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APR WATER GRAB - SEC - LOCAL ENVIRO. & NEWS

September 15, 2020 -
Birds are dropping dead in New Mexico, potentially in the 'hundreds of thousands' ... Scientists are investigating why so many birds are dying and are asking the public for help. NBC News     You can help: Southwest Avian Mortality Project. ... Hundreds of dead migrant birds have been reported in the state of New Mexico during August and September 2020. iNaturalist   9/16/20 - UPDATE: Probbly linked to wild fires. Guardian

September 11, 2020 -
'Reckless, Violent, Massacre' of 570 Wolves and Wolf Pups in Idaho Bolsters Alarm Over Trump Attack on Species Protections. ... Wildlife advocates warn that if a Trump administration effort to lift nationwide protections proceeds, "this cruelty could extend to all wolves within our country's borders." CommonDreams

September 7, 2020 -
Slaughtered Pups and Maimed Wolves in Idaho Demonstrate the Effects of Federal Delisting.
CounterPunch

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August 28, 2020 -
One Ranch, Nine Dead Cows, and Six Very Strange Wolf Investigations. CounterPunch

August 27, 2020 -
Up to half of world's water supply stolen annually, study finds. ... As water scarcity increases from factors including climate change, so do drivers of water theft, an ongoing problem in Australia. Guardian

August 17, 2020 -
Our Race Against the Clock to Affirm Water as a Human Right. ... On the ten year anniversary of the United Nations historic vote to recognize water as a basic human right, Barlow reflects on where we go from here. CommonDreams

August 12, 2020 -
Is ‘dismal’ the best education New Mexicans can expect? Families fight for multicultural, bilingual and educational equity in the face of governmental evasion. HCN

August 12, 2020 -
While Socorro petitions for new rates, Co-op waits for Supreme Court. Chieftain

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August 13, 2020 -
To’Hajiilee, county call for action on water pipeline.
Navajo Times

August 13, 2020 -
Living in the dark: Native reservations struggle with power shortages in pandemic. ... The pandemic has exacerbated severe energy and economic inequalities on Native lands in America – so people are turning to renewable energy. Guardian

August 12, 2020 -
August Greenfire report .pdf

August 11, 2020 - August 7, 2020 -
Navajo Nation’s Shortage of Clean Water Is Impeding Efforts to Control COVID TruthOut

August 6, 2020 -
When the Rio Grande goes dry. Ink Stain

August 4, 2020 -
Framing Wolves in New Mexico? CounterPunch or PDF

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July 24, 2020 -
New Mexico secretary of state worries Trump's federal troops will disrupt the elections. DailyKos

July 22, 2020 -
Save the Staffel Wolf Pack. CounterPunch

July 17, 2020 -
Of Toddlers, Wolves, and Public Lands Ranchers. CounterPunch

July 10, 2020 -
'Heat dome' weather system to bake America with temperatures beyond 90F for weeks. ... Summer 2020 marked by heatwaves, Tropical Storms, fire threats, and a La Nina watch. Independent

July 9, 2020 -
Mexican wolves found dead - Wildlife managers are investigating the deaths of two Mexican gray wolves found in May. Chieftain

July 8, 2020 -
New Mexico Monsoon Awareness website

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June 25, 2020 -
Thank New Mexico's Leaders for Ending the Gila Diversion!
Download Press Release
See also June 16 below

June 24, 2020 -
New Mexico Groups Appeal EPA’s Dirty Water Rule Download Press Release

June 22, 2020 -
Two Electric Projects in New Mexico Being Funded by USDA  NOTE: "The Socorro Electric Cooperative Inc. is receiving a $28 million loan to connect 485 consumers, build and improve 45 miles of distribution line, and build and improve 25 miles of line for the Magdalena Transmission Line Rebuild project."   This is not "funding", customers still have to repay the loan.  Download press release

June 20, 2020 -
Who Owns A River? The Question Is Tearing This Community Apart ... Thanks to a controversial New Mexico rule, rich landowners are staking claim to the state’s public waterways. HuffPost

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June 12, 2020 -
Advocating for the Mexican Gray Wolf: An Interview with Amy Harwood. CounterPunch  Related: How to speak up for the wolves in th e 10(j) management rule scoping comment period. ... The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a request for comments on April 15, 2020 - 60 day period. . Lobos of the SW

June 11, 2020 -
‘Their greed is gonna kill us’: Indian Country fights against more fracking. ... expansion of drilling in New Mexico would threaten sacred artefacts and bring public health risks to area still reeling from Covid-19. Guardian

June 10, 2020 -
APR Update: The calendaring on the document below does not mean that we have a hearing date; we only know where the case will be, not when. Notice Assignment To The General Calendar- from the NM State Engineers Office. Download   Related: Additional explanation of what this means.Calendaring Document Explained.

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June 7, 2020 -
‘Forever deadly’: State officials, communities scramble to fight a proposal to house high-level nuclear waste in New Mexico. NM Political Report  Related: Nov. 2019 - Nuclear Colonialism: Indigenous opposition grows against proposal for nation’s largest nuclear storage facility in NM. NM Political Report

June 7 2020 -
Pandemic and Digital Divide Threaten Accurate Census Count of Native Populations. TruthOut

June 4, 2020 -
Transforming your electric cooperative’s power supply. ... By Duane Highley Chief Executive Officer Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. Chieftain

June 4, 2020 -
US south-west in grip of historic ‘megadrought’, research finds. ... Intensified by climate change, the current 20-year arid period is one of the worst on record, with wide-ranging effects Extinction Chronicles

May 28, 2020 -
Letter to Chieftain re:SEC rate increase.

May 22, 2020 -
Environmental assessment and draft decision notice Finding of No Significant Impact for the Military Training Exercises Project on the Mount Taylor, Magdalena, Mountainair, and Sandia Ranger Districts of the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands.
Download Letter

May 21, 2020 -
APR Update.An update is difficult when nothing seems to be happening, but in spite of how quiet it is and has been, our fight continues. Download the update

May 21, 2020 -
New Mexico Wild - Protecting New Mexico's Wilderness, Wildlife, and Water. New website

May 15, 2020 -
Starting tomorrow, all New Mexicans will be required to wear a face covering in public. Download Information  

May 12, 2020 -
“M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act” - Introduced in NM Legislature by Martin Heinrich and Tom Udal

May 12, 2020 -
The War Against the Wolves of Alaska. CounterPunch

May 5, 2020 -
Navajo Nation Suffers Third-Highest COVID-19 Infection Rate in U.S. with Limited Healthcare & Water DemocracyNow

May 5, 2020 -
Coalition Sues to Stop Clean Water Rollbacks. NM Wild

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April 30, 2020 -
Friends of Bosque del Apache NWR encourages our members, donors, and sponsors to write letters with substantive comments to USFWS at Bosque del Apache concerning their plans to expand hunting at the refuge. Download announcement

April 29, 2020 -
A Big Win for the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and a Call to Protect Wolves and Wilderness in Idaho. CounterPunch

April 23, 2020 -
Socorro Electric Co-op to comply with PRC ruling Chieftain

April 21, 2020 -
The Carnage of Wolf Trapping in Idaho. ... A new public records request to Idaho Department of Fish and Game reveals that Idaho wolf trappers are capturing nearly as many non-target species as they are capturing wolves. CounterPunch

April 17, 2020 -
Trump’s response to the startling decline in lynx populations across the West? Remove the lynx from the Endangered Species Act, then annihilate its habitat once and for all. Meanwhile - A new survey has found that Oregon’s wolf population has risen to 158, missing from the count, however, was OR-7, the wolf made famous by his 4,000-mile journey to find a mate in 2011. And, 'A dangerous road’: Coastal GasLink pays to kill wolves in endangered caribou habitat in B.C. interior. The imperiled Hart Ranges caribou herd will lose a chunk of critical habitat to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and the company’s contribution to a recent predator cull is raising ethical questions. The Narwhal

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April 17, 2020 -
NM Governor issues statement regarding ‘Opening Up America Again’ guidelines. KQRE

April 17, 2020 -
Emerging Climate-Fueled Megadrought in Western US Rivals Any Over Past 1,200 Years: Study ... "We now have enough observations of current drought and tree-ring records of past drought to say that we're on the same trajectory as the worst prehistoric droughts." CommonDreams

April 17, 2020 -
Stay Informed & Take Action – Join the Fire Adapted New Mexico Network and work towards community wildfire resilience! Click Here --- Fire Adapted Learning Network. Click here

April 17, 2020 -
Socorro City’s response to SEC. Press Release
(scroll down to April 15, for more info)

April 17, 2020 - New Mexico Unveils App for Behavioral Health Support. ... provides free 24-hour crisis and non-crisis support and access to behavioral health professionals. Click here

April 16, 2020 -
Tribal Response Plan Covid-19 - State of New Mexico. Download plan    Navajo Nation Covid-19 website

April 16, 2020 -
Magdalena Village board approves emergency declaration Chieftain

April 16, 2020 -
Tribes Aren’t Getting COVID-19 Aid Because Federal Agencies Are Flailing. ... “They don’t know how to interact in the appropriate way with tribes and they’re just not getting the job done,” says Sen. Tom Udall. HuffPost

April 16, 2020 -
It’s Time for the Forest Service to Curtail Idaho’s Wolf Slaughter in Wilderness Areas. CounterPunch

April 15, 2020 -
SEC Board fined $185,000.00 by the PRC. Download Court document   List of court filings as of 4/16/20. Related: (Oct 2019) Clock ticking on SEC appeal. Chieftain

April 15, 2020 -
COVID-19 & Indian Country: Pandemic Exposes Navajo Nation’s Water Access Crisis & Health Disparities. DemocracyNow

April 11, 2020 -
Comment by April 16 to protect river segments in the Gila! Click here   Related: Wild and Scenic bill opponents out in force at meeting. Silver City Daily

April 11, 2020 - A Compendium of Questions & Answers Relating to Wild & Scenic Rivers (May 1997)
Click here

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March 7, 2020 -
Wild and Scenic bill opponents out in force at meeting. Silver City Daily

April 9, 2020 -
Good news! Copper Flat Mine faces new obstacle: no water, no go. NMELC Announcement

April 2, 2020 -
Socorro County Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Download   Magdalena specific info. Download

April 1, 2020 -
What’s the Hang Up on Releasing Adult Lobos? CounterPunch

March 31, 2020 -
From New Mexico Wild March 31, 2010
Comment by April 16 to protect Wilderness in the Gila! The Gila National Forest is currently revising its forest management plan for the first time since 1986. The final version of this plan will determine how Wilderness, wildlife, water, and other natural resources are managed within the Forest for the next 20-30 years.
Download announcement  

March 30, 2019 - Could COVID-19 Spell the End of the Fracking Industry as We Know It? ... NM is just one state whose fracking boom appears poised to fall off an economic cliff amid the pandemic. TruthOut  

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March 18, 2020 -
The Socorro Electric Coop has postponed the annual meeting that was set for April 18th.  Not rescheduled as yet.  

March 13, 2020 -
Greenfire report from NM Environmental Law Center
Download

March 5, 2020 -
SEC trustees run unopposed - Chieftain

March 3, 2020 -
Uranium cleanup report falls on few ears. Navajo Times

February 26, 2017 -
San Augustin Water Coalition annual meeting for Saturday, April 25th, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. at the Datil school gym. We will hold a candidates' forum. ... all parties who will appear on ballots in Catron and Socorro Counties.SASWC  

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February 25, 2020 -
APR Update. As you know, Judge Reynolds granted summary judgment last year in favor of the Community Protestants (us) “with prejudice” (meaning that the APR cannot come back with the same or a similar application to mine water in the Plains). ... Subsequently, the APR appealed this decision to the New Mexico Appellate Court. We are now waiting for that court to take up our case, which, according to Doug Meiklejohn at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC), could take up to three years. While we wait we prepare for what could happen.
For more information:   Download  

February 20, 2020 -
Reforming Expectations to Save Western Rivers. ... Recently, former Interior Secretary Babbitt proposed an alternative to the highly controversial yet difficult-to-kill Gila River diversion project, which would dam and divert water from the last free-flowing river in New Mexico
 CounterPunch    Related:   Damming the Gila a vampire proposal  Santa Fe New Mexican  

February 20, 2020 -
How the Military is Raiding Public Lands and Civilian Spaces Across the Western Front. CounterPunch  

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February 18, 2020 -
(In the view the APR might try to bottle the water) Washington state takes bold step to restrict companies from bottling local water. .... State senate passes bill to ban new permits for water bottling operations, calling process ‘detrimental to public welfare’.  Guardian  

February 13, 2020 -
NM Environmental Law Center February newsletter
Lawsuit filed over fuel spill at Kirkland Download  

February 12, 2020 -
SEC amends its declaratory judgment filing Chieftain

February 11, 2020 -
The War on Wolves is Part of the Culture War. CounterPunch  

February 5, 2020 -
New Mexico deserves wild, scenic Gila River - Howie Morales, NM Lieutenant Governor.  Chieftain Letter  

February 5, 2020 -
Co-op to vet trustee candidates; intervenes in Tri-State case .  Chieftain   

February 1, 2020 -
New Mexico Wild February newsletter. Download

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January 29, 2020 -
City: No (SEC) permanent agreement is in place.
Chieftain

January 29, 2020 -
Transparency, independence are fundamentals electrical co-ops need to reinstate. Letter to Chieftain

January 29, 2020 -
Wolves Play a Beneficial Role in Wildlife Management.   CounterPunch  

January 26, 2020 -
Global Groundwater Is Threatened by Unsustainable Practices Amid Climate Crisis . ... As the planet’s thermometer continues to inch upwards, one sought-after resource is only going to increase in value: groundwater.  TruthOut  

January 25, 2020 -
A rewilding triumph: wolves help to reverse Yellowstone degradation  Guardian  

January 24, 2020 -
Trump Rule Threatens New Mexico Waters. NM Environmental Law Center Green Fire Report     Related: EPA water rule change called disastrous for New Mexico  New Mexican   Related:  EPA, Army finalizes U.S. waters definition; promises water protection, economic growth  WV News  

January 23, 2020 -
Tri-State embraces renewables  Chieftain  

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January 22, 2020 -
Bosque Winter 2020 news letter  

January 16, 2019 -
APR's docketing Statement dated 12/13/19.
Download  

January 15, 2020 -
New Mexico Environmental Law Center Changes in leadership.  Download announcement  

January 9, 2020 -
Where’s the juice? 500 MW line open for business ... With the first annual payment of a $1.9 million “transmission charge,” the Navajo Nation is securing the rights to use or sell access to 500 megawatts of electrical transmission capacity for 35 years starting Dec. 23.  Navajo Times

January 10, 2020 - APR Update -
Below is a brief summary of where we, the community, stand with regard to the Augustin Plains Ranch LLC’s application to mine water in the Plains aquifer.

It’s been quiet, but we know that the APR LLC has appealed Judge Reynolds’ decision denying their application, and we are preparing to meet them in the Appeals court whenever a hearing is scheduled

To that end, we have started spending the money raised to hire a hydrologist. As you may remember, Tom Myers has been here and looked at the situation on the ground. We have now asked him to put together a model of the hydrology of the Plains aquifer so that we can be prepared if the Appellate Court decides there should be a hearing on the substance of the application. I don’t know anyone attempting to say what the Court will do, so we must be prepared for every possibility.

Of course, the best possibility is that this court will agree with Judge Reynolds decision, but we dare not become complacent. This note is to recognize the contributions everyone has made: it is only our determination as a community to keep our water that has carried us this far.
Thanks! Carol Pittman - Datil.
Download the message

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December 19, 2019 -
Socorro only has month-to-month franchise (SEC) agreement  Chieftain  

December 12, 2019 -
SEC files lawsuit against Socorro  Chieftain  

November 14, 2019 -
Trustees assert membership elected them to make rate decisions Chieftain

November 8, 2019 -
San Carlos Apache Leader: Proposed Oak Flat Mine Is an Environmental Injustice. Phoenix New Times

November 7, 2019 -
PRC says "no" to SEC's request. Chieftain

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October 4, 2019 -
More Water or More Wild: The Decades-Long Struggle over the Gila River’s Fate.  NM In Depth

October 31, 2019 -
Village moves forward on water improvements.
Chieftain

October 29, 2019 -
The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America's water to sell in plastic bottles. ... Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supply. Guardian  

October 24, 2019 -
Spotted Owls and the National Christmas Tree ... the Forest Service has unilaterally restricted (firewood collection, etc) in an attempt to engender hostility between people who otherwise support environmental protection. It’s a cynical effort to divide people instead of being accountable to the law. CounterPunch  

October 18, 2019 -  
Leadership Lacking for Wolf Protection  
CounterPunch

October 17, 2019 -
Clock ticking on SEC appeal.  Chieftain  

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October 10, 2019 -
County commission’s opposition to Western Spirit power lines.  Chieftain    Related:  Our low-income population will bear the burdens of this project. ... Martha Salas, Chair Socorro County Commission. Chieftain

October 4, 2019 -
SEC Co-op defies PRC ruling. Chieftain  

October 4, 2019 -
... the final Environmental Assessment for Military training in the Cibola National Forest has been published. Objections are accepted until October 14.
Download the Plan here  

In the Draft Decision Notice the Forest Service has determined that there will be no significant impact from the training, despite the fact that:
· 3 additional helicopter landing zones will be established (just as in the previous proposal)
· The number of helicopter sorties in the Magdalena Ranger District will quadruple (keep in mind that currently there are 2,964 allowed sorties per day at one Helicopter Landing Zone, which include 8,892 day landings and 8,892 night landings).
· Helicopter flight paths go directly over residences
· Training areas have not been moved – and in fact still encompass private property
· Environmental impacts have not been adequately addressed.

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October 10, 2019 -
Socorro City Reply to Socorro Electric Co-op August 2019 newsletter related to "The City of Socorro is proposing to create a municipal electric utility and to begin "siphoning off " Members of SEC."  
Download SEC newsletter  
Download Socorro City reply to SEC newsletter  

September 5, 2019 -
City: SEC wants a 'second bite at the apple' Chieftain

September 5, 2019 -
Socorro County needs economic development, lower electric rates. Letter to the editor Chieftain  

August 28, 2019 -
SEC says rate increase is just, reasonable.Chieftain
Download      Related: August 22, 2019 - SEC response to PRC Download  

August 28, 2019 -
Plains of San Agustin aquifer safe .. for now. 
Chieftain

Water Grab Archive:  2018-2019 -  2017 - 2016

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