350NM Past Speaker Series Talks
Micro Divestment: Our Own Savings Accounts
MONDAY, August 28, 2023. Fossil divestment is usually talked about in terms of large institutional investment policy, like at the UNM Foundation. Aric Vickrey, a licensed financial advisor in Santa Fe, NM helps us understand our personal choices for fossil free investing. Different advisors and funds define fossil free differently. Vickrey explains how to compare apples to apples, and include topics such as: (1) The effects fossil free investing has on portfolio performance, risk and the growing popularity of fossil free investing; and (2) How to check your investments to see if they are fossil free and how to search for fossil free investment opportunities (mutual funds and stocks) and equities, domestic and international
Vickrey has 15 years of experience in finance and 8 years of experience in investment management and financial planning, he was born in New Mexico and lives in Bernalillo and is married with three children. Click here for the Webinar Video and Slide Deck.
Electrify New Mexico
MONDAY, May 22, 2023 350NM’s Stefi Weisburd unveiled the group’s new website Electrify New Mexico to help residents navigate the financial incentives that make electrification affordable. It addressed these questions: Tired of high and unpredictable heating bills? Wondering what a heat pump is, and which kinds are best for New Mexico? Want to know why waiting until the end of the year is a bad time to install solar in New Mexico? Concerned about health-harming gases in your kitchen? Want an EV, but don’t like the choices available for purchase? It discussed how going electric will save you money, clean your air and reduce carbon emissions, as well as how to optimize generous, but confusing, rebates and tax credits so that these efficient, high-performance appliances will cost you a lot less – and for some people, nothing at all. UPDATE: PNM now offers discounts on heat pumps through its midstream program instead of rebates. Click here for the Video and Slide Deck.
NM’s Largest Climate Polluters Report
March. 27, 2023. Authors of the report, “Impacts of NM’s Largest Emissions Sources” Gabe Pacyniak, JD of UNM and Elena Krieger of PSE talked about their February 1 report that for the first time examines the climate and health damaging pollution from large stationary sources in New Mexico. It identifies 189 stationary sources that together contribute approximately 25% of the state’s climate pollution along with a large share of conventional pollutants. Most of this pollution comes from the electric power and oil and gas sectors, with mines, manufacturing facilities, airports, and universities also contributing. The report also analyzed where large sources are located and suggested that there may be equity benefits to reducing emissions in those areas with a high percentage of people of color, lower-income people, or people with health vulnerabilities. Four regions—the San Juan Basin; Permian Basin; Albuquerque, Bernalillo, and Sandoval Counties; and Las Cruces and Dona Aña County— had clusters of large stationary sources. The report finds that current state policies are not adequate to achieve climate pollution reductions from these sources in keeping with the state’s climate goals but identifies ways that climate pollution policies could be designed to both reduce climate pollution and maximize public health benefits for communities where these sources are located. UNM’s Just Transition Grand Challenge initiative and the nonprofit organization PSE Healthy Energy hosted the report. The report was funded by the Environmental Defense Fund. Click for the video, slides, and report.
Transformative Green Finance Policies
Feb. 27, 2023. Climate change poses a threat to state pensions, budgets and investments. Yet bills in Republican-led states are banning companies that reduce climate investment risks by using ESG or “environmental, social and corporate governance” factors. Climate financial policy analyst Jordan Haedtler outlined attacks on ESG and “woke capitalism” and highlighted actions that states can take to protect insurance policy holders, revenues, and oil company bankruptcies that leave them with unfunded cleanup costs. He also discussed Green Banks and other initiatives that will help New Mexico capitalize on the transformative opportunities presented by the Inflation Reduction Act. Click for the video and slides.
Blue Hydrogen Hub Briefing
Jan. 23, 2023. The Blue Hydrogen Hub rising again in the 2023 legislative session, with Rep. Lundstrom planning to “introduce a bill in coming weeks aimed at setting aside money for public-private partnerships for hydrogen projects.” This updated briefing on the Blue Hydrogen Hub features Tom Solomon of 350NM and WELC’s methane expert Dr. Tom Singer. It address why blue hydrogen is being pushed by the fossil fuel industry to sell more natural gas. It is NOT a climate solution. Click for the video and the slides.
350NM Legislative Action Team Kickoff
Jan. 8, 2023. 2023 will see landmark climate legislation pass in New Mexico, IF we make our voices heard. Please join the 350NM Legislative Action Team at the January 8, 2023 Zoom webinar to learn how. We’ll review our preliminary list of priority 2023 climate & energy bills and demonstrate the 350NM website which will present updated information on the bills’ status including upcoming committee hearings. Learn how to effectively contact legislators and make public comments at committee hearings. Click here to watch the video.
New Mexico’s Water Future: Managing our water in a drying climate
Nov. 29, 2022. PART 1. Two members of the State Engineer’s Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force summarize scientific projections of how water supplies will shrink 25% by 2070 due to climate change and the challenges this brings to New Mexico water use and management. Kyle Harwood, water attorney, and Norm Gaume, president of the Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates describe task force recommendations for policy changes and proposed legislation for managing water under these conditions. Click here to watch the video.
Dec. 8, 2022. PART 2. Recommendations for helping communities plan, fund, design, build, operate, and maintain drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure AND on how to improve watershed, river, and aquifer health. Panelists: Mike Hamman, P.E., New Mexico State Engineer, Water Task Force Chair; Rachel Conn, Deputy Director, Amigos Bravos; Task Force Consulting Expert and MRGWA Board Member and Laurie Weahkee, Owner, Laurie Weahkee and Associates; Consultant, NM Indian Affairs Department;Water Task Force Proxy for Members Secretary Lynn Trujillo and Daryl Vigil. Moderated by Tricia Snyder, Senior Water Policy Analyst, NM Wild. Hosted by: Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates, 350NM, Amigos Bravos, NM & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light, Valencia Water Watchers. Click here to watch the video.
Jan. 11, 2023 PART 3. Dr. Dunbar summarized the climate change impacts on our water. Ms. Riseley-White summarized the 17 strong task force recommendations and report. Mr. Gaume focused on actions the Water Advocates are demanding the Governor and the 2023 Legislature to take: Fund New Mexico’s state water agencies (Office of the State Engineer, the Interstate Stream Commission, and the New Mexico Environment Department) to increase their capacity to do the jobs the legislature has given them. Pass the 2023 Water Security Planning Act. Click here to view the entire session video.
Click here to view Nelia Dunbar’s slides
Click here to view Hannah Riseley-White’s slides
Click here to view Norm Gaume’s slides
Click here to view the session Chat file
350 Santa Fe Talk: Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard
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November 12, 2022. Fresh off her well deserved recent electoral victory, Stephanie will share here thoughts and plans for dealing with orphaned and abandoned wells in New Mexico and progress made so far.
Bio. Stephanie Garcia Richard is the first woman, Latina, and educator to serve as Land Commissioner, responsible for managing 13 million acres across New Mexico to raise revenue on behalf of public schools, universities, and hospitals.
In her first term, Stephanie has tripled renewable energy production and issued executive orders on freshwater and the Greater Chaco Region, saving millions of gallons of freshwater and protecting over 70,000 acres from development. She established programs to hold bad actors accountable and ensure remediation and removal of over 100 abandoned wells sites, saving New Mexicans millions in cleanup costs.
Living with Oil Wells as Neighbors – A discussion with Kayley Shoup and Tannis Fox
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Click here for talking points about Permian oil & gas production and action items you can take to making living there safer.
October 24, 2022. What is it like to live with the New Mexico Permian Basin Climate Bomb, southeast NM’s home of the oil and gas industry. Kayley Shoup, a community organizer at Citizens Caring for the Future, discussed her work fighting for people suffering at the Permian Basin frontlines of the US’s sacrifice zone for “energy independence” and how she became an activist growing up in the dominant oil and gas culture. Also speaking is Tannis Fox, Senior Attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. She discusses draft legislation for the 2023 session to reform and update the 1935 NM Oil and Gas Act. Find out what you can do to support managed decline of the fossil fuel industry and uplift the people and life in the Permian.
Would you Like Cheaper Electric Rates and Cleaner Air? A talk for Rural Electric Co-ops with Luis Reyes, CEO, Kit Carson Electric Coop and Ward McCartney, 350NM
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Click here for talking points about the Inflation Reduction Act and how NM Rural Electric Co-ops can benefit from it.
September 26, 2022: Kit Carson Rural Electric Co-op (KCEC) achieved the lowest Co-op rates in New Mexico with 100% solar-powered electricity on summer days. Your co-op can too! Solar-generated electricity costs one-third of the cost of coal-generated electricity. KCEC did this by buying out its contract with the coal-reliant generation co-op that supplies most of NM’s Rural Electric Co-ops. Now, the new Inflation Reduction Act offers non-profits like member co-ops direct pay tax incentives to retire coal debt and invest in renewable energy, battery storage, energy efficiency and other measures to lower carbon emissions. Doing this locally could could lower transmission costs, create jobs and a tax base in New Mexico.
Frontline Communities & PNM/Avangrid Merger w/Robyn Jackson, Nicole Horseherder, Joseph Hernandez, & Mike Eisenfeld
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Click here to view a fact sheet about the merger.
June 27, 2022: On May 23, four northwest New Mexico community groups joined in an appeal to the NM Supreme Court challenging the rejection of the merger between PNM Resources and Avangrid by the PRC.
Had the Public Regulation Commission approved the merger, the resultant merged company would have been legally responsible for fulfilling their just transition funding commitments. These included $12.5 million in community-managed just transition funding that would have major economic and environmental benefits in the Four Corners Tribal communities that have long shouldered the impacts of PNM’s coal-fired power plants. Without substantial community investments toward a just transition, a safer, healthier renewable energy economy will remain out of reach for the people living near the locus of New Mexico’s historic coal-based electric generation.
Robyn Jackson is the Interim Executive Director of Diné C.A.R.E., Nicole Horseherder is the Executive Director of Tó Nizhóní Ání, Joseph Hernandez is an organizer with NAVA, and Mike Eisenfeld is with the San Juan Citizens Alliance.
Community Solar Comes to New Mexico by Dylan Connelly & Andrew Stone
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Click here to view Dylan’s slide deck.
Click here to view Andrew’s slide deck.
April 25, 2022: The NM Community Solar rules are out! Check out this update on the progress being made towards the program kick off. You’ll learn program specifics, schedule and how to get involved with on-going PRC dockets that are consequential to the adoption of clean energy. A Speaker Series talk by local solar developer and 350NM steering committee member Dylan Connelly, and architect and NM Solar Energy Association solar advocate Andrew Stone.
Methane: Climate Change, Energy Transition, Geopolitical Cudgel by Dr. Anthony R. Ingraffea, Cornell University
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Click here to view the slide deck.
March 28, 2022: The methane in fossil gas is a major driver of climate change. It is an impediment to the transition to a renewable energy world. It is at this very moment being used as a geopolitical cudgel. Dr. Ingraffea explained his research and gave his opinions on these aspects of this simple molecule, which stimulated productive discussion.
Growing Climate Solutions in Healthy Soil by Isabelle Jenniches & Claudia Reynoso, NM Healthy Soil Working Group
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February 28, 2022: Restoring soil health holds the promise of reversing climate change by drawing down carbon from the atmosphere, and rebalancing the water cycle in our arid environment. It’s a simple and effective solution to a multitude of fundamental problems caused by exploitative and extractive industrial systems –and yet it is not often discussed or understood within the climate movement.
This talk provided an overview of the principles of soil health, what the climate benefits are and how people can get involved in advancing this important climate solution.
COP 26: Two Climate Gatherings by Lora Lucero, Albuquerque Community Member
• The good, bad, and ugly outcomes
• Role of Indigenous Peoples and other voices in the climate negotiations
• Lora’s personal feelings of cognitive dissonance as well as observing the c.d. at a larger scale
• Conclusions: Lora’s take-away explained … communication is extremely important at this moment in human history.
New NM Methane Regs by Tannis Fox & Tom Singer, Western Environmental Law Center
Methane emissions and their climate emergency impacts jumped into the national consciousness with the detection of a huge methane cloud over the Four Corners area in New Mexico. The resulting scientific studies of the sources of the emissions there and over other oil and gas basins concluded that methane emissions were many times greater than had been represented by industry and the E.P.A. Petroleum development and production in five states are responsible for as much as 25% of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the entire country. Historically, New Mexico has had among the weakest methane regulation of any petroleum-producing state.
Making the Jump to Buying an EV by A Variety of Electric Vehicle Owners
Recording not available
September 27, 2021: We hosted a practical discussion with people who have recently made the plunge into the bright, fun future of electric vehicle ownership. In the real world, driving electric now dramatically reduces your transportation carbon footprint and will even more so as our electric grid is increasingly decarbonized. Participants learned that while the upfront cost of an electric vehicle is a little higher, the total cost of ownership is lower. Tesla paved the way but there are now affordable entries in the marketplace.
Infrastructure: Building 100% Renewables by Tom Solomon, 350NM Co-Coordinator
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July 26, 2021: We must see bold climate action in the American Jobs Plan. But what would it REALLY look like to build 100% clean renewable energy for ALL purposes in time to save the climate? This talk expands on The Solutions Project to show what we must build every year; how many wind and solar farms and battery farms and gigafactories, until we reach 100%, with costs and jobs impacts.
Perspectives on climate and air quality in New Mexico by Dave Dubois, NM State Climatologist
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June 28, 2021: Dr. DuBois discussed the current status of the climate across New Mexico based on data from the last 125+ years. He then talked about air quality trends over the past three decades. Finally, provided participants with ways to help collect climate data as citizen scientists, such as the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network.
Turn Off the Gas by 350NM Panel
February 22, 2021: Many of us still use natural gas (methane) or propane gas for our home hot water and space heating. Yet at the same time, we believe in lowering our carbon footprint. Getting off gas also makes more financial sense now than ever.
Our team of experts explained what new high-efficiency appliances look like and what it takes to make the conversion from gas. The panel discussion was followed by Q&A.
SkyTruth: If You Can See It, You Can Change It by John Amos, SkyTruth President
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January 25, 2021: John Amos, president of SkyTruth talked about the innovative technology company he founded. Monitoring fossil fuel extraction is a major area of SkyTruth’s satellite detective work around climate change. John shared stories about SkyTruth’s game-changing environmental surveillance. In the twenty years since SkyTruth’s founding, sensing technologies have become much more powerful allowing earth orbit satellites to track oil and gas industry development and pollution in new and revealing detail in New Mexico and around the world.