Historic HEEI Public Hearing
Proceeds Despite City Council's Attempts to Stop It
Please Make a Public Comment Tonight or In Writing
The historic Health, Environment & Equity Impacts (HEEI) regulation Public Hearing began Monday, December 4th, 2023 and has proceeded all week. Parties have presented technical testimony, questioned and cross-examined technical experts, and testimony has been heard every evening during Public Comment.
While the City Council voted to override the Mayor's vetoes of two bills sponsored by Councilor Dan Lewis on Monday evening, to purge the current Air Board's city-appointed members and to pause the Board's work through February, the Air Board, based on advice from Board attorney Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, proceeded with the HEEI hearing based on the fact that the City Council bills' effective date is 5 days after they are published.
On Tuesday, December 5, the Air Board filed a request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Permanent Injunction to restrain both City Council bills from taking effect. As of this writing, the 2nd Judicial District Court has not ruled on that motion. The restraining order included references to the fact that Councilor Lewis is Director of Operations for Davidson Energy which has operations in the South Valley. The order referred to the moratorium as “unilateral”; the Bernalillo County Commission passed a resolution on October 24 also calling the Dan Lewis bills unilateral, impacting the Joint City-County Air Board.
Mayor Keller issued a statement Monday saying City Council's actions on air quality had put the proposed regulation and air quality in legal limbo. A statement released to media said, "We respect the concerns raised and the traditional disagreements between branches of government; and believe that on joint city county matters we should work together. Unfortunately, unless the county follows suit, this action likely throws construction, community and businesses into indefinite limbo, creating broad legal ambiguity that could tie us up in court for years."
The Mayor's vetoes of both Dan Lewis's bills were overridden when Councilors Klarissa Peña and Pat Davis switched their votes and supported the bill to put a moratorium on board action; Peña also supported the bill to abolish the current Air Board.
The votes by Councilors Klarissa Peña and Pat Davis were extremely disappointing and impeded upholding fair democratic processes. Their votes impacted frontline and fenceline community members who have spent decades working towards this historic moment of having a cumulative impacts regulation finally heard by the Air Board.
NMELC Legal Director Eric Jantz and Senior Staff Attorney Maslyn Locke represent the Mountain View Coalition as petitioners of this historic and precedent-setting cumulative impacts regulation. Other parties in support of the HEEI regulation are Dr. Sofia Martinez and Manuel Criollo represented by Gabe Pacyniak, director of the UNM Natural Resources & Environmental Law Clinic, and Law Students Ruhika Claughfield and Annalisa Miller and the Pueblo of Isleta, represented by Lindsay Cutler and Vanessa Hidalgo.
We recognize and are grateful to all of the technical experts who testified on behalf of the Mountain View Coalition. All of our experts —Dr. Rachel Morello-Frosch, Dr. Kelcey Bilsbak, Dr. Kelly O’Donnell and Dr. Jaime Clark—presented compelling testimony that the current regulatory framework doesn't protect community health. Their testimony made clear that a new rule is necessary to protect public health in overburdened communities, comply with national nondiscrimination laws, and lead to economic growth.
One of the most powerful expert witnesses put on by the UNM Law Clinic was Dr. Monica Unseld who testified about qualitative versus quantitative data, bias, and the validity of Community Based Participatory Research. Dr. Unseld said public comments about lived experience from community members constitute qualitative data that should be given equal weight and importance as technical testimony. You may watch videos of the HEEI hearing on the Air Board website. Follow us on Instagram at @nmelc to see many video clips from this week's hearing.
Meanwhile, the opposing parties include Kirtland Air Force Base, the U.S. Air Force, Sandia National Labs, the Department of Energy, the University of New Mexico Board of Regents, the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, the New Mexico Mining Association, asphalt plants, and other industrial polluters.
Public Comments Show Overwhelming Support for the HEEI Regulation
As we write this, there have been 84 public comments; 100 percent of the commenters spoke in support of the HEEI regulation. We are thankful to everyone who has taken time to join us in person or by Zoom to make public comment in support of our regulation. Public comment is a vital part of any hearing process providing opportunity for the larger community’s voice to be heard.
Two of the most moving moments during public comment were when New Mexico State Senator Harold Pope, Jr. and City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn spoke in support of the beleaguered board, which has been targeted both by Councilor Lewis as well as outrageous editorials in the Albuquerque Journal.
One public commenter, Emily Arasim Beltrán, a UNM graduate student, said, "It is overwhelmingly clear that fact, data and evidence are all lining up behind the proponents of the HEEI regulation, and that those who oppose it are relying on assumptions, fear tactics and generalizations."
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