Democracy for New Mexico

Desert Rock Power Plant Update: Public Hearings Set for July

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
Public Hearings will be held for citizens to speak out about the planned Desert Rock Power Plant in the Four Corners area. This is your chance to stand up for clean air, land and water in New Mexico! On May 22nd the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) released a draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) which strongly supports the Desert Rock Power Plant and 10 public hearings will be held on this, starting July 17th, 2007 (see below).

The BIA is holding these hearings because these communities and the people living in them will be directly affected by the Desert Rock coal-fired power plant. The mercury emitted by Desert Rock will find its way into the watersheds serving these communities, including both rivers and fishing lakes.

For more information, please contact Trisha London: trishal@nmwild.org.

Editor's Note: Here's the listing of all the scheduled hearings from https://www.desert-rock-blog.com, which is an activist site that covers the fight against the proposed filthy, coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant:

• July 17, 5 - 8 PM, Farmington Civic Center.
• July 18, 10 AM - 1 PM, Ute Mountain Casino, Towaoc, Colo.
• July 10, 5 - 8 PM, Iron Horse Inn, Durango, Colo.
• July 19, 1 - 4 PM, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque.
• July 20, 1 - 4 PM, Runnels Building (Larrazolo Auditorium), Santa Fe.
• July 23, 10 AM - 1 PM, Shiprock Chapter House.
• July 23, 5 - 8 PM, Nenahnezad Chapter House.
• July 24, 10 AM - 1 PM, Burnham Chapter House.
• July 24, 5 - 8 PM, Veterans Memorial Center, Sanostee, N.M.
• July 25, 10 AM - 1 PM, Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock.

You can download a copy of the draft EIS here, where you can also submit written comments about the proposed project. The closing date for comments is Aug. 20, 2007.

Also of interest is a recent that describes how the originally scheduled hearings were abruptly postponed without word getting to the Navajo activists who intended to testify, many of whom traveled many miles to attend the hearing orginally set for June 18. The article also reports on the process for plant approval and had this to say about the draft EIS:

The draft environmental impact statement, a document about the size of the Phoenix phonebook, analyzes how the power plant would affect the surrounding environment and people under various development scenarios. A technical consultant funded by Sithe Global and the DinŽ Power Authority prepared the EIS, which is required under federal law.

It concludes that there will be adverse impacts but that these would be outweighed by the benefits of job creation and revenue for the tribal government.

Opponents fault the study for inadequate research and misleading conclusions, and say it dodges the most significant question of this era - how the power plant would contribute to global warming.

You can find most of our previous posts on the Desert Rock Power plant in this archive.

Rep. Udall Introduces Sabinoso Wilderness Legislation

From the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance:
After working with Congressman Tom Udall for the last year, and an important visit to Washington DC recently by NMWA staff, Congressman Udall introduced legislation to permanently protect the Sabinoso Wilderness Study Area on June 7th.  Sabinoso lies just 40 miles east of Las Vegas, New Mexico. At 25,000 acres, it is one of the finest intact Great-Plains ecosystems left in New Mexico and is home to a variety of wildlife, including American kestrel, savannah sparrow, red-tailed hawk, broad tailed hummingbird, coyote, mountain lions, mule deer and gray foxes.

New Mexico Wilderness Allliance would like to thank Congressman Tom Udall, our members and the Bureau of Land Management for working together to protect this wild landscape.  We look forward to seeing this Bill pass through Congress this year.

According to the New Mexico Department of Tourism, the outdoor tourism industry in 2005 generated over $5 billion dollars to the state economy. Additionally, a 2004 study conducted by the nonprofit Sonoran Institute found that communities adjacent to protected public lands, including wilderness, are those with the fastest economic growth rates.

“Sabinoso is a spectacular landscape that features the deep canyons and rugged beauty of San Miguel County,” said Arturo Sandoval, Board Member of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. “Creating this area as a wilderness will provide wonderful opportunities for sustainable economic development tied directly to open space.”

A series of high, narrow mesas surrounded by steep, rock-walled canyons provides a striking contrast to the nearby rolling prairie. The Canadian River runs through the northeast corner of the Sabinoso Wilderness Study Area, which feeds into many other streams. Ponderosa pine, Cottonwood, and willows can be found along the many stream sides.

There have been resolutions in support of protecting Sabinoso from the San Miguel County Commission, the City of Las Vegas, and other surrounding communities. For more information go to:

https://www.nmwild.org/campaigns/sabinoso/

To help support our efforts to protect Wilderness, please visit:

https://secure.ga3.org/05/nmwild_donate

Guest Blog: Ben Luce on Why He Launched "Break The Grip!"

This is a guest blog by environmental activist Ben Luce of Break the Grip!:

For the past ten years I have tried as hard as I could to work through our existing political system, as a mostly polite and "professional" environmental advocate, to bring about policies that support renewable energy development and energy efficiency. I collaborated with the Richardson Administration and the utilities, to the extent that this was possible, to "move the ball forward" as people say. Mind you, this was not an easy process, I sometimes sparred publicly with the Administration and the utilities, and often sparred with them behind the scenes, but I mainly pursued the usual channels of lobbying politely, participating in PRC cases, etc.

We did make some progress, to be sure, getting things such as solar tax credits and stronger solar rights through, and the initial renewable energy standard and some other things. I am still very happy and proud about those things.

But I did fight many quiet wars, things were often delayed or compromised to a great extent, and I was always bothered by the pervasive and blatant undue corporate influence that I saw around me at the Legislature in general.

Then, in the recent Legislative Session, I experienced undue corporate influence to the extreme: The Richardson Administration, to my great sadness and dismay, basically teamed up with PNM to exclude citizen advocacy at all costs and try to gut the effectiveness of the new renewable energy standard, of course while making it look good for Richardson. They also tried to strip out crucial renewable energy provisions from the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (already an extremely scary piece of legislation), and force a clean coal incentive down our throats. The Administration even had a PNM lobbyist working inside and officially representing the Administration (Art Hull), who was assigned to work on the Transmission Authority. Similarly, the clean coal incentive was forced us by a coal-industry connected LANL person named Charryl Berger, who was "on loan" to the Legislature.

Moreover, I sadly watched as the Democratic Leadership put a PNM lobbyist forward and bully citizen advocates to pass a PNM originated bill that rolls back protections for low-income people, and also try to force a $60 million tax incentive through for the Desert Rock Power Plant.

All of this obscene abuse of power was finally too much for me. After mulling it all over, and writing down my experiences over the past ten years (and storing this for safe keeping with others), I finally decided to go public about what actually happened. More than that, instead of just issuing an angry "rant" (as the Administration characterized my first press conference), I decided to launch, with other concerned citizens, a new campaign called "Break The Grip!". This will hopefully be a persistent citizens' campaign to systematically expose as much of the corporate political monopoly over New Mexico as possible, and call for a wide range of reforms.

I spent a few weeks developing the web site , which now contains much detail about the past relative to my own experiences, and we launched the campaign on Tuesday, June 19th (Tuesday being associated with the Greek God of War).

Since that time, AP coverage of the event has spread widely, including nationally, so I think we've made some impact.

We've also received tremendous support from the public: It seems that many people feel the way I do.

But we will need lots of help from the public on keeping the buzz going. We already used up a lot of publicity capital in our first press conference, so we need people to write letters-to-the-editor, join our network , etc. Don't let these guys hear the end of it!

The forces that be are already fighting back: A Richardson appointee named Gregory Green already crashed my press conference on behalf of the Administration and attempted to blunt our coverage by playing dumb about what happened during the session (he was a lobbyist for my former organization during the session), and apparently conveniently managed not to mention that he is currently a Richardson Appointee to the powerful Environmental Improvement Board. This is the kind of unethical response that needs to be countered. Who knows what else they will try? I've certainly written my fair share of embarrassing emails in the past, and I expect to start seeing them turning up in public. Do I care? Sure, things will likely be painful for me. But I'm persona non grata now anyway (at least among the corrupt! I've gotten lots of support from people on the inside too).

So, please help us rid our state of the obscene grip of corporations over our political system here in this state. Now is the time. Visit , read through the materials there, join the network, and await news of further opportunities to participate. We intend to take this campaign to the doorsteps of the powerful, and not back down.

Thanks and best wishes,
Ben Luce

Editor's Notes: This is a guest blog by Ben Luce, the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

Click to read a previous post on the formation of Break the Grip!

Crying Wolf on Lab Funding Cuts?

I know everyone in New Mexico is supposed to be hysterical because of the U.S. House cuts to the budgets of Los Alamos and Sandia Labs totaling about $400 million. But as far as I can tell, I don't see how such cuts would result in up to 2000 layoffs at Los Alamos and 900 at Sandia, as is being bandied about. Googling around, I found that the cuts are mostly directed at reducing spending on security enhancements, computer hardware upgrades, a new chem building and funding for the controversial and much criticized Reliable Replacement Warhead and plutonium pit manufacturing programs.How do these cuts translate into that many lost jobs?

Moreover, If we look at this issue carefully, I think what the cuts really portend is a growing movement in Washington (and the nation) on both sides of the aisle to to deemphasize Cold War-era type nuke weapon spending and put more money into modern-day security in the form of clean and renewable energy technologies. If the labs -- and Domenici, Pearce and Wilson -- don't wake up and start moving quickly into the new era of global warming threat reduction and diminishing fossil fuel use, they'll have only themselves to blame.

Udall's Role
Rep. Tom Udall tried unsuccessfully to reinstate $192 million of the budget cuts, but not for the plutonium pit and Reliable Replacement Warhead programs. Instead he requested more funds for the Los Alamos high-speed supercomputer system and the stockpile stewardship programs that test the reliability of already existing bomb components without using underground blasts. Udall's amendment failed by a vote of 121-312. Sen. Domenici and Reps. Wilson and Pearce have been trying to blame the cuts entirely on Democrats -- and especially on Udall. However, 103 Republican members of Congress voted against Udall's attempt to restore lab funds:

Democrats; 24 Aye; 209 Nay; 2 Not Voting
Republicans: 97 Aye; 103 Nay; 2 Not Voting

Back to the Future
As Eric Griego writes in his latest Albuquerque Tribune column:

... could the cuts really be an opportunity? Could the proposed cuts to the labs be the impetus so desperately needed to finally change the mission of both labs to one focused on renewable energy development instead of protecting and developing nuclear weapons?

Conservationists and those who oppose continued nuclear weapons development have tried for years to redirect the mission of the state's two national labs in the direction of renewable energy. Sandia has taken on more renewable energy work over the past several years, but Los Alamos has actually deepened its nuclear mission.

Rep. Udall has been the target of a lot of often mean-spirited bashing because of the cuts, but I applaud him for refusing to attempt to reinstate the funding for the RRW and plutonium pits. It's high time we bring the core missions of our national labs into the 21st century, where renewable energy and mitigating global warming will be the key areas where we need our best scientific minds to concentrate their research. We're moving into an era of rapid and profound change, with many similiarites to the years when horse power was being replaced by the combustion engine.

At some point, you either have to face the new realities and make the switchover, or you'll pay the consequences for hanging onto a no longer relevant mindset. We'll be needing fresh ideas and a change in focus from our national labs if they are to survive and thrive in the new techology environment. Many believe the world as we know it hangs in the balance. Yes, an inconvenient truth. I had to say it.

Upcoming Defenders of Wildlife Events in ABQ, Santa Fe, Taos

From Lisa Hummon, New Mexico Outreach Representative, Defenders of Wildlife: Below you'll find a list of upcoming events and meetings in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos. I've noted RSVP deadlines for meetings and projects. There is a lot going on right now both in Congress and locally regarding climate change, agricultural policy, and the Mexican wolf, so now is a critical time for us to come together to discuss these issues and spread the word in our communities.

Defenders Meet-Up, ABQ
Date: Tuesday, June 19, 6:15 PM
Location: Flying Star Downtown, on Silver between 7th and 8th, Albuquerque
About: We will be discussing the Live Earth Concerts, Mexican wolf reintroduction, and climate change legislation. ** Please RSVP to me by noon on Tuesday if you would like to attend.

Defenders Meet-Up, Santa Fe
Date: Thursday, June 21, 6:15 PM
Location: Santa Fe Baking Co, 504 W Cordova Rd., Santa Fe
About: We will be discussing the Live Earth Concerts, Mexican wolf reintroduction, and climate change legislation. ** Please RSVP to me by noon on Wednesday if you would like to attend.

Cedro Creek Restoration Work Project
Date: Saturday, June 23, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Location: Tijeras Canyon, near Albuquerque
About: We will be working to restore the Sandia Prep stretch of Cedro Creek in order to reduce erosion, improve water quality, and improve habitat and forage for wildlife.  Sponsored by the Quivira Coalition.
View the project flyer (pdf). ** Please RSVP to me by Thurs, June 21

Taos Solar Music Festival
Date: Friday, June 29 -- Sunday, July 1, times vary
Location: Kit Carson Park, downtown Taos
About: Defenders will have a table in the "Solar Village" just outside of the concert venue.  We will have information about climate change, the Farm Bill, the Mexican wolf, and more.  Visit www.solarmusicfest.com to see this year's line up and other info. 
** Volunteers Needed

Live Earth Concert Viewings
Date: Saturday, July 7, times TBA
Locations: TBA in Abq, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces
About: These concerts are being organized by Al Gore and others to inspire individuals, businesses, and political leaders to stop the climate crisis. There will be 7 concerts, on 7 continents, on 7/7/07.  Although there is no concert in NM, we can watch the concerts on tv and inspire action in our city, state, and region. Visit www.LiveEarth.org to learn more about the concerts. ** Contact me if you are interested in attending or volunteering

Defenders is also looking for volunteers to table at the Albuquerque Growers Market on Saturday mornings. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Thanks for all you do!

Lisa Hummon
New Mexico Outreach Representative
Defenders of Wildlife
824 Gold SW
Albuquerque, NM  87108
(505) 248-0118 x5
(505) 248-0187 (fax)
www.defenders.org

Hike This Weekend With NM Wild and Help Prevent Off-Road Vehicle Abuse

From the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance:
The Forest Service put forth the Travel Management Rule (TMR) as a way to reign in increasing off-road vehicle abuse.  When completed, each National Forest will have a map showing where motorized travel is allowed.  All other routes and cross-country travel will be banned.

The Sandia Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest is one of the first to move forward under the TMR.  This Saturday and Sunday, June 16-17, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance will be heading out to the two areas most affected by this process: La Madera and Cedro Peak. La Madera is on the northeast side of the Sandia Mountain's and Cedro Peak is south of I-40 and heavily used by motorized users (see details below). Off-road vehicle users are advocating the opening of these ecological areas to unrestricted motorized access.

By participating in these outings you will gain an overview of the Forest Service Travel Management Rule, be given examples of how it might affect each area and learn how to make your voice heard!

PROJECT DETAILS:

Saturday, June 16th – La Madera
We’ll lead a short hike into Gonzales Canyon and a long hike into Tejon Canyon – take your pick. We’ll meet at the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance office in Albuquerque, 142 Truman NE, near the corner of Central and San Mateo at 8:15 AM.

Or you can meet us at the Vista Grande Community Center (VGCC) on La Madera Road at 9:30 AM. Take Hwy 14 north. A little less than a mile north of the junction with the road to the crest, turn west on La Madera Road. VGCC is a short ways up. If you reach the high school you went too far.  At each location we’ll figure out the caravan and head out.  Bring snacks, lunch, water, good hiking shoes and appropriate clothing.

Sunday, June 17th – Cedro Peak area
For those interested in the preservation of single track trails, this process will be especially critical.  We’ll meet at the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance office in Albuquerque, 142 Truman NE, near the corner of Central and San Mateo at 9:00 AM.

Or you can meet us at the Sandia Ranger Station about ½ mile south of I-40 on Hwy 337 at 10:00 AM.  At each location we’ll figure out the caravan and head out.  Bring snacks, lunch, water, good hiking shoes and appropriate clothing.

If you are unable to attend either of these events:
In July, the Sandia Ranger District will host another round of meetings in Albuquerque and Tijeras to discuss their proposed action. Please contact Micheal Scialdone (scial@nmwil.org) or Criag Chapman (craig@nmwild.org) for further information.

If you have questions or want to sign up, please contact Michael Scialdone (scial@nmwild.org) or Craig Chapman (craig@nmwild.org) 505-843-8696.

Sign up for NM Wild Action Center Alerts.

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund Launches Ad Campaign Targeting Rep. Pearce on Global Warming Issue

Group Launches "Heads in the Sand" Internet and Radio Campaign focusing on Five Anti-environmental Congressmen

WASHINGTON - Yesterday, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (Defenders Action Fund) launched a targeted radio and web campaign -- www.headsinthesand.org -- to hold accountable Congressman Steve Pearce as one of five anti-environmental congressmen who have their "heads in the sand" on global warming. The five Congressmen – also including Reps. Ken Calvert (CA), John Doolittle (CA), Dean Heller (NV), and Rick Renzi (AZ) – have ignored the facts on global warming because of the undue influence of corporate polluters and their lobbyists.

"Americans want action now on global warming," said Defenders Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen. "But extreme anti-environmentalists in Congress, like Rep. Pearce, continue to have their heads stuck in the sand on energy policy while taking money from big oil and polluters. We're launching the 'Heads in the Sand' campaign to hold these members accountable to their constituents."

Visit the campaign's Steve Pearce page to learn more about Pearce's deplorable environmental record, as well as listen to the radio ad that will be airing in New Mexico 2rd Congressional District.

“Congressman Pearce’s way of thinking is out of sync with America and … the values of New Mexicans.” - 2007, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

All five congressmen have a record of anti-conservation, pro-global warming votes and have accepted significant donations, in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars, from Big Oil and other corporate polluters.  The four congressmen who served in the 109th Congress scored 5 percent or lower on the Action Fund's latest Conservation Report Card. On Wednesday, Reps. Pearce and Heller – both members of the House Natural Resources Committee – voted against legislation to help combat global warming and protect wildlife from its impacts.

"We're looking to send a clear message that the American people won't tolerate representatives who continue to favor big polluters and their special interests," Schlickeisen said. "Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus, there are still members of Congress with their heads in the sand on global warming. That's why we're launching this new project to hold these five lawmakers accountable for endangering our wildlife, our wild places and our children's future."

"These are just the first five members we're targeting; any anti-environmental member who favors oil and gas money interests and obstructs meaningful effort to combat global warming could be next," added Schlickeisen.

To listen to the ads, visit www.headsinthesand.org.

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund www.defendersactionfund.org provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.

Editor's Note: Also see the Politico blog for another report on the Defenders' campaign. For current info on what's going on in the Congressional race in NM-02, including two announced Democratic challengers, see this post on Heath Haussamen.

Video and More: Honor the Earth in NM, AZ

After their Santa Fe concert last month, the Indigo Girls performed at Honor the Earth clean energy benefit events in Shiprock and Flagstaff. Amy Ray provides a report and videos about the events via their e-news:

Notes from Amy Ray of Indigo Girls:
We had a couple of really successful Honor the Earth shows in the Southwest last month. Both of these shows were held to benefit a renewable energy future in Native Communities. As a lot of you know, this has been a main focus for Honor since its inception. In these times of growing awareness and access to more resources for wind and solar development, we feel even more excitement than usual for what can be achieved in Indian Country.

Shiprock, NM: We started out in Shiprock, New Mexico in Navajo country where communities have been in a stand off with Sithe Global Power and the Dine Power Authority over construction of a new coal fired power plant at Desert Rock. A group of hardy folks have been camped out since December where the proposed plant would be. This plant would drain the water aquifer even further and contribute an alarming amount of pollutants to the struggling atmosphere of the Four Corners Region where numerous other power plants already exist. The communities suffer from respiratory diseases and cancers from the current coal industry. They have continuously been asked to trade their health and ecosystem for an economy. The money raised from this show went to: Dooda Desert Rock Committee, Operation Desert Rock, Dine Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (DINE Care), and Utah Dine Bikeya Committee.

Earl Tulley, Winona LaDuke and Lori Goodman

The event was a total communal effort with all the groups tabling in the lobby, Winona LaDuke speaking, and the Hopi Reggae band Casper opening the show. We ended the night with a Q and A between the audience and the beneficiaries that quickly turned into a really interesting public forum.

Earl Tulley, Amy, Elouise Brown, Lori Goodman and Emily

Video from Shiprock Honor the Earth:

• Shiprock Part 1
• Shiprock Part 2
• Shiprock Part 3
• Shiprock Part 4

Flagstaff, AZ: We drove on our bio-diesel fueled bus to Flagstaff, Arizona for the next show. This show was the second half of the “turning bad energy to good” equation. Proceeds benefited Native groups within the Just Transition Coalition, such as the Black Mesa Water Coalition. The Just Transition plan is a totally brilliant model of how to shift to renewable energy. The Coalition developed this strategy when a super polluting power plant called the Mojave Generating Station closed down in Laughlin, Nevada. This plant served Southern California’s power needs, but it did it by destroying the health and ecosystem of the Hopi and Dine people. When the plant was forced to close due to work by groups such as the Sierra Club, this team of strategists developed a plan that would take the revenues from the sale of Southern California Edison’s sulfur credits and turn the to good use.

So Cal Edison received credits when the plant closed, these can be sold to other polluters that need them. It’s sort of a bad system of big profits that allows those with the money to keep polluting but it can also be used for good like in this case-where the money could go to the Hopi and Dine communities that sacrificed for decades to provide cheap power to the customers of So Cal Edison. This revenue from the sale of sulfur credits could amount to as much as 20 million dollars a year and give immediate relief for lost water and coal royalties, lost jobs from the closure, and support the building of a renewable energy industry in this region, which would provide jobs and income.

What has been the most striking to see is that these communities don’t even use much of the power they generate. Many of them are still living off the grid and the rest don’t benefit because most of the power is transported off the reservations. After draining the water aquifers and poisoning the earth and sky, this plan would usher in a new energy economy to the Dine and Hopi people, who have suffered the most for the sake of our energy needs. I think the Just Transition is a model for turning the tide of our energy future.

Members of the Just Transition Coalition and allies in Flagstaff

The show itself was very festive. Hoop dancer, Nakotah LaRance opened the event, Sonaya and the People’s Crew played a set of world music, Winona spoke, and we ended the night with an IG music set. We had an auction to sing with us that raised about $4,700. Cheers to Jamie Gillette, Michelle Picini, Kerry Gilbert, and Teresa Murphy for donating the money and doing a fine rendition of Closer to Fine.

Video from Shiprock Honor the Earth

Editor's Note: To learn more about the battle against the Desert Rock Power Plant visit the Dooda Desert Rock website. For more info on the work of the Just Transition Coalition, visit the . Make a donation. Write a letter to the editor and Governor. Get involved.

Santa Fe for Gore '08 Campaign: Monday Morning Welcome and Visibility Event

From Linda Perrone: The Santa Fe for Gore ’08 Campaign welcomes Vice President Al Gore with a visibility event to show support.

Bernalillo, NM -- Santa Fe for Gore ’08 Campaign members will be rallying to welcome the Former Vice President, Al Gore, to New Mexico.  We will be supporting his efforts to bring attention and call to action steps to combat the climate crisis and to encourage him to run for President, so he can make the necessary changes needed on this and the many other challenges we face to move us forward. This event serves as a kick off for World Environment Day on Tuesday, June 5, 2007. Please join us and show your support, pick up a list of steps you can take and pick up a button, while supplies last.

Who:  Santa Fe for Gore ’08 Campaign
What:  Visibility and Support Rally
When:  Monday, June 4, 2007, 7:30 AM-10:00 AM
Where:  At intersection of Highway 550 & Jemez Dam Rd.

Contact:  Linda Perrone, mailforldp@gmail.com

Editor's Note: Gore will be speaking at a private event, the Sustainable Operations Summit, at the Tamaya Resort and Spa near Bernalillo on Monday.

(Updated) Santa Fe Celebrates Bike to Work Week

(See below the fold for Update) From the City of Santa Fe: Santa Fe will be celebrating National Bike to Work Week 2007, May 14-18.  Santa Feans will come together in order to increase awareness about cyclists, educate drivers and cyclists, encourage cycling as an important means of transportation, and support potential new cyclists in joining our community.

Many activities and outreach events are being planned for Santa Fe’s Bike to Work Week.  Events include:

• Saturday, May 12, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Bike Bonanza at Gonzales Elementary School
• Monday, May 14, 12 noon, Bike to Work Week Kickoff event with installation of the first of ten new public bike racks at the corner of Don Gaspar and Alameda.
• Wednesday, May 16, Bike to School Day. Students will bike to school and participate in after school Bike Rodeo and Safety Workshops. For a current list of participating schools, contact balodolce@santafenm.gov.
• Thursday, May 17, 5:30 p.m., Critical Mass group ride will leave from the Plaza.
• Friday, May 18, 7 a.m. – 1 p.m., Bike to Work Day, DeVargas Park.  Individuals and group convoy rides will converge at De Vargas Park in the morning and during the lunch hour for speakers, food, bicycle maintenance and repair workshops, Bikes on Transit demos, free bicycle safety equipment giveaways, bicycle safety information, display of a draft Santa Fe Bikeways Map, custom bicycle and trailer expos, contests and more.  Currently, morning convoy rides will be coming from Tesuque, Casa Allegre and Frenchy’s Field Park.  To join a ride or lead one, contact balodolce@santafenm.gov.

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Why Bike to Work?  Riding a bicycle is inexpensive, increases car parking, and decreases taxes used for road repair.  Fewer cars means safer communities with less speeding, reduced traffic congestion, and decreased noise and environmental pollution.  Bicycling is often faster than driving a car in urban areas and reduces health expenses by creating a more physically fit population.  Additionally, the environmental and health effects of a car-dependent world are extensive and far reaching.

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Several local business sponsors will also be offering specials to cyclists throughout the week.  That growing list currently includes Downtown Subscriptions, Holy Spirit Espresso, Mellow Velo (store and bike café) Meridian Espresso & News, Second Street Brewery and Travel Bug.  Visit these businesses to get a special when you ride your bike and thank them for supporting cyclists!

For more information, to get involved, or to become a sponsor, contact Becky Lo Dolce at balodolce@santafenm.gov or 955-6629.

UPDATE 5/14: Many cafés have offered DISCOUNTS to cyclists throughout the week.  Ride your bike to the following sponsors to get a special and thank them for their support!

• Cowgirl Barbeque and Grill: FREE dessert with lunch M-F
• Downtown Subscriptions: FREE coffee on May 18th, 50% OFF coffee drinks M-F
• Ecco Espresso & Gelato: FREE small latté M-F
• The Go Cart: $1 coffee 8-10 AM, M-F
• Holy Spirit Espresso: FREE coffee M-F
• Meridian Espresso & News: FREE coffee on May 18th, 50% off coffee drinks M-F
• Plaza Bakery - Haagen Dazs: FREE coffee 7-9 AM, M-F
• Second Street Brewery: 10% OFF all food & beverages M-F
• Travel Bug: FREE medium latté M-F

Additional specials available for Locals Care cardholders. Additional Bike to Work sponsors include: Bagelmania, Bike Coalition of New Mexico, Capital High School Marching Band, Chainbreaker Collective, City of Santa Fe, Coca-Cola, Critical Mass, Frankie Flats Bicycle Repair, La Montanita Co-op, Mellow Velo, Mission Café and Sweet Shop, Pedal Queens, Santa Fe InterFaith Alliance for Environmental Stewardship, Santa Fe Pedicabs, Santa Fe Reporter, Vladimir Chaloupka Photography, Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural Market.