August 14, 2023

By Maddie Pukite, Daily Lobo

Passed unanimously, University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes presented the Legislative Research and Public Service Projects Funding requests for FY 2024 – 2025 to the Board of Regents at their meeting on Thursday, Aug. 10. 

The largest RPSP request for 2025 was $11,941,700 for athletics to improve student-athlete welfare, recruitment and “enhancing the university’s brand”; it was $3.5 million more than last year’s request. 

The athletics request is one of two categorical requests, which are approved for a purpose, rather than a specific project. The other is a $1,097,900 request for educational television like New Mexico PBS. 

 Categorical requests are alongside 23 new requests and 29 expansion requests.  A new request of $997,946 would support the Accelerating Resilience Innovations in Drylands Institute for education and research on how to preserve the people’s economy and the ecosystem of New Mexico. 

Environmental concerns were also brought up during the public comment. Several spoke about the Board of Regents filing to require “review and consideration” of the Health Equity and Environmental Impacts regulation. …

August 11, 2023

By Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report

Residents of a small Navajo Nation community are hopeful that some of the historic mine waste impacting their land and health will be hauled away. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Quivira Mine produced approximately 4.6 million pounds of uranium, making it the third largest uranium mine on Navajo Nation.

As the uranium was hauled off, waste was discarded in a pile that today is located about 200 yards from a residence in the Red Water Pond Road Community. …

August 7, 2023

By Elizabeth Tucker, Albuquerque Journal/Yahoo Finance

…W.K. Kellogg Foundation with the Center for Creative Leadership has announced the fellows for its 18-month fellowship, which brings together 80 leaders from the foundation’s priority places in the U.S.: Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans.

The New Mexico participants are:

…Corrine Sanchez — works to achieve family and community healing, youth development, and ending violence against Native women, girls and our Earth Mother in San Ildefonso Pueblo.

Neema Kamaria Hanifa Pickett — founder of Kamaria Creations Wellness Retreat a space for Black people to feel supported through internal and external healing modalities in Albuquerque.

Virginia Necochea — the first woman of color to serve as the executive director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, a public interest nonprofit that works alongside frontline communities in upholding environmental justice in Albuquerque.

Natane Ollin Tochtli Lim — worked in early childhood education for more than 20 years in various teaching roles and classroom settings within the Chicagoland area and Albuquerque.

Victoria Domiguez — empowering students and families of color, especially those who are living in extreme poverty, and exploring opportunities that will support them in their day-to-day living in Cuba, New Mexico. …

August 7, 2023

By Drew Goretzka, Albuquerque Business First

New versions of a proposal to change air permitting processes in Bernalillo County are taking stage at ongoing stakeholder meetings.

The original proposal, filed in November 2022 by the Mountain View Coalition, a collection of neighborhood organizations based in South Valley, looks to limit permits being issued in communities deemed “overburdened.”

Business leaders, especially those with stakes in the South Valley, say the proposal would hinder business and development across the county.

The two proposals, submitted by the Mountain View Coalition and the City of AlbuquerqueEnvironmental Health Department (EHD), differ greatly in specificity and intent. …

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.”…