Laura Paskus,
Environment Reporter
Hi All,

Plans for the SunZia Transmission Project have been in the works since 2006, with $150 million already spent. The $4 billion project is supposed to someday bring wind-generated power from New Mexico to markets in Arizona and California. According to SunZia New Mexico Executive Director John Ryan, it will be the largest clean energy project in the U.S. when it’s finished.  

“We're trying to address the climate crisis,” Ryan said in a recent interview. “We understand and we recognize the importance of renewable energy and clean energy. But you're right, we've got to convince local communities, local elected officials, stakeholders, environmental groups that not only are these projects important, but we have to do them in an environmentally sensitive way.”
Sandra Noll, who lives in Socorro County, is among those who support renewable energy, but worry how the project will affect migrating birds, ecotourism, and the rural communities nearby.
 
“The Middle Rio Grande Valley is part of the central flyway from Alaska and Canada down to South America and we have more than 400 bird species that use that flyway,” Noll said. “So, two sets of high voltage, multiple line crossings of that river, of our Rio Grande, will be of great impact.” 

We know we need to transition to more renewable energy, but the question is how to balance all that new construction and infrastructure with local impacts?
Writing for ProPublica and The New York Times, Abrahm Lustgarten takes a big-picture look at the situation on the Colorado River, “40 Million People Rely on the Colorado River. It’s Drying Up Fast.” He writes:  

Americans are about to face all sorts of difficult choices about how and where to live as the climate continues to heat up. States will be forced to choose which coastlines to abandon as sea levels rise, which wildfire-prone suburbs to retreat from and which small towns cannot afford new infrastructure to protect against floods or heat. What to do in the parts of the country that are losing their essential supply of water may turn out to be the first among those choices. 

The Colorado River drives larger economies and supplies water to more major cities and irrigation districts than the Rio Grande. But all the lessons of the Colorado apply to the Rio Grande and the three states who rely upon its waters, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. 
Elephant Butte Reservoir is at about five percent capacity.
We’ve long known that climate change affects the Rio Grande’s flows, as increased temperatures drive deepening dryness. We’ve also known that the challenges would compound each year. Even when there is a hearty snowpack or robust monsoon, increasing aridity sucks the system drier and drier. Forests are thirsty, crops need more water, soils are parched. New Mexico’s water challenges are on stark display right now: The Rio Grande is dropping in Albuquerque (and is dry downstream), the system’s reservoirs remain low, and every farmer, fish, and cottonwood who relies upon the ecosystem suffers.
  
As of last night, about eight miles of the river are dry near Belen, with flows dropping throughout the Middle Rio Grande. Tuesday morning, at the Alameda Bridge north of Albuquerque, the river’s at 129 cubic feet per second; at the Central Bridge, 76 cfs. (Compare that with the median daily flow for both those gauges of about 500 cfs.)
The Rio Grande in Albuquerque Monday afternoon.
Despite some optimistic-sounding news reports lately—touting the monsoon season for giving Elephant Butte a boost or keeping the Rio Grande in Albuquerque from drying earlier this summer—this year is hard.
  
It’s entirely likely that next year will be even harder. Ignoring the facts doesn’t change the trajectory of history. So, let’s talk openly and honestly about all of this. And about the difficult choices New Mexicans need to face.
 
Friends, I know the world right now is hard to face, even if you’re not in the thick of wildfire smoke or being inundated by floodwaters.
  
Over Sunday morning coffee, I watched the face of someone I love, talking about the guilt of not knowing how to better alleviate the pain we inflict upon this Earth. During our Monday morning staff meeting, my boss noted of the onslaught of troubling events in the world that it “feels like we can’t ever have a moment to breathe.”
  
I know how you all might feel, even as I add to your stress by writing about water challenges in New Mexico.
  
Keep resisting the temptations of despair or ignorance (or even cynicism). And know, too, that “climate grief” is something that’s real, and worth thinking about in the context of your own life or community.
  
Elizabeth Hernandez wrote about it for The Denver Post recently: 

[Amanda Rebel, a Colorado-based therapist] said it’s important to acknowledge that feeling anxiety about the future of the planet is normal and talking about those emotions is important to process them. Then, Rebel said, she encourages shifting from thinking “what have we done?” to “what can we do?” to focus on the positive actions people can take to make the negative emotions more manageable, Rebel said. 

Take care, and thanks for reading. Keep up with us throughout the week over on Instagram.
Best wishes, 
Laura Paskus

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