Oil and Gas Activity Returns to Santa Fe County - Rio Grande Chapter

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Central Group News Central Group Directory Executive Committee P.O. Box 25342 Albuquerque, NM 87125-0342 Michal Mudd, Chair mudd_pi@mac.com 884-3315 Eva Thaddeus, Co-Chair, Secretary, Global Warming Issue Chair evathad@nmia.com 266-9646 David Ther, Treasurer, Outings Chair grelbik@att.net 260-1553 Patrick Redmond, Political Chair, Water Chair redmonpa@law.unm.edu 298-1298 Rick Preston, Newsletter Editor pepreston@gmail.com Howard Karnes einstructionhk@aol.com 379-1294 The Executive Committee meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m., at the Sierra Club office, 142 Truman NE, Albuquerque. Great Chain of Being Conference The Center for Action and Contemplation will hold a 2007 summer conference, The Great Chain of Being: Simplifying Our Lives, at the Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town, Friday- Sunday, August 3-5. Many organizations will be tabling at the event, and the Central Group plans to participate. For more information or to register, please visit www.cacradicalgrace.org or call 242-9588. New Member Joins Group ExCom Rick Preston has joined the Central New Mexico Group Executive Committee. Rick is an attorney who recently relocated to Albuquerque from Washington, DC. When he not busy doing his lawyer thing, he spends a lot of time cycling, hiking, and doing photography. Call for ExCom Nominations Are you interested in running for the Central Group Executive Committee We are currently accepting names and statements from people interested. The ExCom meets monthly (2nd Tuesday of the month) at the Sierra Club office in Albuquerque, and sets policy for the Central Group. We expect a lot of electoral activity in 2008, along with our usual work of designing interesting general meetings, supporting the Cool Cities campaign, and working on local issues in coalition with other environmental groups. We are in particular need of a Membership Chair. This person’s job would be to track membership, reach out to new members, and encourage people to get active in the Club. For more information please contact one of the members of the nominating committee: David Ther, Eva Thaddeus, or Rick Preston. Saturday, July 21 • Mt. Taylor via Gooseberry Trail hike – Easy to moderate hike to 11,301'. This is the prominent peak on the western skyline from Albuquerque, higher than Sandia Crest. Superb views in all directions. Cool and pleasant temperatures. Expect good weather, but come prepared for afternoon showers. Meet at Smith’s, Carlisle at Menaul, 8:00 a.m. Hike: 5.5 miles roundtrip. Elevation:1900'. Drive: approximately 150 miles round-trip. Leader: David Ther (260-1553, grelbik@att.net). Saturday, August 11 • Sandia Mountain Wilderness hike – This is a good time of year to enjoy our backyard treasure, the Sandia Mountains. We A proposal being heard before the Albuquerque City Council would require a basic level of energy efficiency in new construction and major renovation (renovation costing over 50% of the value of the building). Ordinance #0-07-73, sponsored by Councilors Benton, Heinrich, and Cadigan, contains requirements including: • Ducts must be insulated and sealed to minimize leakage. • South-facing windows must be shaded to maximize solar gain in winter and minimize it in summer. • All appliances installed by contractors must be Energy Star rated. • All cooling equipment shall meet a minimum efficiency level of 15 SEER, or use evaporative cooling. • Solar-thermal heating will provide the primary source for heating swimming pools and be used for preheating in industrial processes. Do these sound like no-brainers Indeed, according to Julie Pearson, green architect and member of Albuquerque’s Cool Cities core group, the practices detailed by the ordinance are already standard among environmentally responsible architects and builders. We are having a party! All Sierra Club members are invited to visit our new office space at 142 Truman NE, on Saturday, July 28, starting at 6 p.m. We are holding this event instead of a general meeting for the month of July, because the heart of summer seemed like a good time for a party. We have a lot to celebrate! We are going to use the occasion to: • Thank our volunteers for all the great work done over the last year • Celebrate the Club’s recent successes • Honor the graduates of the recent Leadership Development Program Outings will do a one-way, basically downhill hike from the crest to Sulphur Springs, a drop of nearly 3000' in 8-9 miles. Note that downhill does not always equate with easy, especially at elevations of 10,000'. Wear boots; bring rain gear, lunch, and plenty of liquids. We will carpool from the city and do a car shuttle at the trailheads to accommodate the one-way hike. Meet in Albuquerque at 9:00 a.m in the northwest corner (near gas pumps) of Smith’s parking lot at Tramway and Central, just south of I-40. For more information, contact hike leader Carol Chamberland (341- 1027). No need to reserve a spot; simply showing up is fine. Sierra Club Supports Albuquerque High-Performance Building Ordinance However, that doesn’t mean that responsible practices are as widespread as they should be. According to the ordinance, “These standards will help use energy, water and materials more efficiently, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the cost of building operations... These requirements establish the minimum standards that should be expected in any building.” Councilor Isaac Benton, a green architect who was the primary author of the ordinance, spoke at our Sierra Club group’s general meeting in April. He invited his own contractor to the meeting, who came and stayed for the whole meeting but sat there so quietly, not revealing his point of view. Later, Councilor Benton asked him, “Would this put any burden on you or your clients” He shook his head and answered, “It’s really useful for me to be able to tell my clients: Look, it’s the law.” Ordinance #0-07-73 is currently scheduled to be heard at the Council meeting on June 18, so with luck it will be law by the time you receive this newsletter. To read the whole text online, and to find out what happened at the meeting, please visit the City Council website at www.cabq.gov/council/ and click on “find legislation, meetings, agendas.” Central Group HOOTenanny • Show off our new green office space • Eat, drink, and maybe even dance! Come hungry. In addition, we plan (barring technical difficulties) to show the movie HOOT on the side of the building once darkness falls. This is a movie about a bunch of kids who work together to protect owls in their habitat. It got good reviews and should be family entertainment! If you will be attending, please let Shrayas Jatkar know (243-7767, shrayas .jatkar@sierraclub.org). Shrayas (rhymes with “play-us”) is the National Club’s new conservation organizer in Albuquerque. 12 Rio Grande Sierran July/August 2007
Southern Group News Outings Please call your outing leader to confirm the hikes or outings – changes might be possible to due various reasons. Sunday, July 15 • Pine Tree trail hike, in the Organ Mountains – Moderate/off-trail 7-mile hike. Meet at K-Mart parking lot on I-70 at 8 a.m. Fee area; bring food, water, sunblock. John Waugh (526- 7116, cactoblast@hotmail.com) for leader info. Sunday, July 22 • Day hike in the vicinity of the lower end of Bear Trap Canyon in the San Mateos – Take a mostly easy off-trail walk in a beautiful mid-elevation canyon with neat rock formations, Gambel Oaks, Ponderosa Pines, and, if the rains hold, a little brook. Meet at the Black Range District office parking lot at 8 a.m. Bring lunch and sturdy shoes. Margot Wilson (744-5860) or Mary Katherine Ray (772-5655). Sunday, August 12 • Carbonate Canyon hike – Dan Boone is the leader on a hike up Carbonate Canyon on the eastern slope of the Black Range. This is a moderate-to-easy hike in an old mining district. Meet at the General Store in Hillsboro for breakfast and be ready to start for trailhead at 8:00 a.m. Bring lunch, hats, sturdy boots. Dan Boone (743-0054). Southern Group Mountain Jamboree Saturday-Sunday, July l4-l5 Gila National Forest – Black Range Iron Creek Campground Saturday hike: Hillsboro Peak – meet at Emory Pass at 9 a.m. Or light hike near campground with plant and bird identification Cook out, camp out Music around the campfire Sunday pancake breakfast Sunday hike, too! Come for part or all, come late or early Bring potluck for Saturday dinner, BYOB, sack lunches, musical instruments To RSVP and for general info, contact Margot Wilson at 744-5860, or Lou McCall at lou@pixelcircus.org. For hikes, contact John Waugh at 526-7ll6, cactoblast@hotmail.com. Coulda, Shoulda – At Least Preserve What’s Been Promised Here is the essence of the controversy over development plans for 6,000 acres at Vistas at Presidio and another 6,000 acres of State Trust Land on Las Cruces’ East Mesa in the shadow of the Organ Mountains. How it should have been done: 1. The State Land Office and the City determine it is time to sell East Mesa land for development. They announce to the public that a planning process is underway. 2. The State and City contract an experienced urban planning firm to create master plans for the entire 12,000 acres, including set-asides for schools, required open spaces, and needed improvements on adjacent roads and infrastructure that already exist. Estimated cost: $3-$6 million. 3. The contractor solicits community participation to determine key design elements at the beginning of the planning process. After the first draft is completed, final public comments are gathered and incorporated as appropriate before the plan is adopted. 4. The State Land Office auctions off parcels to the highest bidders according to phasing specified in the plan. How it is being done: 1. The State Land Office quietly signs a series of no-bid business planning leases with local developers to design master plans. Estimated planning cost: $50-$100 million. Lost land-sale revenue is difficult to calculate. 2. Developers work through the city planning apparatus under the same rules as any private development. Citizens complain they have been kept in the dark. 3. Community concerns with the plans are dismissed as infringements on developer property rights. Taxpayers will bear the cost of acquiring open space, school land, and any other amenities that are not included in the plans. 4. A series of disjointed plans for pieces of the East Mesa are adopted; leapfrog development ensues. Opportunities for well-planned development in harmony with open-space infrastructure are lost. Given recent revelations about campaign contributions by Philip Phillipou to State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons, you may get the sense that New Mexico State Trust Land is being managed for the benefit of a few major campaign contributors rather than the general public. But for the conservation community, the impacts go even deeper. About 2 square miles of the land Energy Fair a Success The Southwest Energy Alliance held an Energy Fair in Las Cruces on May 12, at the newly renovated Downtown Mall. The event was co-sponsored by the Southern Group. Skip Dunn of GreenWheels in Los Alamos shows off the all-electric Zenn Car, top speed of 45 mph, which gets the equivalent of 245 miles per gallon of gas. (Photo by Chris Dahlin) giveaway being engineered by the State Land Office is territory that the Las Cruces City Council and the Dona Aña Board of County Commissioners have endorsed for preservation as either a National Conservation Area, or a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern. That would include all the State Trust Land east of Weisner Road. The Las Cruces City Council’s enthusiastic endorsement of rapid development plans for East Mesa State Trust Lands appears to directly contradict their resolution to protect lands east of Weisner Road. Either the council is ignorant of the State Land Office plans to sell the land east of Weisner, or has had a change of heart. This would be a double disappointment for the many Las Crucens who were led to believe they would have a say in development plans for Las Cruces East Mesa through the vision 2040 comprehensive planning process, and were then blindsided by the Vistas at Presidio and State Land Office sale plans. While it may be too late to change the Vistas at Presidio Master Plan, no final disposition has been made on the State Trust Lands east of Weisner Road. Please send an email to Las Cruces City Council (citycouncil@las-cruces.org) and to the Doña Ana County Commission (jessw@donaanacounty.org), asking them to adhere to their resolutions to protect the Organ Foothills east of Weisner Road. Ask them to work with the State Land Office and also the BLM to engineer any land trades that may be necessary to insure this protection. Please make your message brief and polite. It’s our heritage and their promise. We’d like to see the Las Cruces City Council and the Doña Ana Board of County Commissioners preserve both. —Steve Fischmann Southern NM Group Directory Executive Committee P.O. Box 735, Mesilla, NM 88046 Margot Wilson Chair, Conservation Chair, Parks/Refuges margotwilson40@hotmail.com 744-5860 Glenn Landers Vice Chair, Pollution, Grasslands Issues glenn.landers@gmail.com 525-0491 Cheryll Blevins Treasurer, Editor Southern NM Group Page spotblev@earthlink.net 524-4861 Mary Katherine Ray Wildlife, Membership mkscrim@kitcarson.net 772-5655 Jane L. Grider Political, Alternate Chapter Delegate jane4u2@email2me.net 526-5620 Lou McCall lou@pixelcircus.org 312-3174 John Waugh Outings, Endangered Species/ Wildlife, Chapter Delegate cactoblast@hotmail.com 526-7116 Earle Pittman Global Warming espittman@zianet.com 541-6281 July/August 2007 rio Grande Sierran 13
Page 1 and 2: Rio Grande Sierran News of the Rio
Page 3 and 4: Info for Activists & a Word from Yo
Page 5 and 6: Public Lands More Support Needed to
Page 7 and 8: Political U.S. Attorney Firing Scan
Page 9 and 10: Taos Branch News Sentinels Celebrat
Page 11: Northern Group News Sat Sun July NO
Page 15 and 16: Preservation Live Earth Concerts to

Oil and Gas Activity Returns to Santa Fe County - Rio Grande Chapter

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