First, a victory today for everyone who called and spoke against the absurd and dangerous Albuquerque City Council vote to disband the Air Board. Today Mayor Keller heard from you loud and clear, and vetoed the dangerous and corrupt resolution that threatened the health of everyone in Albuquerque and Bernalillo.
To all those of you who spoke at the Public Comment hearing on Monday to oppose New Mexico Gas Company's proposed Liquefied Natural Gas plant in Rio Rancho, we are grateful for your courage, your words of wisdom, and your commitment to stopping the violence and uplifting real solutions.
Over three hours of public testimony was given, with about 80% opposed to the plant and 20% pro-LNG, mostly industry representatives and Chamber of Commerce speakers from across the state. (It is unclear why business owners would support higher gas prices!) We know it is a busy time of year and this was not the only critical hearing this week, so we are grateful to all those who were able to take time to show up and speak out. You can watch the full Youtube recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfqP6LX84yo
Please consider submitting your comments in a Letter to the Editor at the Albuquerque Journal (550 words), Rio Rancho Observer (500 words) and the Santa Fe New Mexican (600 words) to keep the public pressure and attention on the issue.
We learned last week that the Hearing Examiner in this LNG case has delayed the evidentiary hearing once again (due to a heavy caseload). The case will now be heard in the week beginning January 12th. This gives us more time to prepare, and you more time to send your thoughts on LNG to the Commissioners if you haven't already.
We need to continue to get the message on the risks of LNG out there. Our fight against LNG here is part of a larger national fight against the massive expansion of LNG, largely for export, a prospect that NMGC's application does not mention, but which cannot be ruled out. Methane expert Bob Howarth at Cornell University recently reported that so much methane escapes from LNG production, storage and transport that, when all is said and done, LNG is at least 24 percent worse for the climate than coal.
The Biden Administration should call a halt to all LNG exports, a decision that is widely supported by the public because gas extraction is destroying our nation and raising prices on energy for Americans:
If the industry is allowed to build out all the currently planned LNG facilities, they will produce an extra 3.2 billion tons of greenhouse-gas emissions annually - close to the entire annual emissions of the European Union. And yet those emissions won't officially count against the US emissions totals, because under our absurd accounting system emissions only count in the country of combustion, not production.
This shell game is nowhere more apparent than here in New Mexico, where oil and gas extraction from the Permian continues to increase year after year while our state congratulates itself on setting inadequate Renewable Portfolio Standard goals. Those oil and gas exports will be coming back to burn us sooner than later! Stand up, fight back.
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