report ranks New Mexico 46th for overall child well-being, down from 43rd last year. It shows nearly one in four children in the state lives in poverty.  It may not be the best time to be a kid in New Mexico, at least according to this year's Kids Count report, which shows the state has slid backwards, from being ranked 43rd in the country for overall child well-being... to number 46.

New Mexico Voices for Children Director Eric Griego says many of the challenges facing the state's children and their families stem from the fact that nearly one in four New Mexican children lives in poverty, "If you grow up in poverty as a child, you tend to have worse health outcomes, worse education outcomes, and then your own future and your own likelihood of being an adult in poverty and your own kids being in poverty is obviously greatly increased."

Griego adds the rate is even higher for certain groups, with almost 40 percent of Native American children in the state living in poverty and 30 percent of Hispanic children. New Mexico has ranked in the bottom ten states since the Annie E. Casey Foundation issued its first report in 1990... more often than not, in the bottom five.

Griego says turning the numbers around can start with the state making decisions to invest more money in early childhood education, child care and supporting families, "To help families succeed, parents to be better parents and to have the skills and the tools they need so they can get themselves out of poverty and, therefore, their kids out of poverty."

Of the ten indicators in the Kids Count report, New Mexico ranked 49th in the nation for its teen birth rate and 48th for both the teen death rate and the percentage of children in single-parent families. For its percentages of children in poverty, teens who are not in school and are not high school graduates, New Mexico is ranked 47th. The one bright spot is the state’s infant mortality rate, which is 13th in the nation and the only indicator for which New Mexico does better than the national average.

The report is at www.aecf.org  .
Editor's Note: Bookmark the report for later use as needed.

Justice Department to Monitor Elections in New Mexico

from the New Mexico News Connection  -- A statewide news service for New Mexico
WASHINGTON, The Justice Department has announced that it will monitor the primary elections on June 1, 2010, in Cibola and Sandoval Counties, N.M., to ensure compliance with the minority language requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes. The Voting Rights Act requires these covered jurisdictions to provide language assistance in certain Native American languages during the election process. In addition, jurisdictions must comply with the requirements of the Help America Vote Act during this election for federal office, including requirements regarding provisional ballots, accessible voting equipment, and information provided to voters.

Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to areas that are specially covered in the act itself or by a federal court order. Federal observers will be assigned to monitor polling place activities in these counties based on court orders entered in 2009. The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in these jurisdictions, and Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.
Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from OPM, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country. To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931. Visit www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm  for more information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws.

New Mexico Tribal Lands Eyed for Clean Energy Development

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico

Shiprock, N.M. - Native American tribes manage ninety-five million acres of possibilities for clean energy development, as outlined in a new report from the National Tribal Environmental Council and other groups. Wind, solar and geothermal are all listed as having big potential in New Mexico but there are obstacles to getting new projects off the ground.

The report finds there are stumbling blocks to implementing new project.  Cristala Mussato-Allen with Native Workplace says tribes are getting calls just about every day from outside companies wanting to use Indian resources and land,  "We're not creating economic development for ourselves when it's other companies coming in, bringing in their employees - and we don't share in the profits, and we don't share in the workforce."  The report recommends changes in state and federal policy and taxes, as well as access to capital, so tribes can develop their own clean energy resources. The Navajo Nation recently established a commission and fund to encourage green job growth, and other tribes are taking similar measures.

The report, "The New Energy Future in Indian Country," can be accessed at http://nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/Media-Center.aspx .

Steve Torbit with the Tribal Lands Conservation Program at the National Wildlife Federation says Native Americans want energy development to be carefully balanced,  "They want to be sure that the economic development is productive, and real, and sustainable, but they also don't want the development to be at the price of their customs and culture."

According to Torbit energy production could also provide for tribal energy needs and lower tribal home energy costs. Fifteen percent of Native homes nationwide have no access to electricity, and the report documents that tribal households pay significantly more in home energy expenses than other Americans.

The National Wildlife Federation, Native American Rights Fund and the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy collaborated for the report.

NM Tribes Talk Climate with White House

New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Washington, D.C. - Native American leaders from New Mexico and across the country have been in Washington, D.C. this week for the White House Tribal Nations Conference, and climate change is one of the big topics of conversation between the Obama administration and tribes. John Antonio is the Governor of Laguna Pueblo - he says New Mexico's Pueblos and other Tribes have a lot to lose in a rapidly changing climate, "Wildlife populations, you know watersheds, we have springs, and things like that, and of course with any change in the climate we start to lose a lot of the water resources."

According to Antonio it just makes sense that tribes have a seat at the table when it comes to climate change, because tribal lands are often the most affected. He says he and other tribal leaders are also looking to the White House and Congress for support for clean energy projects on Indian lands.  Antonio says nuclear power is often floated as one way to reduce carbon emissions, but he says it's a bad deal for tribes, "It's a direct threat to the water resources." Antonio added that many uranium mining and milling operations are located near reservations where there are plenty of renewable power sources, too, "....in terms of the renewable energy, we have the potential - great potential - to provide solar energy."

30 Year Anniversary of Biggest Radioactive Accident in US History

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Grants, New Mexico, The Church Rock Spill Dumped 90 Million Gallons of Toxic Waste in NM Waters.  Thirty years ago the largest radioactive spill in U-S history happened near Church Rock. It's been 30 years since the biggest radioactive accident you've probably never heard of - and it happened right here in New Mexico. The Church Rock Spill occurred on July 16, 1979, when an earthen tailings dam at the Church Rock Uranium Mill failed, spewing over 90 million gallons of radioactive waste into the Rio Puerco, the largest radioactive spill in U-S history, second only to Chernobyl worldwide.

Nadine Padilla is Navajo from Grants and works with the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment. She says the consequences are well known to people from Northwestern New Mexico, "People that lived in those areas developed very rare forms of cancer. Three of the rarest forms of cancer on a single person."

Padilla says it's important to remember the spill and its aftermath, especially with recent renewed interest in uranium mining and re-opening some of the mines in the area,  "They have a really devastating legacy and history here in New Mexico, and we just want to remind people of that."  And Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr. has reaffirmed the Navajo nation's ban on uranium mining.

The uranium industry says that technologies and safety standards have greatly improved over the last thirty years using techniques like in-situ or leach mining, but recent spills have occurred at such operations in Texas. Padilla points out that no thorough studies have ever been done on the impacts to public health or groundwater contamination from uranium mining in New Mexico.

Coal Plant Permit "Fires Up" Opposition From State, Citizens Groups

from the NEW MEXICO NEWS CONNECTION - A statewide news service for New Mexico

Santa Fe - They're asking for a "time out" on Desert Rock. The state, along with conservation and citizens' groups, are asking the EPA for more time to review an air quality permit for the coal plant that was approved last month. Dailan Long with the Navajo group Dine Care says the federal agency left out several required analyses of the proposed plant's impacts on the environment and public health so they're telling the EPA to "hold up just a second."

The state government and several conservation and citizens' groups are taking action to delay an air quality permit that the fed granted for the proposed Desert Rock power plant last month. Dailan Long with the group Dine Care on the Navajo Reservation says the permit was pushed through without completing required analyses of the effects on air quality and public health, "It was the agency's political appointees trying to hand out gifts to the industry before President Bush leaves office... and were very quick to endorse the Desert Rock Energy Project."

Long and others will be protesting the permit at the EPA offices in San Francisco later this week. Seven groups have filed a petition for an extension of time to review the permit and document what they see as its major deficiencies. The State Attorney General's office has taken a similar action, and state officials in Colorado have said they are also considering getting involved. The plant's developers and EPA say the permit is extremely strict. They claim that Desert Rock will be one of the cleanest coal plants ever but Long says the EPA ignored its mission to protect the environment and public health in approving the permit, "The U.S. EPA gave us a death sentence with the issuance of the air quality permit. They did nothing to look after the well-being of surrounding communities." For more information about Dine Care visit http://www.dinecare.org/index.html .

Opponents Celebrate as Clock Runs Out on Desert Rock Tax Credits (with audio)

from the NEW MEXICO NEWS CONNECTION - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Santa Fe, NM - March 19, 2007 -  The end of the 2007 New Mexico legislature signaled a victory for opponents of a proposed coal-fired power plant near Farmington. Two bills that would have given large tax breaks to the energy developer behind the plant failed to reach the floor, and died when the regular session ended this weekend.

Opponents of a new coal plant near Farmington celebrated as the final buzzer sounded on the state's legislative session. The clock ran out on a pair of bills that would have given tax credits to energy company Sithe Global to build the new power plant -- in an area already heavily polluted by two other major coal plants. Mike Eisenfeld with the San Juan Citizens Alliance says the bills died in committee because lawmakers felt pressure from citizens to look at the big picture, Click to hear eisenfeld1.mp3 .

The plant, which would be located on Navajo lands, was approved by the Navajo Nation Council, and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley says it would bring a much-needed economic boost to the area. Eisenfeld says that the region already has a high rate of respiratory illness and cannot afford any more pollution and added that too many questions remain unanswered about the impacts the plant would have on the Four Corners Region,  Click to hear  eisenfeld2.mp3 . Visit the the San Juan Citizen's Alliance.

Navajo Elders Camp Out in Cold for 2nd Week to Protest Coal Plant

from the NEW MEXICO NEWS CONNECTION
Burnham, NM - December 21, 2006 - As several inches of snow fell across much of New Mexico earlier this week, Navajo elders slept outside at a blockade near the site of a proposed coal-fired power plant on Navajo land. Almost a dozen local elders have been blocking access to the site since December 12th in protest of the plant, which they say would encroach on sacred land and add to an already over-polluted environment in the area.

A group of Navajo elders prefer more cold to more coal power. Residents living near the site of the proposed Desert Rock Coal Plant in northwest New Mexico set up a blockade at the entrance to the site on December 12th and have been camping out through cold, sleet and snow ever since. The protesters say the plant would be located on sacred land and local resident Elouise Brown, with the Dooda' Desert Rock Committee, says the plant would add more pollution to the area and the power generated would likely be sent elsewhere, "The pollution goes everywhere, the pollution from the smoke and the mercury. We already have enough power plants here; we don't want any more, because we live out here, we don't have electricity, I don't have electricity just west of here."

Representatives of the Navajo Power Authority, and Navajo Nation president, Joe Shirley, met with the protestors earlier this week, presenting permits to access the land to take soil and water samples for a required environmental review. They say a majority of Navajos support the Desert Rock plant because it would provide an economic boost on the impoverished reservation but Jake Long, spokesperson for the protesters says the elders have opposed the project from the beginning,  "A lot of them have been deceived and a lot of them have been cheated out of their grazing permits. Their civil rights are being violated and they don't want another power plant there." 

The reservation is already home to two large coal-fired power plants. The Desert Rock plant has been approved by the Navajo Council, but must undergo an environmental review before further approval can be granted.  More information on the blockade is at www.desert-rock-blog.com and  information on the project is at Sithe Global's website: www.desertrockenergy.com .

Los ancianos Navajo acampan en el frío como protesta de la planta de carbón

Burnham, NM - Diciembre 21, 2006 - A principios de la semana nevó varias pulgadas en todo el estado de New Mexico, algunos ancianos Navajos siguen durmiendo afuera cerca de la zona donde se ha propuesto poner una planta de carbón en tierra perteneciente a los Navajos. Casi una docena de ancianos Navajos están bloqueando el acceso al área desde el martes, diciembre 12 en protesta a la propuesta de la construcción de la planta, pues dicen puede infringir en tierra sagrada y puede agregar más contaminación de la que ya existe en el medio ambiente del área. Comentarios de Elouise Brown y Dailan Jake Long del Dooda' Desert Rock Committee.

Un grupo de ancianos Navajos prefieren mas frío que calentarse con carbón.  Los residentes que viven en el noroeste de New México. cerca del área donde se propone construir una planta de carbón han bloqueado la entrada a esta área el martes, diciembre 12 y han estado acampando en el frio y la nieve desde entonces. El residente de la localidad Elouise Brown Desert Rock dice que la planta traerá más contaminación al área y la electricidad que se generará lo más seguro es que la mandarán a otras partes,  "La contaminación se dirige a todas partes, la contaminación del humo y del mercurio. Ya tenemos suficientes plantas generadoras de electricidad aquí, ya no queremos más, porque aquí vivimos, no necesitamos electricidad, no tengo electricidad al Oeste de aquí."

Los representantes de Navajo Power Authority y el Presidente de las naciones Navajo Joe Shirley al principio de la semana se reunió con los que están protestando y les presentó un permiso legal que les da acceso a el área para tomar pruebas de la condición del suelo y del agua como requerimiento legal del medio ambiente . Dicen que la mayoría de los Navajos apoyan la planta Desert Rock porque les ayudara a incrementar su economía a la reservación Navajo empobrecida. Los que protestan dicen que la planta se construirá en una área sagrada. L planta no puede ser aprobada hasta que el requerimiento legal del medio ambiente se haya completado.

Jake Long es el portavoz de los quienes están protestando. Dice que los ancianos están opuestos al proyecto desde el principio, "A muchos de ellos se les ha engañado y a varios se les ha hecho trampa para no darles permiso para que su ganado pastoree. Sus derechos civiles han sido violados y no quieren otra planta eléctrica aquí."  El área ya tiene dos plantas de carbón muy grandes. La planta Desert Rock ha sido aprobada por el concilio Navajo, pero antes de que sea aprobada tiene que ser revisada para cumplir con las leyes del medio ambiente.

Más información en el Internet  www.desert-rock-blog.com y www.desertrockenergy.com .