Senate vote near on interior spending
The U.S. Senate is preparing for a vote on an interior spending bill that includes protections for Chaco Canyon, additional funding for contamination cleanups near New Mexico’s military bases and programs for Indian Country.
The Fiscal 2020 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill was approved in committee. U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., spoke in support of the bill on the Senate floor last week.
Udall discussed the funding and environmental protections the bill brings to New Mexico. Among them is language to reinforce a 10-mile radius protecting Chaco Canyon from oil and gas leasing. The legal limits are paired with funding for information and research on the sacred tribal ground, his office said. The bill also includes funding for conservation in local communities in New Mexico and protection for Valles Caldera.
“This bill reflects the long tradition we have in my state of working across the aisle to support conservation priorities,” the senator said. “It includes a number of important accomplishments for the state, including language to protect the sacred landscape of Chaco Canyon, along with funding to support Valles Caldera National Preserve.”
The bill also increases funding for environmental cleanup programs addressing PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals. Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis and Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo are among the military bases dealing with PFAS-contamination issues as the result of decades of use of firefighting suppression foam.
The legislation also has wildfire protections, funding for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program, funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a push-back against the planned relocation of the Bureau of Land Management, and funding for cultural programs, Udall said.
“This bill boosts funding for cultural agencies,” he said. “These funds provide a critical boost to local arts and humanities programs in small towns across the United States, programs that create countless jobs and ensure economic vitality in communities like those in New Mexico.”
ELECTRIC GRID TAX CREDITS: U.S. Sen Martin Heinrich, D-N.M, delivered the keynote address at the International Summit on the Electric Transmission Grid last week. At the event, held at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Heinrich announced plans to introduce legislation to create an investment tax credit for regionally significant transmission projects.
“There is a disconnect right now between transmission access and the best large-scale clean energy resources. Full utilization of our renewable potential will only be possible when we have the transmission capacity in place to deliver that power to market,” Heinrich said. “Tax incentives have proven to be a major signal to investors to put their capital behind wind and solar. We should encourage the same type of growth for the infrastructure that will deliver the power from these resources to market.”
The senator also announced he will soon be introducing legislation to direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to improve its interregional transmission planning process.
“It’s clear that FERC’s Order 1000 is not working as well as was intended,” Heinrich said. “Although Order 1000 requires neighboring transmission planning regions to coordinate planning, it does not require a joint process or full evaluation of interregional solutions and their benefits. My legislation will require FERC to initiate a formal rulemaking that will help meet Order 1000’s goals.”
‘COLORADO BORDER WALL’: At least one member of the New Mexico congressional delegation was not amused by a gaffe by President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally praising the border wall construction in Colorado, a non-border state, which would imply a wall separating the state with its southern neighbor, New Mexico.
“@donlemon covered yesterday’s border wall debacle perfectly. President Trump’s comments about building a border wall around Colorado made him — once again — lose the respect of New Mexicans,” Democratic congressman Ben Ray Luján posted in response to a report about the incident by CNN’s Don Lemon.”