Make plans to visit Penistaja Mesa Badlands, near Cuba this coming March.

Sat., Mar. 13 • Easy/moderate tour of the Penistaja Mesa Badlands, near Cuba, with guest leader Michael Richie – Another remote BLM gem, with a labyrinth of canyons, fantastic hoodoos along the mesa edges, huge petrified wood stumps, early mammal fossils, and 3 mysterious huge cairns. Driving from Santa Fe via Bernalillo. Dogs OK.  Norma McCallan (505/471-0005).  Visit PhotoTrekNM.com for details on the campaign to preserve these http://www.PhotoTrekNM.com and other BLM badlands in NW New Mexico.

 

Environmental Alliance of New Mexico (EANM)proposes the Smart Investment in Public Buildings bill.  Click here to listen to the story on KRWG Public Broadcasting for SW NM and Far West Texas.  The SC Rio Grande Chapter's Dan Lorimer is featured in the interview.  It is an audio clip that resulted from the EANM press conference last January 12th.   Organizations involved in the Environmental Alliance of New Mexico include: 1000 Friends of New Mexico, Animal Protection Voters, Amigos Bravos, Audubon New Mexico, Conservation Voters New Mexico, Defenders of Wildlife, Dooda Desert Rock, Environment New Mexico, New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, New Mexico Environmental Law Center, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, The Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Latest Newsletter - January/February 2010 issue of the Rio Grande Sierran is online. (pdf 2.3Mb - opens in new window or tab).

NEW - Visit the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Facebook page (requires a login to your Facebook account.  If you haven't become a fan yet, this is your opportunity!) 

Ken Hughes, the Rio Grande Chapter Conservation Chair, traveled to Copenhagen as part of the 30 person national Sierra Club member delegation to attend the Climate Change deliberations. He left  December 7, and returned to New Mexico December 14.  Ken will be sending back daily e-mails which will be posted on the Rio Grande Chapter Facebook page.  Or, you can Click here to read Ken Hughes' postings from the United Nations - sponsored Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.  Also be sure to read the latest summary from Ken on page 1 in the latest issue of the Sierran newsletter (Jan./Feb. 2010)
 

OUTINGS click here to see all Sierra Club outings for January - March 2010

• Central Group Outings

• Sun., Jan. 31 • Desert Exploratory Hike – Call
  for details. Tom Petencin (505/271-9928).

Northern Group Outings

Thurs., Feb. 4 • Easy/moderate hike – Dogs OK.
Call for details. Eliza Schmid (505/474-5846).
Sat., Feb. 6 • Easy snowshoe trek along East Fork
of Jemez River – 5 miles, level terrain. Marcia
Skillman (505/699-3008).
Sun., Feb. 7 • Strenuous snowshoe trek, Pecos
Valley or Taos area – Dogs OK. Call before 8 p.m.
Tobin Oruch (505/820-2844).
Thurs., Feb. 11 • Easy/moderate hike – Dogs OK.
Call for details. Eliza Schmid (505/474-5846).
Sat., Feb. 13 • Moderate bike ride along Rail
Trail, Santa Fe to Eldorado – 18 miles, 200' gain,
mostly on dirt track. Limit of 8. Miguel DeLuca
(505/820-0042).
Sat., Feb. 13 • Strenuous snowshoe trek along the
Azmataz Run of the ski area – Off-trail, steep.
Marcia Skillman (505/699-3008).
Sat., Feb 13 • Moderate cross-country ski trek –
Location depending on snow conditions. Alan
Shapiro (505/424-9242).
Sun., Feb. 14 • Moderate/strenuous hike in Santa
Fe River Canyon area – Mostly off-trail, some
rough sections. About 8 miles, 1200' gain. Dogs
OK. Norbert Sperlich (505/474-4354).

click here to view all Northern group outings through end of March 2010

Pajarito Group Outings -
Sat., Feb. 27 • Strenuous snowshoe climb up Santa Fe Baldy – 14 miles, 3600' gain. Michael Di Rosa(505/667-0095 work, 505/663-0648 home).

Southern Group Outings -
Sat., Jan. 30 • Climb Mud Mountain – Explore some of the oldest rock in NM, loaded with fossils. Lots of rock scrambling. Margot Wilson (575/744-5860).

Sat., Feb. 13 • Saturday, February 13 • Join Margot and Chris Adams, Black Range archaeologist, for an outing to Purgatory Chasm in the Mimbres Valley – This is a 5-mile hike where we will visit Mimbres agricultural sites, etc. We will leave the Forest Service office in Truth or Consequences for 7:00 a.m. departure or meet us at the Mimbres Forest Service office at 8:15 a.m. Bring your camera, lunch, and snacks. Call Margot for details at 575/744-5860.

• El Paso Group Outings

Elsewhere in the news:

Jemez Pueblo hopes to profit from solar energy. january 2010.  The 3,000 members of the Jemez Pueblo are on the verge of building the nation’s first utility-scale solar plant on tribal land, a project that could bring in millions of dollars.  The 30-acre site where 14,850 solar panels will be set up has been selected, and after four years of arduous planning and negotiations, a contract to sell outsiders the electricity produced by the four-megawatt operation is at hand. The plant would be capable of cranking out enough electricity to power about 600 homes.
click here to See full story

UPDATE on Jemez Pueblo Geothermal Potential.  November 6, 2009.  The details of the Dept. of Energy Award using American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funding for Jemez Pueblo to explore it's geothermal energy potential.  Click here for a PDF file on the Award.  The U.S. Department of Energy, through its Geothermal Technologies Program (GTP) is one of several projects funded by GTP under its mission to conduct research, development, and demonstration to advance geothermal energy technologies.  The objective is to locate and drill two exploration wells that will be used to define the nature and extent of the geothermal resources on Jemez Pueblo in the Indian Springs area.

TRANSPORTATION AND CLIMATE - CREATING A TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY.  Our nation’s transportation policy is in desperate need of reform. Significant portions of America’s roads, bridges and transit systems are in a state of disrepair. Our auto-dependent transportation sector consumes two-thirds of the 20 million barrels of oil used each day in the US and emits roughly one-third of the nation’s greenhouse emissions.  Click here to read the full statement from the  Sierra Club National office.

 

1. Felicity Barringer writes in the New York Times: "White Roofs Catch on as Energy Cost Cutters".
2. Paul Pirttinen of the New Mexico Mountain club, is asking us to support The San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act.  For more information go to congressman John T Salazar's site.
3. Read how Dan Baker, a bicyclist and a recepient of the 2008 Sustainable Santa Fe Awards, is building his own electric plug-in vehicle, Zappy, at EnviroKarma.org.

Click for Carl Pope's latest message, the Compass, and The Green Life.

See list of Recent Rio Grande Chapter accomplishments.

Check out National Sierra Club Outings and local NM hikes below.

• ...more on Selected outings page.

• San Juan Basin Badlands Tours

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Monticello Box - photo courtesy of Mary Katherine Ray

Beryllium Exploration Hearing Mobilizes Opposition

In a very strong show of opposition, over 200
citizens came to a Mining & Minerals Division
(MMD) hearing on December 1, 2009, on a
permit application to drill five bore-holes 1,000 feet deep in Monticello Box. The borings are proposed to be drilled on private property but into the complex and poorly understood hydrogeology of the Box, which provides almost 9,000 gallons a minute of spring water – the headwater of Alamosa Creek.
This unique, resource-intensive area is also home to many types of wildlife, including both threatened and endangered species, and is the ancestral homeland of the Warm Springs Apache band.

Residents from Las Cruces to the Plains of San Augustine,
many locals from Monticello, Native Americans, scientists, and, of course, Sierra Club members all testified that the risks were held by residents while the exploration company could damage the spring
system that so many depend on and then just walk away! Other than the very slick team of lawyers, biologists, hydrologists, archaeologists, and public health experts assembled by the applicant, there were
no advocates for the drilling at the hearing.
This is the second time Rio Grande Chapter members have activated southern New Mexicans against any development of the overall Monticello Box Beryllium
mining project. In 2005 we packed the Monticello Firehouse to fight a similar permit application that was subsequently denied by the MMD. At midnight at the December hearing, after 6½ hours of presentations and testimony from experts and local citizens, we asked the hearing officer to recommend
denial of this application to Division Director Bill Brancard and Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department Secretary Joanna Prukop.
If the public’s voice is heard by the Division, the application will be denied – again. Margot Wilson and Mary Katherine Ray organized the effort, and along with other members, delivered stirring testimony
during the hearing. Now activists will likely have a few months to enjoy the Box and await the MMD’s decision.
For more information, contact Conservation
Organizer Dan Lorimier (575/740-2927, daniel
.lorimier@sierraclub.org).
—Dan Lorimier

Ken Hughes is in transit to Copenhagen. The expected outcomes of this conference are certainly more optimistic than in prior years. In 2005, David Van Winkle, Northern NM Chair, attended the UN Climate Conference. At the 2005 conference, the official U.S. Delegation was not participating in positive negotiations. This year, 8 cabinet secretaries and President Obama will speak at the conference. Quite a difference.

 One positive outcome from the 2005 conference was the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement a.k.a. Sierra Club's Cool Cities. Lacking U.S. Government leadership, city leaders across the nation pledged to reduce their carbon footprint in line with the Kyoto Agreement. This has grown from 195 cities in 2005 to more than 900 now.

Creation of the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement and the Sierra Club's Cool Cities program in 2005 were the first steps to the City of Santa Fe City Council’s approval of the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan in 2008 and Albuquerque’s Climate Action Plan that was passed last month.

Ken Hughes should be arriving in Copenhagen soon, completing his train-plane-plane-plane-plane-bus trip.

The inspirational moment of the 2005 conference for me was related to the fact that President Clinton made an excellent last minute speech. However, my inspiration came from how he got there. Elizabeth May, President of Sierra Club Canada, convinced him on Tuesday to give the speech on Friday. This demonstrated how an individual and the Sierra Club can influence world outcomes. It still motivates me today

Ken has arrived….Howdy from ground zero for climate change action.  I got here around noon and got a pass an hour later.  Then walking in it felt like I was at a UN event.  Then I remembered, it IS an UN event.  I've spoken to people from Oman, Sweden, UK, Nepal, Nicaragua, and even the USA. 

Ken: The bazaar that is set up among the "Civil Society" representatives is the most energetic part of the Bella Center, with mini actions by groups like Greenpeace to entertain. Good thing, for after 4 flights and little sleep…... 

Ken: The US Government is present big time, thanks to President Obama at the helm.  Its team from DOE presented a litany of actions taken in the past ten months that is an impressive start.  One person asked why not more money for family planning, cheaper than wind. More efficient cook stoves touted as the flavor of the month, to wean folks off wood or kerosene.

Ken: A presentation by the Swedish delegation toured Stockholm, named 2010 Green Capital due to its Climate Positive Development Program. Malmo (just across the spit from Copenhagen) has been transformed from a greying industrial dive to a green oasis. Indeed, one-half of all solar in Sweden is in Malmo, in very big, prominent rooftop locations, and 40% of its populace bike to work or school.

8 U.S. Cabinet Secretaries and President Obama will speak at the conference. Quite a change!  This year, 8 U.S. Cabinet Secretaries and President Obama will speak at the conference. Quite a change!

December 9, 2009
Ken: Hundreds of American NGO reps gathered at the end of yesterday to hear from head U.S. negotiator (this week, next week it's Todd Stern) Jonathan Pershing and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. The latter got a standing ovation for EPA's declaration of CO2 as a human health hazard; she was quite touched.

Ken: One intriguing development is how to create a mechanism to meaningfullly send funds, technologies, and other resources to developing countries to mitigate and adapt....next, just attended another presentation by Lisa Jackson...what competence.

Ken: The Danish hosts gave a great panel presentation on building energy efficiency. This action alone can deliver a large part of the needed savings. It is so important panelists seek to have it included in the final climate change agreement. The UK is adopting a passive house standard in 2013, which cuts energy use 90%. Sounds a lot like our 2030 challenge.

Ken: Vauban homes in Freiburg Germany are in effect power plants disguised as living quarters, as they produce more energy than used by the residents. Frankfurt is setting a 90% reduction for renovation of existing homes. Singapore has advanced ways to naturally cool buildings, using staircases and outside apartments greening for cooling air currents. Santa Fe & ABQ green building codes are a major step in the right direction.
Ken: The Sierra Club is a member of the Climate Action Network. Its message du jour is that President Obama must earn his peace prize next week here.
Ken: The nightly Sierra Club briefing included the Sierra Student Coalition, who are putting in 20-hour days weighing in at various venues including private sessions with Ms. Jackson.

December 10, 2009
1700 U.K. scientists come forward to support climate science. "We, members of the UK science community, have the utmost confidence in the observational evidence for global warming and the scientific basis for concluding that it is due primarily to human activities."
 

• ELECTION VICTORY: helped 95% of our endorsed candidates to election in 2008.
• Protested against ASARCO smelter in El Paso, now scheduled to be dismantled.
• Continued fighting 4 corners power plant emissions permit through EPA.
• Lobbied in NM legislature with full-time lobbyist and volunteers.
• Opened Las Cruces Office.
• Educated businesses on energy reduction thru expansion of Cool Biz in Santa Fe: www.coolbizsantafe.com.
• Led 234 outings in NM and TX including: Hikes, Snowshoe tours and instruction, Cross Country skiing, Bike tours, Tours of fragile areas including archeological sites and potential Wilderness, Highway roadside maintenance, and River trash and vegetation maintenance.
• Published numerous articles and updates in 6 issues of Rio Grande Sierran, online at riogrande.sierraclub.org.
• Actively promoted the Cool Cities program through education and energy use reduction:
  1. Distributed over 20,000 compact-florescent bulbs in Albuquerque.
  2. Trained teachers on benefits of CFLs, who in turn are educating students.
  3. Recruited the City of El Paso to sign on to Cool City designation.
• Promoted responsible use of landfills through support of City of El Paso proposal to close Sunland Park to El Paso waste.

    John Buchser, Chapter Chair

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Go to: National Sierra Club
"Goals" Page.

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