November 4, 2023
By Ryan Lowery, The Paper.
An Albuquerque city councilor is seeking to replace a seven-member board tasked with preventing and abating air pollution in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. It’s a plan that isn’t sitting well with many residents of the South Valley, part of the city that is home to a disproportionate number of potentially polluting businesses.
Councilor Dan Lewis, who represents District 5 in the northwest part of Albuquerque, filed two pieces of legislation on Oct. 16. If passed, the proposed ordinance would dissolve the current board and replace it with an entirely new one and a companion resolution would place a moratorium on the board’s rulemaking authority until early next year.
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center along with The Mountain View Coalition—a group comprised of the Mountain View Neighborhood Association, Mountain View Community Action and Friends of Valle de Oro—assert that the proposed changes would undermine the board’s regulatory authority and put the health and well-being of residents in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County at further risk….
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