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 League of Women Voters released a statement chastising U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, for the energy bill passed today out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bingaman chairs the committee.
“We call on Senator Bingaman to do better,” national LWV president Mary G. Wilson and New Mexico League of Women Voters president Kathy Campbell are quoted as saying in a joint statement. ”Senator Bingaman is a national and state leader, and we rely on him to protect New Mexico and our nation. This is a bad bill and should not go forward,” the two presidents added.
The two called on New Mexico’s other Senator, Tom Udall, also a New Mexico Democrat, to do better.
“We also call on Senator Tom Udall… to help us protect New Mexico and the country from this bad legislation,” they concluded.
Individually, both leaders also outlined other criticisms of the bill.
“The standards are so weak and there are so many loopholes that the renewable requirements are nearly worthless,” Wilson charged.
Campbell added that, “Our state has abundant solar, wind, and geothermal resources and we are located at the intersection of three major energy grids. Our national labs and state universities carry out leading clean-energy research and we are home to a growing cluster of clean energy companies. Strong requirements for renewable energy would be good for New Mexico, but Senator Bingaman hasn’t done what is needed.”
Noting that the legislation contains a high-carbon fuels exemption for Canadian tar sands and would open protected areas of the Gulf of Mexico to drilling, Wilson criticized those provisions. “We need to stop global warming, not pass new exemptions to allow more dirty fuels,” she added.
The impacts that New Mexico will face due to global warming, according to the statement, are as follows:
* More frequent and intense heat waves will adversely affect human health.
* Water supplies will become increasingly scarce, putting New Mexico cities, agriculture and manufacturing at risk and exacerbating water-related conflicts.
* Increases in heat, drought, and insect pests will pose challenges for agriculture.
* The decline in water availability will affect the quality and quantity of rangeland vegetation; higher carbon dioxide levels may favor woody plants over grasses, reducing grazing capacity.
* Changing climate conditions will threaten many native species.
As Matt Reichbach pointed out on his blog earlier today, the Sierra Club also opposes the bill, whereas oil and gas industry advocates are positive about it.
Bingaman himself said it was a compromise bill and a “solid piece of work,” according to the New York Times, which also gave this brief overview of provisions in the bill:
The bill’s major provisions would, among other things, impose a national renewable electricity standard, overhaul federal financing for “clean energy” projects, establish a suite of efficiency measures, mandate new federal electricity-transmission siting power, and allow wider oil and gas leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Other provisions address improving cybersecurity, creating a strategic refined products reserve, boosting energy work force training and establishing liability protection for parties taking part in Energy Department-backed carbon-sequestration demonstration projects.
