PNM and NM Environment Department are engaged in conducting hearings regarding the haze rule on the San Juan coal fired power plant in the Four Corners. NMIPL is part of a national campaign to end coal fired power plants, which are the single highest cause of greenhouse gas emissions affecting climate change. In NM we have a small window of opportunity to make a difference because a 90 day hearing process is looking at the future of San Juan generating plant. 

Can you lend your voice and get others?

Public meeting concerning New Mexico's energy future

Monday, August 13, 2012, 3pm-6pm

Alamosa Community Center @ Coors & Bridge

6900 Gonzales Road SW, Albuquerque, NM 87121

  

Talking Points for 2 minute or less comment:

The consumer public hearing will be August 13, 2012. This is a great opportunity to call for a meaningful transition for this coal plant that could include.

1. Retire the San Juan Generating Station with firm dates for phasing out the four coal-burning units
2. Repower New Mexico and the Southwest with energy efficiency as well as our vast renewable energy resources like solar, wind, and geothermal
3. Regenerate the Four Corners and New Mexico's economy through a viable economic development plan addressing health, employment, training and education, water security, and future generations.

 

Talking Points

1. Coal is a dangerous, dirty source of energy that is making New Mexicans sick, particularly those communities that live in the vicinity of and work at the San Juan coal plant.
2. Every year the San Juan Generating Station has operated without controls for nitrogen oxide pollution results in thousands of cases of exacerbated asthma symptoms and respiratory and cardio illnesses.
3. New Mexico's Governor Martinez just declared an official statewide drought. Meanwhile, San Juan Generating Station uses twice the amount of water Santa Fe consumes each year.
4. The plant has degraded air quality at more than 16 national parks and wilderness areas in the region, including Bandelier National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park. These national treasures sustain more than 18,000 jobs and bring more than $721 million in annual tourist dollars.
5. The longer PNM waits to transition its San Juan Generating Station to clean energy, the more it costs New Mexicans in opportunities to create jobs in the clean energy sector.
6. Climate Change is an enormous moral, ethical and spiritual concern for people of all faith traditions. IT affects future generations, God's creation, those who are most vulnerable who are not responsible.

 

Facts to have at your fingertips

1. PNM's San Juan Generating Station consumes between 8-9 billion gallons of clean water every year, or roughly 16,000-18,000 gallons per minute.
2. A 2012 analysis by Dr. George D. Thurston, a Professor of Environmental Health at the New York University School of Medicine, finds that over the last five years adverse health impacts from pollution at the San Juan coal plant have cost the public up to $240 million. This is due to the coal-fired power plant operating without the pollution controls necessary to significantly cut nitrogen oxide emissions as required by EPA. Dr. Thurston notes that his analysis likely underestimates health impacts and costs given  emissions from PNM's San Juan coal-fired power plant likely affect communities beyond the area.
3. According to a New Mexico Department of Health survey, nearly 1 in 5 public middle school students and 1 in 4 public high school students in the state report doctor diagnosis of asthma as some point.
4. Dr. Thurston's study finds that fine particulate matter  from San Juan smokestack emissions is associated with increased risk of heart attacks, asthma attacks, pneumonia, bronchitis, hospital admissions, and premature death. Infants, children, elderly, and people with respiratory and cardiac disease suffer most.

If you are unable to attend, or live at a distance, consider collecting signatures on a petition at your house of worship or in your community. Contact joankansas@swcp.com for more information and petitions.