new mexico

Promoting Renewal of Delegation Calling for Broader Chaco Protection

ALBUQUERQUE — Members of the New Mexico legislative delegation have again called for a permanent halt to oil and gas development outside the boundaries of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

On May 2, Democrats reintroduced legislation to formally enact a 10-mile buffer zone around the more than 490-square-mile park. It is the latest attempt by environmentalists and Native American tribes to protect the Chaco region, a vast stretch of the New Northwest. Mexico including the pueblos of New Mexico and places of cultural significance to other tribes.

The moratorium on new leases and mineral development on federal land remains in effect as the U.S. Department of the Interior considers a 20-year withdrawal ban on drilling and other activities across the land.

The Pueblo people of New Mexico are undertaking a large-scale ethnographic study of the area in hopes of better informing federal land managers about the cultural resources that dot the area. . Work is still underway, but tribal leaders are hopeful that the federal government, particularly the Department of the Interior, is moving toward a plan that incorporates traditional knowledge.

Former Tesk Pueblo Governor Mark Mitchell, chairman of the All Pueblo Governor’s Council, said the Chaco region is an ancestral footprint and a foundation of core values ​​that Pueblo communities still strive to uphold today. Told.

The Navajo Nation also completed its own investigation last year, advocating to secure a smaller area given the economic impact that withdrawal would have on tribes and individual Navajo landowners who would eventually land inland. there is

Senator Martin Heinrich Seeks Third Term

SANTA FE — Sen. Martin Heinrich on May 3 defended causes ranging from gun safety to access to abortion and the transition to cleaner energy in the oil-producing state of New Mexico, and is set to enter his third term next year. announced that he would run.

A victory for the state senior senator would further extend the Democratic dominance in the New Mexico legislature. In 2018, Heinrich won his second term in a three-way race against Republican political newcomer and libertarian former governor Gary Johnson.

Heinrich announced his candidacy in an online video, also highlighting federal spending on roads, bridges and wildfire relief.

Heinrich’s first campaign pitch to voters included advocating for expanded early childhood education and stepping up background checks on young gun buyers to keep firearms away from more domestic violence offenders. It touches on the 2022 federal law that established.

Heinrich is the chairman of the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee, as well as other committees that oversee the intelligence community and energy and natural resource policy.

Support was immediate from influential state Democrats, including newly elected Attorney General Raul Torrez and Albuquerque House Speaker Javier Martinez.

No candidate to challenge Heinrich has yet emerged.

Montana

Pollution Lawsuits May Suppress Use of Aviation Flame Retardants

BILLINGS — Legal action in Montana prompts government to stop wildfires after environmentalists expressed concern that waterways were being polluted by a potentially toxic red slurry falling from aircraft The use of aviation flame retardants may be greatly curtailed.

The coalition, which includes Paradise, California, where wildfires killed 85 people and destroyed towns in 2018, said the court’s ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could endanger lives, homes and forests. Stated.

Advocacy groups suing the agency say it continues to use flame retardants without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers and ignores the Clean Water Act.

A group advocating environmental ethics by Forest Service officials has sought an injunction to stop the agency from using aviation flame retardants until a pollution permit is obtained.

The controversy has grown across North America over the past two decades as climate change, migration of people to fire-prone areas, and dense forests are causing even more devastating large-scale fires that are more difficult to fight. It’s happening at a time when wildfires are getting bigger and more devastating.

Forest Service officials acknowledged in court filings that more than 200 flame retardants have been dropped into waterways over the past decade. They said they usually occur accidentally, occurring in less than 1% of thousands of drops annually, and that environmental damage from fires could exceed pollution from flame retardants.

Forestry officials said they are trying to comply with the law by obtaining pollution permits, but that could take years.

More than 100 million gallons of flame retardants have been used in the last decade, according to the USDA. It consists of water and other ingredients, including fertilizers and salts that can be harmful to fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals.

Oklahoma

Governor signs ban on gender-affirming child care

OKLAHOMA CITY — The state of Oklahoma on May 1 signed into law a bill by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt making it a felony for health care workers to provide treatments to children that may include anti-pubertal drugs, It became the latest state to ban gender-affirming medicine for minors. and hormones.

Conservatives across the country have targeted transgender rights, so Oklahoma joins at least 15 other states in enacting laws banning such care.

Stitt, who was re-elected in November, said he wanted to protect children and made the ban a priority for Congress this year. Transgender advocates and parents of transgender children say such care is essential.

Stitt last year signed a bill banning transgender girls and women from playing on girls’ sports teams and banning transgender children from using bathrooms at schools according to their gender identity. .

The bill, which Mr Stitt signed into law on May 1, makes it illegal to provide gender reassignment medical care to anyone under the age of 18. Such treatments include surgery as well as hormones and drugs that suppress or delay normal puberty.

Several human rights groups, including the Oklahoma American Civil Liberties Union, have pledged to “take all necessary legal action” to prevent the law from entering into force.

In a joint statement, Lambda Regal, the ACLU and the ACLU said, “Gender-affirming care helps transgender youth succeed, develop healthy relationships with friends and family, live authentic lives, and dream for the future. It’s an important part of it,” he said.

Arizona

Saudi-owned farm water permit revoked

PHOENIX — The state of Arizona has canceled drilling permits for two wells at a Saudi-owned Alfalfa farm in the western state of Arizona after officials said they found discrepancies in the company’s well application.

Attorney General Chris Mays said inconsistencies in a new well application for Fondmonte Arizona LLC, a company that uses sprinklers to grow alfalfa in La Paz County and export it as feed for Saudi Arabian dairy cattle, has been filed by her office. said to be clear. The company does not pay for the water it uses.

After Mays informed state officials of the discrepancies in his application, they agreed to revoke the permit, which was approved in August.

AZ Family.com The new well reportedly will pump up to 3,000 gallons of water per minute. Her average family of four in Phoenix uses about 17,000 gallons of water per month. This means two new wells will pump as much as her family of four uses in her month in just three minutes.

Several large corporate farms in western and southeastern Arizona have come under fire for using too much water as the southwestern United States is hit by a severe drought.

In some cases, neighbors have complained that nearby wells have dried up because corporate farms have used so much water. In addition, Arizona faces the potential loss of significant amounts of water from the Colorado River as the federal government announces new measures to address declining water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead.