http://www.demingheadlight.com/ci_15625712

For the Deming Headlight
Posted: 07/29/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

SANTA FE - Mayor David Coss announced that he will be introducing a resolution to cut bottled water contracts out of the city budget. The city council of Las Cruces is considering making a similar move to drop bottled water from city budgets where public drinking water is available. This adds Santa Fe and Las Cruces to the growing list of cities across the country that are taking action to cut city bottled water contracts to save taxpayer money, reduce waste, and support public water systems. The move comes on the heels of a US Conference of Mayors survey demonstrating that more and more cities are phasing out bottled water from city budgets. To date, more than 100 cities across the country -- including Albuquerque -- have taken action to phase out bottled water or to promote municipal tap water.

"Santa Fe has high-quality tap water, and there's absolutely no reason our city should be buying bottled water," said Mayor Coss. Supporting the efforts of Mayor Coss and Las Cruces is a coalition of environmental and labor organizations, public officials, and small businesses, who have all signed onto a letter encouraging Governor Richardson to cut bottled water spending at the state level.

"Governors and mayors are stewards for our pubic water systems, responsible for overseeing budgets that provide the overwhelming majority of public funding for this essential public service," said Kristin Urquiza, campaign director for Corporate Accountability International's Think Outside the Bottle Campaign. "Mayor Coss and the Las Cruces city council members are making the right choice by saving taxpayer dollars and are sending the right message about New Mexico's high quality tap water."

Up to 40 percent of bottled water, in fact, comes from the same source as the tap. Bottled water is also far less regulated. Yet bottled water marketing has been so effective that many U.S. cities responsible for delivering tap water to the public have been spending millions each year on the bottle -- even as public water systems face a $22 billion annual shortfall.

"We commend Mayor Coss and the Las Cruces city council for recognizing the unnecessary waste and increased carbon footprint of bottled water," said Sandy Buffet, executive director of Conservation Voters New Mexico. "By setting an example, this policy will also help ensure that New Mexicans continue to embrace our municipal tap water -- which is critical to maintaining the high quality of our drinking water."

The marketing and promotion of bottled water, such as Nestlé's Born Better slogan, have convinced one in five people that the only place to get clean drinking water is from a bottle. And, as public confidence in tap water has eroded, so too has the political will to invest in public water.

"This is a smart way to save taxpayer dollars. Public water supplies in New Mexico are some of the best in the world, and certainly preferable to handing over New Mexicans' hard-earned money to corporations, whose water is often lower quality, and whose bottles add to landfills," said Carter Bundy, Political Action Representative with AFSCME International. "Mayor Coss and the Las Cruces city council deserves praise for finding a common-sense way to save money while improving our state."

For the last four years, Corporate Accountability International's national public education and action campaign, Think Outside the Bottle, has worked with public officials, communities of faith, campus administrators, small businesses, and individuals to support public water systems and call on the bottled water industry to honor local control of water and be more transparent about its labeling and water quality.

For a comprehensive list of city and state actions compiled by Corporate Accountability International, visit www.stopcorporateabuse.org/GettingStatesOffTheBottle.

By ANNE C. MULKERN of Greenwire
Senate Democrats' effort to pass climate or energy legislation before the August recess has spurred a flurry of advertising as companies and their lobbying groups work to sway votes.

Diverse interests, from the trade group for oil and natural gas to an alliance of renewable power interests, pumped money into television and newspaper ads. The influence efforts accelerated after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would bring a bill to the floor. More ads are planned for next two weeks, and many are running across the country. One targets Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and sponsor of one of the bills that could reach the floor.

"We see this happen on most major pieces of legislation," said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a watchdog group. "This type of AstroTurf lobbying is very effective."

Ever since the ads in the 1990s featuring "Harry and Louise" helped derail health care reform, Holman said, "companies have realized they can wield as much, if not more, influence on Congress" through advertising than they can through lobbying.

Groups funding the ads hear the legislative clock ticking.

"We really want to drive the message home to Congress that if they're going to be submitting a bill, then that bill should create supports for the alternative energy sector," said Stephanie Dreyer, spokeswoman for Growth Energy, a group that represents ethanol interests and is part of a coalition sponsoring a new ad.

"This is our time, if we're going to have a chance of impacting energy legislation," Dreyer said. "This is our week."

This week brought a new ad from a coalition that includes Growth Energy. Others in that alliance are American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Alliance to Save Energy, Covanta Energy, National Hydropower Association and Business Council for Sustainable Energy. AWEA took the lead, asking others to contribute financially, others in the alliance said. AWEA declined to make anyone available to talk about the ad campaign.

The spot features images of a burning oil rig on the water, a massive oil spill and belching smokestacks.

"This doesn't have to be our future," the ad says. "Not if the Senate acts now to pass legislation that promotes energy efficiency, biofuels and renewable energy sources." Then, as the images change to windmills, crops and corn, the American flag, and solar panels, a voice intones, "Let's make America more energy-independent, protect our environment and create millions of new jobs right here at home instead of losing those jobs to other countries. If you want to change America's energy future, call your senators and tell them to support clean energy legislation now."

The spot is running on network television in the Washington, D.C., area as well as on CNN, FOX, CNBC and MSNBC. The group last month funded an ad in Politico newspaper that featured a letter to the Senate.

Backers of the effort have much to gain or lose in an energy bill.

One of the top priorities of AWEA, a trade group for wind companies, is passage of a national mandate that utilities generate a portion of their power from renewable sources, called a renewable portfolio standard. Bingaman's S. 1462 (pdf), one of the measures that could reach the floor, includes a renewable electricity standard and other incentives that promote clean energy technologies, as well as expanded offshore drilling.

AWEA also wants a more permanent tax incentive program for renewables. That also would benefit Covanta, which owns and operates facilities that turn waste into power, and Growth Energy, which represents ethanol interests. The groups, as well as others in the coalition, support climate legislation that would set a cost for carbon emissions. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) have been working with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on climate language to be added to an energy bill.

Groups in the coalition united last month as they saw what they suspected was the final window for Congress to pass energy legislation this session.

"Time was running out in Congress -- and the renewable community and the efficiency community, we knew, in order to get a bill passed this year, we had to join forces, which we had never done before," said an aide at Alliance to Save Energy who asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak about strategy.

Ads from oil and others

More ads are coming from American Petroleum Institute, the biggest influence group for the oil and natural gas industry, and Clean Energy Works, a coalition of about 60 groups supporting climate legislation.

API next week will expand an advertising campaign that it launched last week. API will blanket the media with television, radio and online versions of an ad opposing any changes in the tax benefits that the industry currently receives.

Oil production tax breaks, originally developed to promote oil production, save the industry about $4 billion per year, according to government reports. The Obama administration wants to eliminate those tax benefits, including a tax deduction given to manufacturers, deductions for some drilling costs, and credits given for low-volume oil and gas wells. Industry says that removing any of those benefits equals a new tax.

"What would new taxes on oil and natural gas mean to you?" the API ad says. It then features a woman standing in what looks like a kitchen who says, "When I look at the future and think about all the things that are going on, and -- this is certainly not the time to raise taxes, because some people are just barely holding on. No, no no ... we, the working people, get hurt the most. The energy tax is more than an energy tax; it's taxing everyone."

Green groups have slammed the API ad as a false effort to show real people. The woman in the ad and others in API's recent ads are "average Americans who wanted to voice their concerns/opinions about taxes on the oil andnatural gas industry," said API spokeswoman Cathy Landry. The woman in this ad is not an actor, Landry said.

The API ad over the next two weeks will run on television and radio in the Washington, D.C., area. Television and radio ads will run in Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Virginia, states that API said are important to the debate. Radio alone will be heard in Maine, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia. Online ads will run through the end of the month.

Clean Energy Works, meanwhile, is finishing an ad that attacks those tax breaks, which the coalition calls a "Big Oil Welfare Tax" that will be paid by consumers. That planned spot, expected to run over the next few weeks, talks about "the Big Oil industry's hypocrisy of arguing against the climate bill because it's a national energy tax, when they are the ones benefiting from an existing national energy tax that subsidizes their profits," said David Di Martino, spokesman for Clean Energy Works.

Clean Energy Works also has expanded its ad campaign, which it says is a response to "Big Oil's efforts to block climate legislation."

The coalition's ad shows pictures of more than $4-per-gallon gas prices, BP PLC CEO Tony Hayward and the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig before it sank in the Gulf of Mexico. "What's next from the big oil companies?" the television ad from green groups asks. "A multimillion-dollar smear campaign to stop clean energy legislation from passing in the U.S. Senate."

The spots advocate passage of "clean energy" legislation (Greenwire, July 8).

Five members of Clean Energy Works -- Environment New Mexico, Audubon New Mexico, Sierra Club, Conservation Voters New Mexico and New Mexico Wildlife Federation -- have sponsored a television ad in New Mexico that calls on Bingaman to help win passage of legislation.

"He has a chance to make history," that ad says. "Congress is closer than ever to passing a clean energy climate plan that puts America to work ... but it won't happen unless our senator acts. Call Senator Bingaman. America needs his leadership to get it done."

VoteVets, also a member of Clean Energy Works, is planning "a new national security-themed ad highlighting our dependence on foreign oil and how it endangers our troops and that reducing our dependence on oil is a national security imperative," Di Martino said. That ad is scheduled to run next week.

A group calling itself "CO2 is Green" ran a half-page Washington Post ad Wednesday. It urged people to tell senators to vote against a cap-and-trade bill because it would drive up costs for electricity and transportation fuels and would not change the climate because "the bill is based on the false premise that man-made CO2 is a major cause of climate change. Real, empirical evidence indicates it is not" (Greenwire, July 14).

The spokesman for that group, H. Leighton Steward, said that there has not been a legitimate debate over climate change science. If environmentalists succeed in garnering policies that limit carbon, he said, there will be a food shortage, because crops require carbon. Steward sits on the board of directors of EOG Resources Inc., an oil and natural gas development company. He also is an honorary director at API.

Costs not clear

Groups funding the ads largely declined to say what they were spending. Clean Energy Works said its ad that ran nationally on MSNBC and CNN cost "six figures." Others did not give amounts.

More disclosure is needed, Holman said. Lobbying disclosure rules do not require companies or trade groups to specify what they've spent on advertising. Nonprofit groups in their tax returns reveal the total they've spent on advertising, lobbying and other efforts to influence, but the returns aren't itemized.

In some cases, it's clear who's behind the spots. In other cases, it's murkier, Holman said. Even when the name of the group paying for the ad is shown, he said, it's often not clear who that group's members are or what portion of funding they provided.

"We don't know who's spending the money, what it is they're trying to buy, or what the interests are on each side," Holman said, adding that "these are expensive ads. Unfortunately, it doesn't get reported anywhere."

"We have the right to know who's trying to buy influence on Capitol Hill," Holman added. "It's that type of knowledge that helps voters and citizens make an informed choice."

Copyright 2010 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Highlighting Conservation Records of Candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor

(Santa Fe) – Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM) unveiled a new website, NMGreenGov.org, summarizing the conservation records of all the candidates in the race for New Mexico’s next Governor and Lt. Governor.

“The next administration will make critical decisions about protecting our air, land and water and building a clean energy economy,” stated Sandy Buffett, CVNM’s Executive Director. “Our ‘NM Green Governor’ website serves as a clearinghouse for New Mexico voters to decide which candidates best represent their conservation values.”

Buffett also noted, “As the BP oil disaster sadly reminds us, voters should ask tough questions of all of our New Mexico candidates to determine whether they will uphold environmental safeguards to protect New Mexico, even in the face of corporations’ relentless demands for penny-wise and pound-foolish deregulation.”

Through the website, voters can find information about the conservation records of the candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor, such as votes cast on environmental issues. Each candidate also has a short biography that highlights public statements and background information. The site focuses on several key conservation issues including: climate change, water, land use, transportation, pit rules and energy.

To learn more about NM Green Governor, please go to: www.NMGreenGov.org.

Conservation Voters New Mexico Releases Annual Scorecard on Earth Day, Pays Tribute to Stewart Udall

(Santa Fe, NM) Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM) reflects on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day tomorrow by releasing its 2010 annual Legislative Scorecard today. The scorecard assesses the impact of the 2010 New Mexico State Legislative Session on New Mexico’s air, land, water and quality of life, and provides New Mexicans with the voting records of all legislators, as well as a description of the conservation performances of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

The scorecard also pays tribute to the life and work of Stewart Udall - who helped found the modern environmental movement – and examines the steps that New Mexico has taken to address climate change.

This year’s cover simply reads: “WWSUD?”; in her scorecard message, Executive Director Sandy Buffett asks New Mexicans and their elected officials to reflect on the question: What Would Stewart Udall Do?

“The 40th Anniversary of Earth Day reminds us of the greatness of Stewart Udall, and challenges all of us – as citizens, voters, and elected officials—to continue his legacy of environmental protection,” states Buffett. “Our scorecard is a tool for New Mexicans to hold our elected officials accountable so that we can all uphold his legacy for future generations.”

CVNM’s 100% Club, 2010:
In 2010, a total of 36 legislators received a score of 100% - the highest number of Conservation Champions since the scorecard was introduced in 2005. The champion legislators who earned a perfect (100%) conservation record for the 2010 session are listed at the bottom of this release.

Highlights
The scorecard highlights the passage of landmark conservation legislation, Senate Bill 186, the Natural Heritage Conservation Act. Sponsored by Senator Carlos Cisneros, SB 186 establishes a fund to help state, local and tribal governments, as well as private organizations, conduct restoration and conservation projects – to protect our water resources, working farms and ranches, wildlife and recreational opportunities.

In 2010, CVNM was once again successful in defending against every legislative attack on our environment.

CVNM also supported legislation that would have protected families and communities from environmental violators who threaten their health, safety and property – House Bill 259, Private Action to Enforce Enviro Statutes. Although this legislation, sponsored by Speaker Ben Lujan, did not pass the House, the narrow margin of defeat (2 votes) fostered hope for the future success of similar efforts.

The scorecard also highlights the legacy of Governor Bill Richardson’s administration as the strongest conservation Governor in our state’s history.

Bipartisanship:
Demonstrating that conservation is increasingly a bipartisan issue, a few Republicans scored higher than many Democrats:

• Senator Sander Rue (63%), Senator John Ryan (50%) Representative Bill Rehm (50%) and Representative Janice Arnold-Jones (50%) were the highest-scoring Republicans.

Lowlights
Perhaps surprisingly, the 2010 session brought more highlights than lowlights. The major disappointments involved common-sense bills that were defeated by powerful special interests. Based on these experiences, New Mexicans should ask their legislators:

• Why should New Mexico be forced to allow the worst “bad actor” air polluters in the state and country to operate here, and why wouldn’t the state want the authority to shut down rogue polluters that other states will not endure? (HB276 did not pass)
• Why shouldn’t citizens and communities have the right to take environmental violators to court to stop unlawful pollution that threatens their health, safety or property? (HB259 did not pass)
• Why is New Mexico the only state in the country that allows individuals to kill an unlimited number of deer, elk or other wildlife, if they believe they will damage their grass or crops? (HB73 did not pass)

Methodology
The CVNM Legislative scores reflect votes cast on the floor and in committee on the most important conservation issues facing the Legislature. CVNM scored legislators on the following bills:

Conservation & Land Use

• SB 186 (Cisneros): Natural Heritage Conservation Act
• HJM 32 (Tripp): Enforce Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Act

Energy

• HB 78 (Madalena): Environmental Board Climate Change Policies
• HJM 29 (Stewart): Consider Clean Energy Legislation
  
• SB 200 (Cisneros): Public Building Energy Efficiency Standards
  
• SJM 38 (Sharer): Nuclear Energy as Green Energy

Ethics and Transparency

• SB 195 (Rue): Sunshine Portal Transparency Act

Health & Environment

• HB 27 (Egolf): Recovery of Damages to Natural Resources
  
• HB 81/SB 61 (Heaton/Leavell): Petroleum Storage Tank Definition Changes
  
• HB 259 (B Lujan): Private Action to Enforce Enviro Statutes
  
• HB 276/SB 115/SB 285 (Egolf/Nava/MJ Garcia): Air Quality Control Permit Denial
  
• SB 303 (E Griego): Farmer Protection Act
  
• HJR 4 (Nunez): Legislative Review of Regulatory Rules, CA
  
• Senate Floor Amendment #1 (Sharer) to HB 2: General Appropriation Act of 2010

Wildlife and Wilderness

• HB 73 (Stewart): Taking of Certain Animal Species
  
• HJM 48 (Bandy): Wolf Reintroduction Conflict Resolution

An electronic (.pdf) copy of the 2010 CVNM Legislative Scorecard can be accessed at here. CVNM is a nonpartisan, 501(c)4 nonprofit that works to make sensible conservation policies a top priority for elected officials, political candidates and voters across the state.

NM Legislators who scored 100% in 2010 include:

• Representative Gail Chasey (HD 18, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Eleanor Chavez (HD 13, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Nate Cote (HD 53, Dona Ana & Otero Counties)
  
• Representative Brian Egolf (HD 47, Santa Fe County)
  
• Representative Miguel Garcia (HD 14, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Karen Giannini (HD 30, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales (HD 42, Taos County)
  
• Representative Joni Gutierrez (HD 33, Dona Ana County)
  
• Representative Antonio Lujan (HD 35, Dona Ana County)
  
• Speaker Ben Lujan (HD 46, Santa Fe County)
  
• Representative Antonio “Moe” Maestas (HD 16, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative W. Ken Martinez (HD 69, Cibola, McKinley & San Juan Counties)
  
• Representative Rick Miera (HD 11, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Bill O’Neill (HD 15, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Danice Picraux (HD 25, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Ed Sandoval (HD 17, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Jeff Steinborn (HD 37, Dona Ana County)
  
• Representative Mimi Stewart (HD 21, Bernalillo County)
  
• Representative Luciano “Lucky” Varela (HD 48, Santa Fe County)
  
• Senator Pete Campos (SD 8, Guadalupe, Mora, San Miguel, Santa Fe & Torrance Counties)
  
• Senator Carlos Cisneros (SD 6, Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe & Taos Counties)
  
• Senator Dede Feldman (SD 13, Bernalillo County)
  
• Senator Steve Fischmann (SD 37, Dona Ana County)
  
• Senator Mary Jane Garcia (SD 36, Dona Ana County)
  
• Senator Eric Griego (SD 14, Bernalillo & Valencia Counties)
  
• Senator Timothy Keller (SD 17, Bernalillo County)
  
• Senator Linda Lopez (SD 11, Bernalillo County)
  
• Senator Lynda Lovejoy (SD 22, Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Rio Arriba & Sandoval Counties)
  
• Senator Cisco McSorley (SD 16, Bernalillo County)
  
• Senator Howie Morales (SD 28, Catron, Grant & Socorro Counties)
  
• Senator Cynthia Nava (SD 31, Dona Ana County)
  
• Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino (SD 12, Bernalillo County)
  
• Senator Mary Kay Papen (SD 38, Dona Ana County)
  
• Senator Nancy Rodriguez (SD 24, Santa Fe County)
  
• Senator Michael Sanchez (SD 29, Valencia County)
  
• Senator Peter Wirth (SD 25, Santa Fe County)