From this weekend’s newspaper (sub/ad req), a piece about UNM’s Museum of Southwestern Biology taking responsibility for the remarkable early twentieth century plant collection of Brother Gerfroy Arsène Brouard: A Smithsonian scientist eight decades ago joked that the mosses and lichens of northern New Mexico were sure to suffer before the determined onslaught of Brother …
If you’re in Albuquerque, it’s a great weekend to go out and see your river. The Rio Grande is flowing at nearly 6,000 cubic feet per second through the city right now (Saturday evening, 5/22), courtesy of a spike flow to help Rio Grande silvery minnow spawning. The high flows allow water to get out …
Continue reading ‘Water in the Desert: High Flows on the Rio Grande’ »
Greetings from the not-so-wilds of Taos, New Mexico, where I picked up this morning’s Albuquerque Journal to find this (sub/ad req), on the surprising discovery of PCBs in the Rio Grande just downstream from the main Albuquerque storm water outfall: If the nuclear weapons lab were responsible, dealing with this problem would be simpler. Attentive …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: PCBs in the Rio Grande’ »
From this morning’s paper, an update on the Kirtland Air Force Base jet fuel spill (sub/ad req.): State regulators on Friday denied the Air Force a requested 45-day extension on a deadline to turn in plans to deal with a jet fuel spill threatening Albuquerque groundwater. “Urgent action needs to be taken to address this …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Kirtland Fuel Spill Update’ »
Which spill to cover? Some environmental journalism tradecraft here. There is a nagging problem for reporters who cover contamination problems. As a society, we spill nasty shit all the time, in all sorts of places, from the sheen of oil and lead wheel weight residues on our streets to the nitrates beneath dairies to the …
If you follow nuclear weapons policy, the last thing you need at this point is another analysis of yesterday’s Nuclear Posture Review rollout. But I did have something to say in this morning’s newspaper (sub/ad req) that represents what I think is an important and underappreciated piece of the debate. Here in New Mexico, home …
Continue reading ‘Nuclear Posture Review, a Bottom-Up Perspective’ »
My colleague Sean Olson had a story last weekend that captured the struggle facing those trying to implement state-level cap and trade regulations in New Mexico (sub/ad req): Republicans and many Democrats agree that a state cap-and-trade system would be a form of economic suicide for New Mexico. New Mexico is a member of the …
I’ve written in the past about the importance of the notion of moving water from where it wants to be. A lot of our problems seem to happen when we do that, because water wants to be where it wants to be, and its powerful urges are difficult to resist. My past discussions have focused …
Albuquerque’s per capita water consumption continues to drop (sub/ad req): Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority customers used an average of 159 gallons per capita per day in 2009, down from 252 gallons in 1994, when the community’s water conservation efforts began, according to Katherine Yuhas, head of the utility’s water conservation program. Yuhas and …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: ABQ Water Consumption Declining’ »
I noticed the lilacs starting to leaf out in our backyard this afternoon. We moved the weather station last week, so I’m not sure what 65F (18C) means, but that’s what the thermometer says. (Anthony Watts would no doubt disapprove of its current location in the corner by the back wall, but my old cotton …