NMIPL IN THE NEWS

A Very Busy Spring for Citizens Caring for the Future

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By Kayley Shoup

CCFF Organizer

As the pandemic has begun to lift CCFF Leaders have had a chance to meet in person once again, and we have lots of news to share! In early April Nathalie Eddy & Joan Brown, our incredible allies from up North, were able to make a trip down to Southeast New Mexico. It was wonderful to break bread with them, and just catch up and be in community with one another. It was much needed and a great reminder as to why we do this important work. Now onto the news!

Both Joan & Nathalie were extremely busy while they were in town. They truly are Superwomen if you ask us! Joan connected our new organizers, Chris & Kayley, with faith leaders in both Carlsbad and Hobbs that she knows through her work with “Interfaith Power & Light.” These are new and exciting connections that we believe will expand our community as we continue our work to raise awareness of the dangers of oil & gas production to our health and planet. Nathalie spent her time out in the field tracking methane pollution and reporting sites that were out of compliance as part of her work with “Earthworks.”

In addition to that strenuous work, she also took the time to meet with some local leaders from Carlsbad & Jal in order to show them the pollution & to educate them on the state of regulation (or lack thereof) in the Permian. Nathalie & Joan, along with a few of the leaders,  also took the time to meet with reporters. You can read the coverage of our time with Adrian Hedden at “The Current Argus” in this article entitled,  “It Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore”

After we said our goodbyes it was onto another busy week! On April 15th CCFF held a virtual community meeting where we heard from leaders around the state that have taken part in a “Health Impact Assessment.” There is little to no data on the health effects of oil & gas production in the Permian, and we are on a mission to change that! It was a wonderful & informative meeting where we seemed to acquire a roadmap as to how we can take on the huge task of organizing a HIA.

We also, for the first time, had Spanish interpreters present at our meeting. Joan has done incredible work to make sure that CCFF is inclusive to the Hispanic community, and we are proud to announce that our meetings going forward will include an interpreter! We will be posting the recording of the event in English and Spanish later this week. So make sure to check that out! You can read more about the speakers in this link

On the same week as our community meeting CCFF Leaders Gene Harbaugh & Kayley Shoup, along with Nathalie Eddy, spoke at a virtual press conference that was held with allies from the San Juan Basin. It was the first time that community members from the San Juan & Permian Basin have spoken out in unity. We are very excited to forge these new relationships with our brothers & sisters from the North, who face many of the same issues we do, and we know that it will make the work we do that much more impactful.

The press conference was held on the last day of public comment that the “Department of Interior” allowed as part of their investigation into the federal oil & gas leasing program. The impact statements shared were submitted as official comments. You can read coverage in this article entitled, Groups seek oil and gas leasing reform

Last but not least, we welcomed the incredible Penny Aucoin back to our leadership team! Penny is an outspoken voice for the health & safety of our community in the face of record oil & gas production, and we are so grateful to have her on board! You can check out a recent ad she worked on with “Methane Matters” by following the link below.

New Mexico Holds Opportunity To Craft Nation Leading Rules, But Proposed Loopholes Must First Be Closed

Exciting progress is being made on a federal and state level, as a new administration has taken over. We are grateful to have leaders that care for our environment, and we look forward to the progress that “Citizens Caring for the Future” will be able to make as a community!

(Citizens Caring for the Future (CCFF) brings together Southeastern New Mexico community members who support protecting our air, water and public health and safety during the current oil and gas boom in the Permian. Check out the work of CCFF)

A Note of Thanks to Sen. Heinrich for Supporting Methane Initiative

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“The U.S. Senate has taken a step toward more vigorously regulating climate-warming methane leaks from the oil and gas industry, a move supporters say is key to achieving President Biden’s ambitious climate goals,” Read article,  “Senate Votes To Restore Regulations On Climate-Warming Methane Emissions” (National Public Radio)

“People of faith in New Mexico have been working to address methane pollution in the oil and gas fields for a number of years. We are grateful for the leadership of Senator Heinrich to help pass a rule today in the Senate that will help care for community health and future generations who face climate change to which methane pollution is a major short time contributor. Together we can address health in frontline community injustices of pollution and Care for Our Common Home.” Joan Brown,osf, Executive Director, NM Interfaith Power and Light
 

Wayne’s World is Awesome: A Most Excellent Journey

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Earth Day 2021

By Wayne Evelo

Yes, it’s TOTALLY possible to convert an existing older home in the mountains outside of Albuquerque into a net zero energy and highly resilient home. We have been on this journey for a while now but are not quite there yet. The first thing to do is to make things as energy efficient as possible, because energy efficiency is cheaper than energy production. The easiest approach to energy efficiency is to look for Energy Star products. Our appliances and lighting are all Energy Star. The LED lights last up to 30 years, so I made sure to include them in my will. I hope the kids don’t fight over them.

Wayne’s World from the South side: The photo was taken in the late morning on the equinox. The sun barely makes it to the bottom of the windows, so there will be no direct solar gain on the south side from April to October. The one large roof panel is a solar hot water panel and the rest are solar electric. The thin windows on the side of the building allow the sun to heat the thermal walls.

Climate Change Driven Hailstorm Made It Happen

A totally BOGUS hailstorm hit while my wife and I were on our anniversary dinner and my teenage daughter was babysitting her younger brother. The golf ball sized hail totaled the asphalt shingle roof and broke through the plastic sky lights causing the kids to hide under the kitchen table. (Fortunately, they didn’t need therapy.)

The insurance company was willing to pay to have the roof and skylights replaced. This was the motivation we needed to put a MOST EXCELLENT 500 square foot passive solar addition over the garage on the south side of the house. The insurance money would help pay for a new roof prior to the addition of solar panels. The pitch of the roof was specifically angled and designed to hold solar electric panels and we added a solar hot water panel to a different section of roof. We took advantage of AWESOME state and federal tax credits and the local utility pays a premium for our solar electricity. The roof is a metal roof with low solar reflective index (i.e.,a TOTALLY COOL roof) and it is resistant to hail and fires. The sky lights are energy star and have tempered low–e glass.

We added insulation to the roof to make it R–50 (Code is R–30). The insulation in the existing walls was increased to R–25 and the southernmost wall was R–30 (code is R–19). The windows were all replaced with R–5 double pane low e glass (code is R–2), except the south facing windows which were specified as high solar heat gain to warm the house in the winter. The southern roof extends slightly farther than the other overhangs to completely shade the windows in the summer. However, in the winter the sun goes 8’ into the second story. (My TOTALLY AWESOME dog, rescued from the pound, loves to lie in the sun.) Two thermal walls were added to the second story. Behind the windows are 4” thick concrete blocks painted black. They are heated up by the sun during the day and slowly release heat into the house at night. In the summer they are shaded and keep the house cool, because all of that material doesn’t heat up as quickly as a typical house.

Transportation Solution

Our RADICAL set of wheels is super cheap, quiet, and quick to drive. My MOST EXCELLENT family uses a plug–in hybrid for most of our driving. The car goes about 40 miles on the battery, before it transitions to gas. An electric car cost about 4 cents of electricity per mile to run compared to a regular car that costs about 10cents in gasoline per mile.(Your mileage may vary.) Most of our trips are short and the car is charged with solar electricity from the roof. Over 65K miles we have averaged over 230 miles/gallon of gas using electricity and gas. We fill the car with gas once every 3 months and change the oil once every 2 years, whether it needs it or not. The car can turn the electric motor into a generator and use it to slow the car while charging the battery. This means the brakes hardly get used, especially considering the SUPER MELLOW way I drive, so the brakes will last forever! (I hope). We sure like saving mucho dinero.

Resilience Improvements

The house has a metal roof and stucco siding,so it is more fire resistant than a typical house.The house is passive solar when the sun is out, but what about a MONSTER snowstorm…you’re probably thinking? Well, a free–standing propane fireplace was added to the second floor. Power is not required for the propane stove to heat the second story and the airtight first floor fireplace, with an outside air source, can heat the lower level. The house gets water from a well–fed storage tank up on the hill, which holds a week’s worth of water. The solar hot water system, which feeds a standard propane hot water heater, has an 80–gallon storage tank. The solar system has also been prewired for a battery storage system. We are just waiting for battery prices to drop some more and the account balance in the bank to increase unless I can figure out how to power the house with the car’s 17kWh battery…hmm?

Excellent Journey Continues

The solar system saves enough energy, and gasoline to cover all our utility costs. The house is not yet a net zero–energy home, that will require replacing the 25–year old propane furnace with a heat pump. We have been holding off in hopes of new tax credits. We have always considered the life cycle costs of the improvements we make,and all the upgrades will pay for themselves in less than 8 years. This assumes that the value of our house doesn’t increase, but it TOTALLY did increase. Resilient high efficiency solar homes cost less to run, perform better in a disaster, are better equipped to handle climate change, and sell faster and for a higher price than standard homes. PARTY ON!

(Wayne Evelo is a lifetime member of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association and a former member of NM-IPL’s board of directors. He has worked for the Department of Energy for 30 years, where he currently serves as the  Green Building and Utilities Program Manager.  He is a member of First Unitarian Universalist Church).

Carlsbad Current Argus. Sep. 3, 2020 New Mexico finalizes oil and gas wastewater regulations, lawmakers hear testimony (Rev. Nick King Quoted)

Las Cruces Sun-News,  Aug. 19, 2020, Report on solving climate crisis brings hope (Co-authored by Michael Sells, Clara Sims and Edith Yanez)

Santa Fe New Mexican, Aug. 15, 2020 Vote your values this November  (Commentary by Larry Rasmussen and Tabitha Arnold)