Central New Mexico Group

At a public meeting regarding the Mexican Wolf Blue Range Reintroduction Project
Replacement Release Outline for Arizona 2013 held in Alpine, Arizona, Mr. Chris Bagnoli of the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) announced that public comments on the release proposal would be accepted through October 27, 2012. In response, the White Mountain Conservation League, has submitted a letter signed by 19 organizations, including the Grand Canyon and Rio Grande chapters of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Wildlife Conservancy and many others.

New Mexico hit the conservation daily double on Sept. 27, when we gained two national wildlife refuges—America’s 559th and 560th. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, along with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Rep. Martin Heinrich and other dignitaries and community supporters were on hand for two ceremonies celebrating land acquisitions for the new refuges.

The mine will take an inordinate amount of water (perhaps a third of all groundwater used in the county) and not return any to the aquifer because of pollution.
Copper Flat Mine tempts residents with job promises but would rob county of a resource already in short supply.

Albuquerque officials, Unser join Electric Car Plug-In Day

Albuquerque City Councilors Ken Sanchez and Rey Garduño, City Transit Director Bruce Rizzieri, and City Fleet Manager Tony Baldonado test-drove electric cars as part of National Plug-In Day in September. In addition to elected officials, Odes Armijo-Castor (CEO, Sacred Power), Chapter director Dave Simon and Al Unser III of Galles Chevrolet were also in attendence at the Albuquerque charging station.

Dear Sierran Editor:

By all accounts that I’ve read, hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) deserves
its destructive reputation and community outrage. Local elected officials must have the land-use regulatory tools and the political willpower to protect their communities. But these Community Rights Ordinances are not the solution, and so I must disagree with the piece about community rights and fracking in the July/August/September issue.

New Mexico Environment Department on Oct. 2 announced that it is proposing to retire two of the four units at coal-powered San Juan Generating Station and leave the two larger units in operation. The state also proposed building a natural-gas plant to add generation.

Relocation Site at El Malpais National Conservation Area Allows Recreational Shooting

Dirty Coal Is Just So Last Century

A FEW YEARS ago I toured the massive coal-burning power plant that has generated much of New Mexico’s electricity for the last 40 years. It’s a huge, impressive behemoth of a plant. And, like the behemoths of the age of the dinosaurs, its time has come. San Juan Generating Station should be retired, not retooled.