This time of year provides an opportunity to think about the year just passed. We do this in diverse ways. Reflecting on lives lost, major events, best movies, or what impacted us on a personal level. I tried something new this year. I thought about women who were authentic and inspirational. The more I read, […]
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Posted inNews
Biden hires New Mexican for top campaign spot
New Mexico has already proven to be fertile hiring grounds for President Joe Biden. He appointed former local Congresswomen Deb Haaland to lead the Department of Interior and then added Santa Fe lawyer Tanya Trujillo and former State Indian Affairs Secretary Lynn Trujillo to top posts in that department. He picked Xochtil Torres Small, former […]
Posted inNews
A Win for Sacred Greater Chaco Region
A Native American environmental group and other advocates just took a giant leap toward environmental justice. A federal appeals court recently ruled the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to adequately analyze the consequences of permitting nearly 199 new oil and gas (O&G) wells in the northwestern Greater Chaco region. The defeat of O&G drilling […]
Posted inNews
The Slick: A Republican Attack Ad Gets Its Facts All Wrong
New Mexico’s oilfield jobs are legendary, but comparatively rare. This story also appeared in Capital & Main The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) released a dozen negative ads on Oct. 11, none of which say anything about Republican members of Congress or their platforms. Instead, this 11th-hour mudslinging focuses on attacking Democrats — often without basis. And […]
Posted inClimate
Orphaned O&G Well Count Climbing
There were 741 orphaned wells in the Land of Enchantment prior to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Congress passed last year. Once the law was enacted, New Mexico checked our abandoned and orphaned wells list twice like Santa Claus. The state suddenly found 1,000 more orphaned wells in need of plugging. After this […]
Posted inElections
Pelosi to Visit ABQ In September, Throwing Weight Behind NM Candidates
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is set to visit ABQ on September 25 when she hosts a reception to benefit NM Dem U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernandez and southern Congressional hopeful Gabe Vasquez. The Speaker, now 82, has said in the past that this would be her last term in leadership but if […]
Posted inClimate
Pueblos Start Legal Proceedings to Quantify Their Rio Grande Water Rights
For the first time in 40 years, a stretch of the Middle Rio Grande that flows through Albuquerque surrendered to a blazing hot 100-plus-degree temperatures in late July. As the fifth-longest river in the U.S. went dry and became a collection of puddles, it left an array of aquatic life, some endangered, stranded and hard […]
Posted inRolling Paper
Spending Bills Address Pot Problems
Lawmakers have once again failed to include protections for state-legal cannabis programs in the base spending bill that funds the Department of Justice (DOJ). Legislators will now have to vote to include those protections as an amendment to the bill. But there are other cannabis reforms at work in the current spate of spending bills […]
Posted inClimate
“Water Action Month:” Tribal Lands and Pueblos Are Focus of New Bills
Tribal nations across New Mexico have been without sufficient funding to address water infrastructure needs, including funding for irrigation, drinking water and other water security needs for many decades. Burdens and cost sharing requirements have acted as a significant barrier to accessing needed funding.
Posted inNative
“I Feel Angry, Sad and Hopeful,” No Database Tracking Missing and Murdered Leaves Families Struggling
earlier today, somebody asked me about how I felt and I didn’t quite know how to answer it. I feel angry and sad and frustrated, but I also feel really hopeful. There’s a lot of hope and, I’m excited because this is as I said, it is a milestone, but it’s not the end.