Tagged: Conservation Beat

In a newly released ranking of city park systems, Albuquerque came in 11th, just below major metropolises like Seattle and Philadelphia.  Meanwhile,  environmental advocates in Rio Rancho say its time their city starting trying to catch up.

In terms of developed parkland-- that is, space including amenities like basketball courts and swing sets-- Rio Rancho isn’t doing that badly.   The city boasts 3.5 acres of developed parkland per thousand residents, compared to Albuquerque's 5.5.

A new scorecard for park systems in the nation’s largest 40 cities places Albuquerque near the top of the heap.

The rating system, developed by the Trust for Public Land, considers three factors: total park acreage, public access to those parks and spending on parks.  Albuquerque missed the top ten by just one.  But TPL’s Greg Hiner says that score places it within a stone’s throw of cities like New York, Seattle and Philadelphia. 

"You know, those are big, metropolitcan cities and you don't always think of Albuqerque in that same breadth," he says. "But here they are!"

Public Service Company of New Mexico says it has received four bids to install EPA-mandated pollution controls at its San Juan Generating Station...all of them just as costly as the company had predicted.

According to the Albuquerque Journal:

PNM says the lowest bid is more than double the federal agency’s estimate of $345 million to equip the coal-fired plant with selective catalytic reduction, or SCR, technology to cut pollutants that cause regional haze.   

Firefighters from around New Mexico continue to battle a 410 acre blaze caused by lightning in the Gila National Forest.

A week-long hearing on New Mexico’s pit rule has drawn to a close…for now.

The pit rule, adopted in 2008, governs the disposal of waste from oil and gas drilling, and has been called one of the strictest regulations in the country.

This week the Oil Conservation Commission heard testimony from experts and the public about the oil and gas industry’s push to revise the regulations.  But with time running out and several people yet to testify, the OCC decided to continue the hearing June 20-22.

The public comment period will remain open until several days before then, according to Gwen Lechelt with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, the group working to keep the regulations intact.   

On Sunday, Albuquerque residents and visitors will be treated to the rare sight of an annular solar eclipse.  The eclipse starts at 6:28 PM and continues until the sun sets.   KUNM’s Conservation Beat reporter Sidsel Overgaard spoke with Barry Spletzer with the Albuquerque Astronomical Society to learn more.

The economy took a serious hit with the last recession. And while it will take time to recover, New Mexico is faring much better than the rest of the United States. That’s according to a recent Headwaters Economics report.  The independent research group says New Mexico is creating jobs faster and has higher per capita income than the U.S as a whole.  Headwaters Policy Director Chris Mehl says public lands have been a significant factor in New Mexico's economic recovery.  He says it's not just the tourism industry.

Governor's Susana Martinez's declaration makes it easier for communities, farmers and ranchers to secure federal funding.    It also kicks into action the New Mexico Drought Task Force headed by the State Engineer.  The panel is to make recommendations on how to mitigate problems that stem from persistent drought.

Last year, the second driest year on record, 90 percent of the state faced severe drought conditions at some point.  Despite some recent precipitation, the Governor points out that it may take several years of significantly higher than normal levels of rain and snow pack for reservoir storage to recover.

State officials from a variety of agencies gathered this morning to talk about New Mexico’s drought and its effect on recreation this summer.  State Engineer Scott Verhines took a moment after the conference to talk about the bigger picture with KUNM’s Sidsel Overgaard .

Next week the state Oil Conservation Commission will take up consideration of New Mexico’s pit rule, a measure governing the disposal of waste from oil and gas drilling. 

When adopted in 2008, the pit rule was hailed by environmentalists as one of the strictest standards in the nation…and condemned by the oil and gas industry as unnecessarily burdensome. 

Starting Monday, the three-member OCC will begin a week-long set of hearings to consider the industry’s administrative appeals. 

Despite the fact that cesspools have been illegal in New Mexico for almost 40 years, thousands of homeowners still use them to dispose of raw sewage…and the state wants that to stop.

For the next five months, the New Mexico Environment Department is providing amnesty to residents who contact the agency to have their cesspools eliminated and replaced with modern septic systems.

Dennis McQuillan with the state’s Liquid Waste Program says not only do cesspools pollute the groundwater…they’re dangerous.

As part of a new $4 million US Department of Agriculture initiative, New Mexico will get about $35-thousand dollars to help make farmers market produce available to food stamp recipients. 

About half of New Mexico’s 60-plus farmers markets already accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits.  But Denise Miller with the New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association says the new grant will hopefully bring needed wireless technology to all the rest. 

"Many markets are in parking lots or outdoors where they don't have access to electricity. When they have a wireless system, they are able to connect via satellite data to information on the SNAP cards."

In a move environmental groups call "unprecedented," the Environmental Protection Agency is reconsidering a decades-old permit for a proposed uranium mine near Church Rock. 

No uranium has been mined in New Mexico since 1998.  Of all the companies expressing a renewed interested in the idea (thanks to an improved market for the mineral), Uranium Resources Incorporated is perhaps furthest along in the permitting process.  Spokesman Matt Lueras says the company hopes to start production at its Church Rock mine by the end of 2013.  That is, assuming the EPA doesn’t revoke a necessary permit known as an aquifer exemption.

The number of oil and gas wells in New Mexico is on the rise due to higher demand for domestic production, but the number of federal inspectors qualified to watch over them remains at less than 100.  

According to a report in the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Bureau of Land Management and the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division oversee about 100,000 wells, each of which is inspected an average of once every three years.

While the agencies say the inspectors are doing their jobs well, some New Mexicans are worried that there aren't enough of them to ensure the facilities won't harm the state's water and land, and damage the health of its citizens.

New Mexicans are already able to get information about wildfires on the web or via Twitter.  But State Forestry officials say they're hoping to reach a wider audience with a new email alert system.  Forestry spokesman Dan Ware says the emails will contain a host of information that can't be crammed into a 140 character tweet, including when the fire started, the cause, and a description of threatened homes and communities.