Mona Blaber, Author at Rio Grande Chapter

As NM trapping season ends, awful incidents spotlight need for reform

For yet another year, New Mexico’s trapping season has resulted in untold numbers of deaths and cruelty to native wildlife and companion animals across the state. Although the vast majority of New Mexicans do not trap wildlife and oppose trapping on public lands, New Mexico has failed to join its neighboring states in banning cruel and indiscriminate traps and snares. The statewide coalition TrapFree New Mexico continues to bring to light the indiscriminate cruelty that trapping causes, refuting baseless pro-trapping rhetoric with hard evidence and real stories.

Additional public meetings on NM nuclear dump scheduled

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 16, 2018 Growing concern across the state about the risks of a controversial proposal to store high-level radioactive waste in Southeast New Mexico has resulted in the addition of two Nuclear Regulatory Commission public meetings and an

Advisory: Residents kick off tour alerting New Mexicans of dangers of radioactive-waste dump

10,000 train cars of nuclear waste to proposed Holtec site near Carlsbad and Hobbs — a train wreck waiting to happen For immediate release: April 9, 2018. Disponible para entrevistas en español Albuquerque, NM — On Tuesday in Albuquerque, community members

Your help needed to protect methane reductions

By Camilla Feibelman, Rio Grande Chapter director You’ve read it here more than once. Oil and gas operations throughout the state are wasting natural gas they extract from our public lands. Methane — the key component of natural gas that

New Mexico Supreme Court upholds polluter-written Copper Rule

Rule allows pollution in New Mexico’s groundwater SANTA FE, N.M.—The New Mexico Supreme Court issued a stunning and puzzling decision in its long-awaited review of the Copper Rule. The case could set precedent for how the State of New Mexico

#ItsNotOver — Greater Chaco advocates descend on BLM

Celebrating Lease-sale deferral, pressing for permanent protections and planning For Immediate Release: Wednesday, March 7, 2018 Santa Fe — Dozens of Greater Chaco advocates rallied in front of the Bureau of Land Management state office in Santa Fe Wednesday to claim

Our endorsements for March 6 Santa Fe city elections

Our volunteer-led Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter works to elect environmental champions who seek equity and inclusion. Our thousands of members in the Santa Fe area are part of a grassroots organization dependent on volunteers acting locally to achieve national

Greater Chaco spared from fracking auction

On Thursday, March 2, the Interior Department announced the cancellation of an oil and gas lease sale near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a UNESCO Heritage Site in northern New Mexico. The leases would have auctioned off an additional 4,434 acres in the Greater Chaco region for industrialized fracking, exposing local communities to increased pollution and threatening ancient ruins considered sacred by Indigenous Nations.

It’s trapping season – beware

Sadly, wildlife tapping on public land is perfectly legal in New Mexico. Our Wildlife chair, Mary Katherine Ray, whose own dog just got caught in a trap, was able to release her dog it in about 30 seconds because she knows how. Read her story and learn more about this issue.

Trump and Zinke propose gutting pollution safeguard

On February 12, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a proposal to gut a key safeguard that would limit methane pollution from oil and gas drilling operations. The proposal effectively eliminates a standard put forth by the Obama administration requiring oil and gas companies operating on public lands to limit methane pollution.