Democracy for New Mexico

CVNM Reports on NM Legislature Environmental Successes

From Conservation Voters New Mexico:
At this year's New Mexico Legislature, we passed a breathtaking number of pro-environment bills (over 20 great bills!!) and we defeated the worst anti-environment bills, such as the Desert Rock coal subsidy and the Administrative Accountability Act!  Indeed, this legislature passed more pro-environment bills than we've seen in years.  We provide for you below a link to our final report on the status of all the pro- and anti-conservation bills that CVNM lobbied and tracked during the session.

Of course, we owe this year's environmental achievements to the leadership and tenacity of our pro-conservation legislative , to several new pro-conservation , to the broader NM environmental community, and to the numerous phone calls our CVNM members made to their legislators on specific bills. Thanks also to Speaker of the House Ben Lujan for creating the best House Energy & Natural Resources Committee in recent memory!

Further, our pro-conservation Governor has fulfilled, to date, our veto requests—THANK YOU GOVERNOR RICHARDSON —and we look forward to two additional vetoes in the coming weeks. 

With the arrival of spring, we turn our attention to scoring the votes of legislators for our annual so that you can know how each of your legislators voted on these critical issues.  Thanks for being a conservation voter and let us know if you have any questions or comments about the progress report provided here.

Sincerely,
Sandy Buffett, CVNM Executive Director

Free Screening of An Inconvenient Truth in Tijeras

An Inconvenient Truth: Free Showing
Friday, March 30 at 6:30 PM
Los Vecinos Community Center
478 1/2 Route 66, Tijeras, NM
Everyone welcome. Hosted by the East Mountain Spiritual Progressives. For further info call 286-1228.

Al Gore Urges Congress on Act on Global Warming

Here's a clip of Al Gore's opening statement this morning before a joint meeting of U.S. House energy subcommittees. He's presenting copies of more than 500,000 e-post cards gathered over recent days from citizens urging Congress to act quickly to address the serious climate problems we face. You can still be a part of this effort by signing up at AlGore.com.

Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, who used to chair the energy committee now led by Democratic Rep. John Dingell, wasted a fair amount of time complaining about parliamentary process and alleged rules infractions. He also saw fit to keep injecting bogus proof that global warming caused by humans is nonexistent. Big oil money talks. The facts he and others have to face are, I had to say it, inconvenient truths.

Al and Tipper Gore present the postcards from citizens urging Congress to act on global warming (AP photo)

I thought Gore came off as intelligent, very well informed, polite, reasonable, passionate, moving, nonpartisan, friendly and truthful. However, I found the hearing difficult to watch because my mind kept wandering to what ifs, as in, "what if our Supreme Court had allowed all the votes to be counted in Florida?" Imagine an America and a planet that hadn't just endured six years of ignorant, secretive, selfish, incompetent, dishonest, unconstitutional rule by an administration led by someone who's most important job previously was running a baseball team and who had never ventured beyond America's borders except, perhaps, to coke it up in Tijuana.

Here's the New York Times article reporting on Gore's testimony this morning. Excerpt:

Democrats and Republicans, he said, should emulate their British counterparts and compete to see how best to curb emissions of smokestack and tailpipe “greenhouse” gases that scientists have now firmly linked to a global warming trend.

Mr. Gore also proposed a 10-point legislative program, calling for everything from a tax on carbon emissions to a ban on incandescent light bulbs and a new national mortgage program to promote the use of energy-saving technologies in homes.

Gore will also testify before Senate energy committees this afternoon. As reported in an L.A. Times article, here's the kind of short-sighted attitude we can expect from way too many Republicans:

Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is unimpressed by the new Gore mission. "Those who believe all his garbage are going to be excited to death," he said, "and the rest of us are going to ignore it."

... Gore could encounter flak when he appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, whose top Republican, Oklahoma Sen. James M. Inhofe, has dismissed man-made climate change as a "hoax" and, like Bush, has said he won't see Gore's movie.

Help Al Gore Convince Congress to Act on Global Warming

Al Gore is trying to gather at least 500,000 signatures in support of a message he'll take to Congress this coming Wednesday to urge them to take swift and effective action to combat global warming. If you haven't yet signed up, click here. Pass it on, ASAP.

Urgent Action Needed for Otero Mesa

From the NM Wilderness Alliance: Please make a few phone calls. Otero Mesa is critically important for its unique desert grasslands and wildlife, but it also contains the largest untapped source of water in New Mexico--a potentially extremely important resource for southern NM communities.  The fate of Otero Mesa hinges on a proposed hydrologic study of this aquifer. We need to better understand it, and the risk posed by oil and gas development. There are two options to get this critical study funded:

• Governor Richardson has already secured $1 million for the study. We can ask him to completely fund the required $2.2 million.
• The legislature is currently hammering out the final details of the budget. We can ask them to fund the remaining $1.2 million.

Because we can't be certain which will be most effective, we are asking folks to do both:

• Please contact the Governor's office (476-2200), and ask him to fully fund the $2.2 million for the Salt Basin hydrologic study through his capital outlay.
• Please contact the following committee chairs responsible for the final budget and ask them to include $1.2 million in House Bill 2 to complete funding for the Salt Basin hydrologic study. Although these may not be your legislators, they are the ones with the power to add an item to the budget.
  • Kiki Savedra: 986-4316 
  • Lucky Varela: 986-4318 
  • Tim Jennings: 986-4362 
  • John Arthur Smith: 986-4363

Thanks Everyone!
Nathan Newcomer, Otero Mesa Campaign Organizer

Gov. Richardson Signs Renewable Energy Bills

Audio: Listen to Albuquerque public radio KUNM's Jim Williams reporting on some of the many environmental and greenhouse gas reduction bills being considered at this year's legislature, as well as on Gov. Bill Richardson's signing of two innovative renewable energy bills this past Monday. And here's how a press release for the Governor's office describes the clean energy legislation:

SANTA FE - Governor Bill Richardson today signed two major cornerstones of his clean energy agenda. Senate Bill 418 will dramatically increase New Mexico’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and our use of clean electricity. House Bill 188 creates a Renewable Energy Transmission Authority to promote clean energy jobs and help New Mexico both develop our clean energy resources and market them to other states.

“I am proud today to sign a bill that will quadruple New Mexico’s use of clean electricity by 2020,” said Governor Bill Richardson. “Promoting renewable electricity keeps our air clean and it will help New Mexico meet my aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals. It will also help continue to create new jobs, like those at Advent Solar in Albuquerque, and aid ranchers who want to diversify into the lucrative wind energy market.”

In 2004 Governor Richardson signed New Mexico’s first Renewable Portfolio Standard into law. This mandated that 5% of New Mexico’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2006, increasing to 10% by 2011. Senator Michael Sanchez’s Senate Bill 418 requires that at least 15 percent of an electric utility's power supply come from renewable sources by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020.

House Bill 188 – sponsored by Representative Jose Campos -- establishes a Renewable Energy Transmission Authority that will help New Mexico export solar, wind and other renewable energy and further build our high-wage, and high-tech economy.

“The Transmission Authority and the Renewable Portfolio Standard work in combination to dramatically position New Mexico to develop our vast renewable energy resources,” said Joanna Prukop, Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources. “We've just positioned our state to become extremely competitive in all aspects of clean energy development and the benefits that come with it.”

Under Governor Richardson’s leadership, New Mexico has become the nation’s Clean Energy State. In the past few weeks alone Governor Richardson has signed a major, five state climate change agreement, announced a new Tesla electric car plant for Albuquerque and a biodiesel plant in Clovis, NM.

“I am proud that both these bills passed with bipartisan support,” said Governor Richardson. “That is because New Mexico is hungry for clean energy and the good jobs that come with this new industry.”

Editor's Note: Desert Rock Power Plant
Now what we need is for the Governor to speak out strongly against the construction of the massive new coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant by Sithe Global near Farmington, on Navajo Nation land. If allowed, the plant will pump out 10.5 million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide each year, effectively wiping out most of the gains to be made by other anti-greenhouse gas efforts in New Mexico, as well as contribute to an existing mercury hotspot.

I know the Navajo Nation has significant sovereign power over the use of their land, but it might help if the Governor made an issue out of the damaging effects the pollution from the plant would have not only on New Mexico, but on communities all across the nation. With a required Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) still pending on the plant, there's a chance the plant can still be stopped or at least required to significantly upgrade its pollution technologies. Public hearings on the plant's draft EIS will be held this Spring.

For more information, visit the website of the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the desert-rock-blog, the New Mexico Coaltion for Clean Affordable Energy and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Rep. Wirth’s Efficient Energy Buildings Legislation Unanimously Passes House

From the Democratic Leadership of the NM House:
Santa Fe, NM – The House passed legislation introduced by Rep. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) that would provide tax credits to residential and commercial construction businesses that build energy efficient and sustainable buildings. The tax credits in this bill would complement, extend, and expand the federal tax credits that encourage energy efficient building. It is a comprehensive effort to move New Mexico toward energy independence and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. HB 534a, Sustainable Building Tax Credit, passed the House with a vote of 62-0. The bill goes next to the Senate Finance Committee.

Rep. Wirth said, “With almost half of greenhouse gases coming from buildings, it makes sense to work hand in hand with contractors and homeowners to encourage ‘green’ buildings as a critical step to reduce global warming.” 

HB 534a allows a new credit under both the Income Tax Act and the Corporate Income and Franchise Act for the construction or renovation of a building. The new income tax credit must follow guidelines established by the US Green Building Council, Homebuilders of NM, or the Environmental Protection Agency for manufactured housing. The guidelines would have different levels of compliance with the tax credit scaled accordingly.

Under the bill, an owner of a ‘green’ building being constructed or renovated would apply to the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) to validate the tax credit. EMNRD would issue a certificate that could be transferred through sale, exchange or other means to another taxpayer. The taxpayer holding the certificate could claim the credit against tax liability over four years in 25 percent increments if the credit amount exceeded $25,000. If the credit value is less than $25,000, the taxpayer could claim all of it in the taxable year the certificate was issued. If the credit exceeds liability in either case, the taxpayer could carry the credit forward for up to seven years.

The credit could be used for the construction or renovation of either commercial or residential buildings. EMNRD could only issue an aggregate of $10 million in credits per year, $5 million for commercial buildings and $5 million for residential buildings.

NM Rep. Begaye Declares Tax Subsidy for Desert Rock Power Plant Dead

Credit: HK Dixon/Jan.7.2007 (Click image for larger version.)

Dooda! That's what the NM House Energy and Natural Resources Committee said this past Wednesday with its vote to once again table HB 178. The bill would grant Sithe Global Power $85 million in tax breaks for its filthy, coal-fired Desert Rock power plant planned for the Farmington area, on Navajo land. Dooda means 'no' in the Dine language, and as used in the name one of the citizen groups -- Dooda Desert Rock Committee -- that has been working long and hard against both the power plant and this giveaway of our taxpayer dollars to the company aiming to build it.

Here's a detailed report of what happened from Friday's Gallup Independent.

The Senate version of the bill, SB 431, is still alive and referred to the Senate Finance Committee. However, without significant amendment to place more stringent environmental controls on the power plant, it would have little chance of passage in the House if it made it through the Senate. As the Gallup Independent article reports:

"It's not going anywhere," said Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock. "This is dead."

... A similar bill in the Senate might have a better chance there, Begaye said, but wouldn't make it through the House without some amendments the Senate would never accept.

"This has got zero chance of getting through this session," Begaye said.

Still, given that things can change abruptly and unexpectedly in the last two weeks of the legislative session, activists are urging those opposed to the tax giveaway to contact members of the Senate Finance and remain vigliant.

According to a press release from Conservation Voters New Mexico, which has also been fighting the bill, the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee (HENRC) voted 7-6 along party lines with 7 Democrats voting to table the bill. The Legislators serving on the HENRC committee who voted to table include Chairman James Roger Madalena (D-Jemez Pueblo), Rep. Jim Trujillo (D-Santa Fe), Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque), Rep. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), Rep. Antonio Lujan (D-Las Cruces), Rep. Joni Gutierrez (D-Mesilla), and Rep. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces).

“I especially wish to commend Chairman Madalena and Rep. Gutierrez for taking a courageous and visionary stand for protecting New Mexico’s air, land, water and public health,” stated Sandy Buffett, Executive Director of Conservation Voters New Mexico. 

The plant, if built, would emit 10 million tons annually of greenhouse gas emissions and would contribute hundreds of pounds of mercury annually to a region already considered a mercury hotspot.

Some basic facts about Desert Rock:

• Total carbon dioxide emissions in the state will increase 16%, with 10 million tons emitted annually from this plant;
• The greenhouse gas emissions from this plant will cancel out the Governor’s numerical targets for curbing global warming;
• On February 5, 2007, hundreds of citizens of New Mexico, including over 50 Navajo activists and elders, gathered at the New Mexico State Legislature to protest the proposed Desert Rock power plant;
• Sithe seeks to build the plant to export electricity to Nevada and Arizona. However, the plant would not meet California’s new clean energy import standard, precluding the plant from being able to sell to the largest power market in the west.

Desert Rock would be 3rd coal-fired plant polluting Four Corners region

Beyond the tax subsidy issue, opposition against allowing the construction of the plant itself continues. As reported in Colorado's The Durango Herald:

Desert Rock faces determined opposition from local Navajo residents living in the plant's prospective shadow. Busloads of Navajos have trekked twice to Santa Fe to express their dismay about the project, despite the project's support by the official government of the Navajo Nation.

Beyond its eternal quest for taxpayer handouts, Desert Rock faces immediate hurdles in securing the necessary permits. The Environmental Protection Agency is still grappling with the critical technical opposition raised to the draft air quality permit last year, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs keeps delaying release of the project's environmental impact statement. Meanwhile, opposition continues to grow both within the Navajo reservation and in communities throughout the Four Corners.

To stay current on the fight against the power plant or learn more about how you can help, visit:

• Desert-Rock-Blog
• NM Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy
• Conservation Voters New Mexico
• Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter
• San Juan Citizens Alliance

Latest on Fight Against Polluting Desert Rock Power Plant Tax Break Bills

DDR's Elouise Brown, Roundhouse rally 2/5/07

The latest call for action was reported at the desert-rock-blog.com on Friday. The blog is an excellent place to stay current on the quickly changing maneuvers some legislators, including some Democrats, are using to try and pass an $85 million tax break for what will be a massively polluting coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico:

DDR CONTINUES TO BATTLE SB 431 & HB 178 AT THE  ROUNDHOUSE !

Dooda Desert Rock (DDR) had such a chaotic but fearless time for the last two days, unfortunately the bill was moved forward in the Senate, but still temporarily stalled in the House.

The NM Senate Conservation passed SB 431 to Finance but, no date is set for that hearing.

HB 178 was momentarily tabled again. The sponsor volunteered a new amendment and Rep. Wirth has his amendments. The Chair of the NM House Energy Committee asked both sides to compose a substitute bill which may be heard on Wednesday, February 28, 2007.

Please continue to write letters to [and call] the following - Need your help:

2/5/07 rally photos

House Energy and Natural Resources Members:

• Rep. James Madalena (D) Chair (SD 65, Jemez Pueblo)
• Rep. Jim Trujillo (D) Vice Chair (SD 45, Santa Fe)
• Rep. Thomas Anderson (R-SD 29, Albuquerque)
• Rep. Paul Bandy (R-SD 3, Aztec)
• Rep. Donald Bratton (R-SD 62, Hobbs)
• Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell (R-SD 58, Roswell)
• Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-SD 14, Albuquerque)
• Rep. Thomas Garcia (D-SD 68, Ocate)
• Rep. William Gray (R-SD 54, Artesia)
• Rep. Joni Gutierrez (D-SD 33, Mesilla)
• Rep. Antonio Lujan (D-SD 35, Las Cruces)
• Rep. Jeff Steinborn (D-SD 37, Las Cruces)
• Rep. James Strickler (R-SD 2, Farmington)
• Rep. Peter Wirth (D-SD 47, Santa Fe)

Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Sen. Tim Jennings (D) Co-Chair  (SD 32, Roswell)
• Sen. John Arthur Smith (D) Co-Chair (SD 35, Deming)
• Sen. Carlos Cisneros (D-SD 6, Questa)
• Sen. Joseph Carraro (R-SD 23, Westside ABQ)
• Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort (R-SD 19, Sandia Park)
• Sen. Pete Campos (D-SD 8, Mora/SF/Torrance)
• Sen. Carroll Leavell (R-SD 41, Eddy)
• Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson (R-SD 37, Dona Ana)
• Sen. Nancy Rodriguez (R-SD 24, Santa Fe)
• Sen. Bernadette Sanchez (D-SD 26, Westside ABQ)

**************
Contact for DDR:
Elouise Brown
President, Dooda Desert Rock
505-947-6159
www.desert-rock-blog.com
thebrownmachine@hotmail.com

Editor's Note: Check our previous posts (links below) for more information and tracking of this issue, including Democratic Rep. Joni Gutierrez and her abrupt about face on the tax break, which resulted in the House bill being revived after it was tabled and effectively stopped. Rep. Gutierrez is being heavily criticized for her defection from environmental principles and she has so far refused to explain why she changed her mind and decided to support this horrendous tax break for a coal-fired, greenhouse gas spewing power plant that will be a major polluter of New Mexico's and the nation's air.

• February 21, 2007
• February 17, 2007
• February 13, 2007
• February 5, 2007
• December 15, 2006

Update on Polluting Desert Rock Power Plant Tax Subsidy Bills

From activists against Desert Rock:
This past Sunday, the NM Senate Conservation committee met to consider its version of the Desert Rock bill (SB 431). It was essentially tabled. Yet, the bill is still alive in the House. The House Energy committee was supposed to take the bill up for re-consideration on Monday morning. They have delayed consideration of HB 178 till this Friday, February 23 at 8:30 AM.

Please contact the following Reps and ask them to oppose the bill:

Representative Joni Marie Gutierrez
Las Cruces Area
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4234
Office Phone: 647-5577
Home Phone: 526-5079
E-mail: jonig@zianet.com

Representative Thomas A. Garcia
Taos, Mora, Colfax, Guad
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4242
E-mail: ocate@hotmail.com

The subsidy is being proposed through two bills being considered in the Roundhouse that would reduce Desert Rock’s overall New Mexico tax liability by about 15 percent. Sithe Global Power, the company selected by the Navajo Nation’s Diné Power Authority, to develop, finance, construct and operate the 1,500 megawatt power plant, has already negotiated a reduction of its Navajo Nation tax liability by about two-thirds. The total cost of the facility is estimated at $3 billion, making it the most costly construction project in New Mexico history.

If any money is to be given to corporate interests at all, it should go toward supporting innovative, cutting-edge coal technologies now available, such as coal gasification, that significantly reduce coal- power emissions overall, including mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

The New Mexico Environment Department reports that Desert Rock’s emissions would significantly impact air quality in a region where air quality is already close to exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ground-level ozone, the most common cause of smog. The plant would increase New Mexico’s emissions of mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin, by 13 percent and the region’s sulfur dioxide emissions by 10 percent, according to a state analysis.

The plant would raise statewide greenhouse gas levels by 25 percent, boosting statewide greenhouse gas emissions to about 59 million tons per year. The state predicts its total greenhouse gas emissions would reach nearly 60 million tons per year by 2012 without Richardson's limits. His executive order calls for greenhouse gases in 2012 to be the same as in 2000, or at about 48 million tons per year. The Desert Rock plant expects to emit just under 11 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. Because the state does not have jurisdiction over the facility, the state agencies cannot mandate the type of technology that should be used.

Our money should not go to subsidize a regional power plant that intends to sell most of its power out of state. Sithe doesn't want to admit it, but it is going to build this plant -- if EPA lets them -- whether or not they get the $85 million tax break from New Mexicans. So giving it to them would truly be a giveaway.

Thanks for considering this critical issue,
Kristin Casper: kristincasper@yahoo.com

Editor's Note: For more background and information on this attempted tax giveaway to what would be a filthy, polluting producer of energy in our state, check our previous post, which includes many useful links.