On Monday, the Albuquerque City Council doubled down on its wishes to abolish a powerful air quality regulatory board, overriding a mayoral veto, while at the same time, stripping its powers away until February
That could have put a swift end to a much-anticipated environmental justice rule hearing this week. But, the board has defiantly decided to continue.
Coincidentally, the joint Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board started considering the Health, Environment & Equity Impacts or HEEI regulation on Monday – a rule that has been in the making for decades.
Marla Painter is with the Mountain View Coalition, a group of people living in these so-called “overburdened” areas.
“If you care about your health, if you care about the health of the children in this community, if you care about the river, if you care about the future of our city, then you will support this rule,” Painter said.
Opponents of the proposed rule include powerhouse economic drivers in the state, like Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories..
Stan Harris is one of the lawyers representing Sandia.
“The petitioner’s rule, as proposed, would put Sandia’s mission, its work, and the economic benefits it provides to the city, the county, and the world in real jeopardy,” Harris said.
But, the clock is now ticking as environmentalists and the air board race against the city clerk’s office to hear the rule before the regulation can be processed and go into effect. The hearing is expected to last until Friday.
On the surface, the proposal would change the City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department (EHD) and the Air Quality Control Board’s approach to how they issue air pollution permits, essentially mandating an automatic denial of an application if a facility will be located in an “overburdened community” and negatively impact the health of residents without an impact analysis.
This doesn’t necessarily mean permits couldn’t be issued in these areas.
If a company seeks to locate a facility in one of these communities, it could file a pre-application for a HEEI permit prior to applying for any other air pollution permit with the city health department.
In order to obtain one of these HEEI permits, the applicant would have to perform an analysis of existing health and environmental impacts in every overburdened community within a one-mile radius of the polluting source. The results of this study would determine approval – or denial – of the permit.
This hearing comes a mere few weeks after Albuquerque City Councilor and oil and gas executive Dan Lewis pushed to abolish the joint board and establish the moratorium.
While passed by the council on a 5-4 vote in November, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller vetoed the initiatives, a move Lewis criticized.
“Tim Keller chose environmental extremists over major economic development and jobs in our City by vetoing legislation that puts checks and balances on a rogue Air Quality Control Board,” Lewis said in an emailed statement.
Ultimately, the council decided to lash back – overriding Mayor Tim Keller’s vetoes. Councilors voted 7-2 to reinstate the moratorium and 6-3 to completely abolish the board’s membership.
According to the mayor’s office, the Lewis resolutions will not take effect until December 20th. Though, it’s unclear if Lewis plans to file an emergency injunction to stop the HEEI hearings.
In response to the veto overrides, a mayoral spokesperson wrote “...this action likely throws construction, community and businesses into indefinite limbo, creating broad legal ambiguity that could tie us up in court for years.”
Until there is a change, opportunities for public comment are still scheduled for 5:30pm every evening in-person and over zoom.
