NMIPL IN THE NEWS

Sister Joan Brown: For modern era, update oil and gas laws

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In an opinion piece published in The New Mexican (Santa Fe), Sister Joan Brown, executive director of Interfaith Power & Light- New Mexico and El Paso, called on the state of New Mexico to modernize laws covering the oil and gas industry.  Here an excerpt from the  piece.

For modern era, update oil and gas laws

Many things in the world have changed since 1935 when New Mexico’s laws for oil and gas were written. Since then, New Mexico has grown to be the second-largest oil-producing state, behind only Texas. Oil and gas development has exploded in our state, impacting our environment, climate, public health and front-line communities. But the oil and gas laws of 1935 have not kept pace with the world we live in today.

Businesses are run by people who have families and want to be ethical and moral. Making policy changes in oil and gas rules to include public health, communities, our children and our future would help everyone. How many of us live life as it was 90 years ago?

We all must care for the common good. Updating antiquated rules for the 21st century makes sense. One area is to ensure taxpayers aren’t left to clean up the mess when wells inevitably run dry and need to be plugged. Taxpayers are left to foot the bill to clean up these polluting wells — a burden now and a debt our children must bear.

As part of the 2021 infrastructure bill, Sen. Ben Ray Luján secured a $4.7 billion investment to plug orphan wells. Wells in New Mexico are orphaned when operators go under — often in an inevitable oil bust — and walk away without cleaning up their mess. These abandoned, unplugged wells can lower property value and land productivity, pollute groundwater and release known carcinogens into our air. Too often, states, tribes, the federal government and taxpayers are left to pay to plug wells. Communities are left with polluted lands.

We have never had enough money to plug these orphaned wells, and we now have nearly 2,400 orphan wells in New Mexico, with potentially thousands more that are at risk of becoming orphaned in the near future. The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament instructs us to be caretakers, not polluters or destroyers. Plugging wells is a way to caretake and be responsible.

Read full op-ed

Webinar Video: Daily Ecology in a World Where Everything Is Connected

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The February Journeying With the Laudato Si’ Action Platform webinar is about “Daily Ecology in a World Where Everything Is Connected”, related to the Laudato Si’ Goal of “Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles”. In his encyclical letter Laudato Si’, Pope Francis invites us to an interior change of heart that can overcome our fragmented way of seeing, experiencing, and interacting with the world around us. He reminds us that we are deeply linked to nature and to one another. How do we rediscover that connectedness, and how might that impact our everyday life? Representatives of the Families and Individuals sector will speak about the social dimension of ecology, and how they discover the many ways Gospel love leads them to answer the needs of those around them and the suffering planet.

Semana de Acción Religiosa por el Clima (Faith Climate Action Week)

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The Spanish language free download of the Faith Climate Action Week kit is now available!

Spanish-speaking communities are especially concerned about climate change according to a study by Yale Climate Communications, and are more willing to engage in climate activism than their white counterparts because of their greater exposure and vulnerability to extreme weather events due to climate change.

El tema de 2023, Vivir la Regla de Oro: La transición justa a una economía de energía limpia examina nuestra responsabilidad de hacer la transición a fuentes de energía que salvaguarden nuestro hogar común, y cómo nuestras religiones nos llaman a responder con soluciones justas para todos. Los datos son del 14 al 23 de abril de 2023.

Descarga materiales aquí

 

Please help build the movement of people of faith acting on climate by sharing the Spanish Faith Climate Action Week materials (forward this email with a Spanish message at the end) with your Spanish-speaking colleagues and friends who might use it in their Spanish-speaking congregations or organizations.

The 2023 featured film series, Current Revolution, will have Spanish subtitles, and the free screening kit will also be available in Spanish.  You can access information about the film and the Faith Climate Action Week organizer’s kit in Spanish on the Faith Climate Action Week website.

Spanish materials here.

 

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)