by NMELC | Jul 23, 2023 | NMELC in the News
July 23, 2023
By Alaina Mencinger, Albuquerque Journal
Residents of a South Valley neighborhood, frustrated at being used as a “sacrifice zone” for industry, are asking for a harder look at the impact of pollution before air quality permits are approved.
Mountain View is a Bernalillo County community sandwiched between the Rio Grande and Interstate 25. The area is host to several industrial facilities, including a water treatment plant, several asphalt plants and the Rio Bravo generating station. As early as 2004, the New Mexico Environment Department labeled the neighborhood, whose inhabitants are predominantly Hispanic and low-income, as an “overburdened area.”…
by NMELC | Jul 6, 2023 | NMELC in the News
July 6, 2023
By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Environmental groups said they were surprised by the ruling, but expect the fight to continue over site in Cibola County.
In early June, federal regulators rejected a mining company’s proposal to loosen current cleanup standards at a former uranium mining operation in Western New Mexico.
Beginning in 1958, The Homestake Mining Company operated a mine in Cibola County, just five miles outside the town of Milan. The consequences have carried 65 years into the future. In the early 2000s, one of the world’s largest mining companies, Barrick Gold, bought out Homestake….
by NMELC | May 9, 2023 | NMELC in the News
May 9, 2023
Guest Column, Albuquerque Journal
By
BY LAURO SILVA, PRESIDENT, MOUNTAIN VIEW NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION; NORA GARCIA, BOARD MEMBER, MVNA; MARLA PAINTER, PRESIDENT, MOUNTAIN VIEW COMMUNITY ACTION (MVCA); ALAN MARKS, BOARD MEMBER, MVCA; DAVID BARBER, PRESIDENT, FRIENDS OF VALLE DE ORO NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (FVDO) AND KATIE DIX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FVDO
On May 1, under cover of darkness, the Albuquerque City Council voted to put thousands of Bernalillo County residents at risk for asthma, heart disease, cancer and other diseases associated with air pollution.
Albuquerque and Bernalillo County are becoming increasingly known for bad air quality – the American Lung Association recently gave Bernalillo County an “F” for air quality related to ozone – and the health effects associated with air pollution. But air pollution does not affect everyone in Albuquerque equally; air polluting industrial permits overwhelmingly impact low-income communities, and communities of color experience the adverse health impacts of air pollution disproportionately….
by NMELC | Apr 27, 2023 | NMELC in the News
April 27, 2023
by John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain
The late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater once said a man from the West will fight over three things: water, women and gold, “and usually in that order.”
In 2023, Goldwater’s words still ring true, especially in Socorro and Caton counties, as the 16-year fight over the San Agustin Aquifer continues.
One of the players in that fight, the San Augustin Water Coalition, is sponsoring a 5K Run/1 Mile Fun Run/Walk on Saturday, May 6, to raise money to help with legal fees to help prevent Augustin Plains Ranch LLC (APR) from mining water from the aquifer beneath the San Agustin Plains, west of Magdalena. …
by NMELC | Feb 21, 2023 | NMELC in the News
February 21, 2023
by Maddie Pukite, Daily Lobo
Earlier this month on Feb. 8, the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board approved a joint motion that dismissed a hearing for an air quality permit to build an asphalt plant in the Mountain View community in the South Valley of Albuquerque.
The Environmental Law Center joined community organizers in the legal fight to get the asphalt site out of the community in 2018 when the Environmental Health Department issued a permit to New Mexico Terminal Services to create the plant, according to staff attorneys Maslyn Locke and Eric Jantz….
by NMELC | Feb 14, 2023 | NMELC in the News
February 14, 2023
by Gwynne Ann Unruh, The Paper.
The Mountain View Coalition has finally, after years fighting a permit that was issued for another hot mix asphalt batch plant in the South Valley, got the long end of the stick. New Mexico Terminal Services (NMTS) set to operate the plant in the Mountain View neighborhood got the short end of the stick this time.
By unanimous vote, the Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board approved a joint motion to dismiss a request for a hearing on the merits for an air quality permit issued in October 2020 for NMTS to operate the asphalt plant. …
