Anyone paying attention right now is seeing the pillars of our democracy crumbling before our eyes. The new administration is running roughshod over privacy and security laws, dismantling or freezing the operations of entire agencies authorized and funded by Congress, and unilaterally firing any and all public servants who serve as a check against corruption. Now that the legal system has begun its slow response, VP Vance has announced that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
The administration's all out attack against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives is a thinly disguised sexist and racist assault on the rights of women and people of color, an argument for a "merit based society" that is predicated on the assumption that any woman or person of color in a position of authority or importance is, by-definition, incompetent and undeserving. Immigrants are being vilified and rounded up by ICE agents, transgender people are losing their civil rights, protections for workers are under attack at the National Labor Relations Board, protections for consumers have ground to a halt at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and the administration has already announced its plans to shutter the Department of Education and defunded research at the National Institutes of Health. Any and all action and funding to protect our earth has been frozen in its tracks. This is government by the oligarchs and for the oligarchs.
The President is already musing about a third term, illegal annexation of Gaza and forced displacement of 2.2 million people suffering the ravages of war and starvation, and has begun transporting migrants to Guantanamo bay where they are being held outside the bounds of judicial protections or media access.
We have seen this horror show before, but anyone surprised by this turn of events should not be - the signs were all there. The reports of the President's funders influenced by arguments that we should return to a monarchic form of government, the documentation of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's history with white supremacy and participation in an extremist Christian group that advocates holy war against wokeism and Islam, and the repeated and blatant vilification of immigrants before and during the campaign.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO? RAISE HOLY HELL!
Now is not the time to retreat into hopelessness or nihilism. Now is not the time to write off the potential for people of good will across the nation to stand up for democracy. Now is the time to raise holy hell, in every way and in every venue possible. Stand on the street corner. Write to your paper, call your Congress person, especially if you live in a Republican district! Here’s the national number: (202) 224-3121.
Don't restrict your outrage to social media, where you will largely be speaking to an algorithm selected choir. This is a dangerous moment, and if we remain silent, the rule of law may be over before any meaningful opposition can take shape.
WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. EVERY ONE OF US.
Tomorrow HB 169, the Public Expression Protection Act, will be heard in House Consumer and Public Affairs at 1:30PM. This critical bill protects the public, journalists and advocates from SLAPP suits - a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.” These suits are antithetical to our first amendment rights. SLAAP suits are legal cases filed not necessarily to win, but with the intention to silence, intimidate and drain the time and money from those who speak up against a company, politician or public entity. There are hundreds of cases across the country that illustrate clearly why strong anti-SLAAP legislation is critical to protection of our first amendment rights.
The new administration's actions are already having a silencing effect on media, as the NY Times reported here "Trump's New Line of Attack Against the Media Gains Momentum." New Mexico's anti-SLAAP protections are thin - protecting only speech that takes place in the context of a government or judicial hearing. HB 169 broadens those protections in alignment with bipartisan legislation passed in 35 other states. Read the one pager here.
Make public comment via zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89876224491 or come in person to Room 317.
AND YES, HB 137, THE STRATEGIC WATER SUPPLY IS BACK TOMORROW MORNING WITH AN AMENDED SUBSTITUTE!CALLS & EMAILS TO COMMITTEE NEEDED
What's in the new Committee Sub? The only significant change is reducing what oil and gas would pay per barrel of waste from 5¢ to 3¢, putting an even greater portion of the funding burden for this oil and gas waste disposal bailout onto the public!
Hearing will be at 9:00AM in Room 315 or you can attend via zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87536227091. It is likely that there will be no additional public comment in this committee.
Importantly, during the first hearing in this committee an NMED expert testified that projects funded under the program would not be used for aquifer recharge, but in fact the proposed rule at the Water Quality Control Commission envisions reused waste for "aquifer recharge, industrial projects and environmental restoration." None of the language in HB 137 would preclude those uses.
The Governor even suggested the use of treated fracking waste for fire suppression, which would involve indiscriminate spreading of potentially toxic and radioactive liquid across land, forests and surface waters.
Need inspiration? Check out Mariel's op-ed opposing the Strategic Water Supply in the Albuquerque Journal! As you did before, call or email committee members with personalized messages opposing public funding to reuse toxic fracking waste:
Rep. Kristina Ortez, Chair, Office: 312B, Office Phone: 505 986-4840, Email: kristina.ortez@nmlegis.gov
Rep. Kathleen Cates, V. Chair, Office: 413F, Phone: 505 986-4432, Email: Kathleen.Cates@nmlegis.gov
Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena, Office: 204B, Phone: 505 986-4210, Email: micaela.cadena@nmlegis.gov
Rep. Marian Matthews, Office: 206B, Phone: 505 986-4248, Email: marian.matthews@nmlegis.gov
Rep. Angelica Rubio, Office: 204B, Phone: 505 986-4210, Email: angelica.rubio@nmlegis.gov
TWO OTHER GREAT ENVIRONMENTAL BILLS UP TOMORROW
HB 257, Oil and Gas Well Transfer Rulemaking - This bill is up in House Energy at 8:30AM. Sponsored by Rep. McQueen and Rep. Ortez, HB 257 authorizes the Oil Conservation Division to limit the transfer of oil and gas wells when:
(a) the transferor, the transferee or an entity that owns more than a twenty-five percent interest in a transferor or transferee is: 1) the subject of one or more notices of violation of the Oil and Gas Act; 2) the subject of an enforcement action under the Oil and Gas Act relating to spills or releases; or 3) out of compliance with natural gas capture or reporting requirements;(b) the transferee fails to provide adequate financial assurance as required by the division;(c) the transferee lacks sufficient financial capacity based on known or projected production to manage liabilities associated with the oil and gas wells; or(d) the division issues a written finding that the limitations on transfer are necessary for the purposes of mitigating risk to the state from potential inactive or abandoned oil and gas wells."
As the law currently stands, the OCD has limited capacity to limit transfers from one owner to another, a critical decision point that often leads to poorly performing wells being abandoned by bankrupt operators. Read the one pager here.This will be a tough committee! Use the link below to email committee members and ask them to VOTE yes on SB 257 to protect New Mexico against abandoned oil and gas wells that leak methane and risk contamination of ground and surface water! Email the committee here.
SB 99, the Methane Emissions Emissions Reduction Act to prevent the creation of a perverse financial incentive for expansion of factory farms was rolled till 9:00AM in Senate Conservation tomorrow. If you haven't done so please email the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on SB 99 here.
The movement to abolish slavery and then to achieve Civil Rights protections was not for the lazy or faint of heart. That fight was fought over hundreds of years, and those achievements will not be erased. Let us join Senator Pope Jr. in raising some Holy Hell to protect our rights, protect Mother Earth, and protect the most vulnerable among us. No matter how long it takes.
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