Join Us for a Forum on Water Advocacy in the Coming State Legislature

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How to Advocate for Water Funding from the NM Legislature

Water is Life! Join the Green Justice team at First Congregational UCC and co-sponsor IPL-New Mexico El Paso to learn about how New Mexico’s water supply is dwindling at an alarming rate and how you can advocate for robust water funding during the 2025 New Mexico Legislative session.

Sunday, January 12, 11:45
First Congregational UCC,
2801 Lomas Blvd. NE  Albuquerque
(in the Music Room)

Guest Speaker Norm Gaume
President of NM Water Advocates

Norm has spent his career managing water in New Mexico and is a former director of the Interstate Stream Commission. He is now the president of NM Water Advocates, educating and organizing citizens of NM to participate in shaping our water future. He was involved n the creation of the 50-Year Water Action plan.

Contact Rev. Clara Sims, clara@nm-ipl.org for Zoom link if you can’t attend in person.

Please Contact Our Leaders to Protect The Caja del Rio

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A request from Rev. Andrew Black, an IPL-NM/EP board member and coordinator of Earthkeepers 360 He is also a pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe.

Dear New Mexico Spiritual, Tribal and Faith Leaders,

Please join me in calling on President Biden, Secretary Haaland and the New Mexico Congressional Delegation to make the Caja del Rio a National Monument. The Caja del Rio is one of the most remarkable cultural, spiritual, archaeological and ecological landscapes in the southwest. To learn more about the Caja del Rio check out this film. An op-ed I wrote on Caja del Rio is HERE. In calling for a national monument, we will be joining the All Pueblo Council of Governors, Santa Fe County Commission, and Santa Fe Mayor.
As spiritual, tribal and faith leaders, I am asking you to SIGN ON TO THIS LETTER. 
The deadline to sign on is Wednesday, December 18th. Also I’ve attached the letter. Please feel free to share this letter with other spiritual, Tribal and faith leaders you work with and encourage them to sign on as well.
For those interested in extra credit, please call Senators Heinrich and Lujan and Representatives Leger-Fernandez, Stansbury and Vasquez offices and ask them to support President Biden designating the Caja del Rio as a National Monument.
Thank you and feel free to reach out if you have any questions,
Reverend Andrew Black
EarthKeepers 360 and First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe
For more about our work at EarthKeepers 360 and to sign up for our weekly reflections please visit: https://earthkeepers360.org

Rev. Clara Sims: Uncertain Future for Solar Funds in New Mexico

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Perhaps one of the biggest threats to clean energy and energy-efficiency programs in New Mexico is Trump’s pledge in recent months to rescind “all unspent funds” from the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

Rev, Clara Sims (left) and Rev. Kristi Koppel (St. Paul Lutheran Church)

Rev. Clara Sims, assistant executive director for Interfaith Power & Light New Mexico-El Paso, told the Santa Fe New Mexican (@thenewmexican.bsky.social) about our concern for the future of federal funding to promote solar power for faith communities in our state. “That’s certainly a concern for us in terms of looking ahead to the potential of really rolling back the money that’s available,” said Rev. Sims. 

Rev. Sims said IPL-New Mexico-El Paso has worked for decades to help faith communities in New Mexico and El Paso complete energy-efficiency audits and install solar panels but the “direct pay” provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act have prompted a rapid rise in faith communities going green.

The direct pay, or elective pay, program allows tax-exempt nonprofits and government entities to receive a payment for up to 30% of their solar installation costs the year after installation. Sims said her organization has worked with five faith groups that are in the process of using the tax credit.

“My sense is that the faith communities who maybe don’t have the same kind of budget capacity that others did in the past have been able to really push that forward in their congregations or houses of worship in the past several years,” Sims told The New Mexican.

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