April 14, 2023
Press Release
Industry Filed 4 Meritless Motions to Disqualify Air Board Members for Alleged Bias
Mountain View Coalition’s Motion for the Air Board to Consider Alternative Recording Methods due to Exorbitant Costs to the Coalition for Hearing Transcription Was Approved
ALBUQUERQUE, NM—The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board denied all four motions filed by industrial businesses attempting to disqualify three Air Board members and the Board in its entirety from participating in the upcoming rulemaking for a cumulative impacts regulation over air quality in Bernalillo County. The proposed regulation is called the Health, Environment & Equity Impacts (HEEI) Regulation and can be accessed here.
The proposed HEEI regulation would require industry and regulatory agencies to take into account the health and environmental impacts of air pollution from existing and anticipated facilities when evaluating new air pollution permit applications. The regulation would be a significant step toward protecting the health of already overburdened communities.
The votes occurred during the Air Board’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 12th. The zoom recording is accessible from the Air Board’s website.
During public comments, half a dozen community members spoke against the motions to disqualify as frivolous delay tactics and in favor of the Mountain View Coalition’s motion for the Board to accept alternative recording methods for the upcoming hearing. People representing Earth Care, YUCCA and Los Jardines Institute all spoke in support of the Mountain View Coalition.
John Acosta, who works for Earth Care, and is a South Broadway homeowner, spoke especially poignantly, saying, “I’m tired of the generational cancer; I’m tired of breathing in death; I’m tired of the environmental racism.” …
Read the entire press release here.