(When you are ready to join the national and local Sierra Club, please click the bear on our home page. To bear.)
Sierra Club® and "Explore, enjoy and protect the planet"® are registered trademarks of the Sierra Club. © 2006 Sierra Club. The Sierra Club Seal is a registered copyright, service mark, and trademark of the Sierra Club
Global Warming is a national Sierra Club campaign to curb climate change and its planet-threatening effects. The club promotes solutions using current and cutting-edge technology that will reduce our use of fossil fuels. There is more information at the national website's Global Warming & Energy page. The energy-usage of cities is the subject of a sub-campaign called Cool Cities. For more information on that, see the Rio Grande Chapter's Cool Cities page.
By Dan Lorimier
From the Rio Grande Sierran, Jan./Feb. 2008
Just after midnight on November 28, 2007, both the Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) and the Albuquerque Bernalillo Air Quality Control Board responded to public support and technical testimony by adopting California’s Low Emission Vehicle LEV II auto emission standards for cars, SUVs, and light trucks. New Mexico is the 13th state to adopt these tougher new-car emission standards.
Representing the auto industry was the Automobile Manufacturers Alliance, which, as in the other Clean Car states, argued that the standard was too difficult to meet. The fact that they were already complying successfully in the other LEV II states tended to weaken many of their arguments. Others who opposed the new standards included the NM Automobile Dealers Association, NM Farm and Livestock Bureau, and the NM Cattle Growers Association. These groups contended the regulations could hurt their respective industries. Supporting these tougher but very doable tailpipe emissions standards was the Rio Grande Chapter, by Dan Lorimier in partnership with a coalition of public health, faith-based, and conservation groups. National Sierra Club Attorney David Bookbinder led a panel of coalition witnesses and cross-examined auto industry witnesses. We were also represented with supporting testimony from Chapter Vice Chair Norma McCallan, Dexter Coolidge of the Northern Group, and Eva Thaddeus of the Central Group. Additionally, other Sierra Club members, Chapter staff, students, health professionals, and religious leaders all went on record supporting adoption of the new rule.
The hearings were in response to the recommendations of the Climate Change Advisory Group (CCAG). Governor Richardson directed the Air Quality Bureau of the Environment Department to implement the process of public notice and hearings before the two boards with the authority to choose the California tailpipe emission standards over the weaker federal standards that we have been using. The Clean Air Act gives every state that choice.
Only new cars that meet the LEV II standards will be sold in New Mexico starting with model year 2011. These regulations will not affect any vehicles on the road today. The 12 other Clean Cars states are California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Other states considering adoption include Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.
The Automobile Manufacturers Alliance has threatened to file suit against New Mexico in federal court (as they have in four other states). Additionally, in an effort to wrest control of this Administrative perogative and place that control with the Legislature, four legislators (George Hanosh, John Arthur Smith, Timothy Jennings, and Jim Trujillo) have filed suit in a Las Cruces District Court, seeking injunctive action against the EIB and challenging its authority to adopt the standards. The State is confident that it does have the required authority.
Our 7,000 members can celebrate both a healthier, less smoggy future and a significant reduction in New Mexico’s CO2 contribution to global climate change. This is a big step towards responsible reaction to climate change by New Mexicans. Thank you, Rio Grande Chapter activists!
To find out more information, please contact Dan Lorimier, Chapter Conservation Coordinator.
A new book from the Urban Land Institute documents how how key changes in land development patterns could help reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. Living in a compact, mixed development could cut your emissions as much as buying a Prius, according to its findings. The book "Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change," can be downloaded from the Smart Growth America website.
By Eva Thaddeus
From the Rio Grande Sierran, Sept./Oct. 2007.
Breaking news! PNM and the Sierra Club will be working together to get compact fluorescent light bulbs into the hands and electrical sockets of New Mexicans. This new partnership comes to you courtesy of our Public Regulation Commission (PRC). Thanks to Chairman Ben Ray Lujan and Vice-Chair Jason Marks, the PRC has determined that all parties will benefit by an arrangement in which PNM supplies the light bulbs, and the Sierra Club Chapter is responsible for the outreach. We plan to distribute 30,000 bulbs through school-based programs, and an additional 10,000 through community events.
This story began with the “Step It Up!” events we held in Albuquerque and Santa Fe during April 2007. At the Albuquerque event, we partnered with the City to get several thousand CFLs into people’s hands. Compact fluorescents, or CFLs, use about 1/4 the energy of a regular incandescent bulb to make the same amount of light, and are a quick and easy energy-saving technology.
The City donated the bulbs and allowed us to set up exchanges, where we gave people CFLs in return for incandescent bulbs they brought from home. We did these exchanges in three ways. One was simply to sit in Tiguex Park and wait for people to show up with light bulbs (which they did).
Another was to go on neighborhood walks, and knock on doors with the offer of free CFLs – and our offer was enthusiastically received. Our third, and the one we consider most innovative, was to offer the exchange at several elementary schools. This engaged both students and the greater school community in our project. Only adults could exchange bulbs, but most of them found out about the opportunity through their children. Before week’s end, we had traded several hundred bulbs in each of the three elementary schools that worked with us.
PRC Commissioner Jason Marks of Albuquerque spoke at our Albuquerque event, and especially liked the school-based educational aspect of what we were doing. Next thing we knew, Carol Oldham had been invited to submit testimony to the Public Regulation Commission proposing a large-scale version of the program we had just piloted. Part of PNM’s budget must, by law, be devoted to energy-efficiency projects, and now a portion of their energy efficiency money will be used to provide CFLs for our outreach and education project. We plan to distribute the bulbs between October 2007 and May 2008.
We have developed an “energy assembly” slideshow for elementary schools, and will be offering this as part of the package to Albuquerque and Santa Fe students. Roughly, the program works like this: On Monday, we give the assembly and distribute informational flyers to children. The students go home and encourage their parents to bring in light bulbs. Before school for the rest of the week, the Sierra Club staffs a light-bulb exchange table. Parents and staff can bring in up to four light bulbs to exchange. They get information about global warming, smart energy solutions, and proper disposal of compact fluorescent bulbs.
These exchanges offer us one-on-one interactions with the public, allowing us to share important information and send them home with something of value. (A single CFL in the store sells for $3-11.) According to the government’s EnergyStar calculator, if New Mexico residents switch out 40,000 of their 75-watt bulbs for CFLs, our state will save $3,250,000 in the cost of energy and light bulbs, save 27,120,000 of kilowatt hours, and prevent 41,640,000 pounds or 20,820 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from polluting our atmosphere!
For more information, and to help, contact Carol Oldham in Santa Fe or Shrayas Jatkar in Albuquerque.
By Carol Oldham
From the Rio Grande Sierran, Sept./Oct. 2007.
There is some mercury in compact flourescent light (CFL) bulbs, so we want to give you some facts about just how much and proper disposal:
For more information about proper disposal of CFLs, see www.energystar.gov/ia/ partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/ Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf, and come see us, when our program kicks in.
