I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The U.S. Senate took a significant step toward protecting the environment on Sunday, voting 66-12 to move forward with an omnibus bill that protects 2 million acres of wilderness land in the West.
The legislation is actually a collection of 160 bills, according to the Associated Press article by Michael Daly that ran in the Albuquerque Journal today. “Today is a great day for America’s public lands,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat. “This big, bipartisan package of bills represents years of work by senators from many states, and both parties, in cooperation with local communities, to enhance places that make America so special.”
In addition to listing swathes of land across the West designated for protection, Daly gave a list of New Mexico projects included in the bill. But he left out the 20,000-acre Sabinoso Wilderness area, which is located 40 miles east of Las Vegas, N.M.
Nathan Newcomer, associate director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, said this is disappointing because the headline of the article is all about wilderness. In an e-mail to NMI, Newcomer explained:
This lands package has been in the works for many years and would designate several Wilderness areas across the Rocky Mountain West, including the 20,000 acre Sabinoso Wilderness Area.
The Sabinoso Wilderness Area… represents one of the last remnants of the Great Plains ecosystem in our state. This bill has garnered much support over the years from then-representative Tom Udall, Senator Bingaman, local mayors, city councils and county commissioners.
… the article fails to mention the Sabinoso Wilderness Act anywhere in its story, even though the headlines of the piece are focused exclusively on Wilderness legislation.
Needless to say, this is very disappointing.
