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Our Mission to Protect the Rio Chama Watershed
As the world wakes up in 2021, Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens has also taken a look at our purpose and our service, and has refined its mission.
Here is a sample letter!
On this beautiful fall day here in the Rio Chama Watershed I am writing to remind you that if you’d like to submit a comment to the BLM regarding their Resource Management Plan Amendment for our public lands, the due date is this coming Friday, the 25th, 5pm.
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens You have a say in the Resource Management Plan
You have a say on how our public lands are used. This is a big deal folks! A very dated Resource Management Plan (RMP) that was implemented in 2003 is finally being updated by the BLM. The decisions in this plan amendment affect us and our watershed as the plan appears to be geared for private oil and gas development, not multi-use public land planning. The 400-plus page draft amendment outlines a preferred alternative that would increase oil and gas activity in the Greater Chaco region and potentially on the Rio Chama Watershed’s western boundary.
RACC June/July 2020 News: Environmental justice for our neighbors, the Green Amendment for New Mexico and more…
As reported by our local news source, the Abiquiu News, the Bureau of Land Management has extended the comment period for the Farmington Resource Management Plan: Mancos-Gallup Amendment. The project type is described as an amendment regarding the Environmental Impact Statement associated with that plan.
Due to an outcry regarding the amendment from local governmental and Pueblo officials, including Governor Grisham and the All Pueblo Council of Governors, a new deadline of Sept. 25, 2020 has been set for public comment. Along with New Mexico environmental organizations like RACC, a demand was made that a new Resource Management Plan be created, one that considers human and environmental health. You can link to the letter here.
The letter also demanded no new leasing. And most importantly, the letter demanded environmental justice that analyzes “the impacts of existing and potential fracking development on public health, local quality of life, sacred, spiritual, and cultural resources, issues of Free, Prior and Informed Consent well as environmental and social justice, and climate change.”
RACC April/May News 2020
A Surge in the Darkness by Barbara Turner At night, through the thick walls of my house here by the El Rito Creek, I can hear the spring runoff beginning. The sound of the water surging over the rocky creek bottom inserts itself into my dreams and is both soothing and...
RACC Feb/March 2020 News
Jack Loeffler's Local Aural History Comes To Abiquiu Remember RACC's chapbook publication from a few years back entitled, Thinking Like the Rio Chama Watershed? The New Mexico author, Jack Loeffler was, on many levels, a real inspiration for this chapbook which helped...
RACC Dec 2019 / Jan 2020 News
Our Efforts to Protect Our Waters On December 10th I was fortunate to be soaking at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs on the one day each year that the Tibetan Monks hold their ceremony and blessing for the waters. It was a unique opportunity to drop out of the endless...
RACC Sept/Oct 2019 News
RACC Lends Support to Challenge of Energy Transition Act August 26, 2019For Immediate Release Case Filed in New Mexico Supreme Court Challenges Unconstitutional Provisions of the Energy Transition Act SANTA FE, N.M. — New Energy Economy (NEE), joined by other...
Rio Chama Watershed Alert Feb. 2019
March Oil and Gas Lease Sale Protest Period Begins Now! RACC is joining forces with the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club to protest the BLM March Oil and Gas Lease Sale in New Mexico. While there are no parcels in our watershed this time around it is still...
RACC Newsletter Jan/Feb 2019
In Gratitude As I write the newsletter today, I look out a window above my art room desk and see an oak forest, snow-blanketed, and awaiting the imprint of tracks from our local band of wild turkeys. The other windy winter day while taking a morning walk with a friend...
RACC Newsletter Nov/Dec 2018
It's Giving Tuesday Folks! We've all heard of 'Black Friday", right? Well, today is the day where you declare your support for the local non-profits that you have determined are doing "good work" in your community. You send a little money every year to your local...
Watershed Alert December 2018: Oil and Gas Lease sale
Once again, an Oil and Gas Lease Sale in our Beloved Rio Chama Watershed Are the times feeling a bit strange to you?? Are you detecting a bait and switch approach permeating the air around how the current U.S. government administration is changing the rules regarding...
RACC Newsletter August/September 2018
Rio Chama Watershed Faces New Frack Leasing Here we go again folks. This December, the Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office is offering up 13 new parcels of Greater Chaco Land for oil and gas leasing. The "scoping period" for these parcels took place in...
RACC Newsletter June/July 2018
Healthy Watersheds Make Healthy Food! There is a certain poetry about walking into a farmers' market. Like with the reading of a poem, you hope for beauty, surprise and locality and before you know it, and several interesting conversations later, you are...
RACC Watershed Alert May 2018
US Department of the Interior (BLM) "Protest Dismissed" Letters Anyone who wrote a protest letter to the BLM regarding the Greater Chaco Lease Sale has by now received a "Decision" letter from the Department of the Interior. In the form letter it states that the...
RACC Newsletter April/May 2018
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens presents: El Agua Es Vida multimedia images from the Rio Chama Watershed Barbara TurnerCinda KellyIren Schio Julie WagnerSabra Moore The Café Abiquiu at Abiquiu InnApril 1st – April 30th 7AM – 9PM Partial proceeds will benefit the...
RACC Win!
BLM Defers Fracking in Greater Chaco! The Bureau of Land Management recently announced its decision to defer the spring oil and gas lease sale of 4,435.37 acres in the Greater Chaco. Twelve of the parcels are within the Rio Chama Watershed boundary and are considered...
RACC Newsletter Jan/Feb 2018
"Unprecedented" Protest Letter Campaign WOW! Our turn out for Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens' "Watershed Alert" call to action for protest letters regarding the BLM March 18th, 2018 oil and gas lease sale in the Greater Chaco provided an overwhelming majority of all...
Watershed Alert Part 3, December 2017
Hello fellow Rio Chama Watershed Protectors! Here are instructions and talking points to help facilitate your comments to the BLM regarding the 12 new oil and gas leases that will appear on BLM's online only Spring Lease Sale. The parcels are within the our watershed....
Watershed Alert Part 2, December 2017
Here Is Your Opportunity To Comment On The New Fracking Leases in Our Beloved Rio Chama WatershedWho are we commenting to? We are allowed to send public comments to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regarding our concerns about new oil and gas leases that are...
RACC Watershed Alert! November 2017
New Oil and Gas Leasing Slated for Our Watershed A new BLM oil and gas lease sale is coming our way. Parcels on offer in the March 8th, 2018 lease sale are east of Hwy 112 and near the towns of LLaves, Regina and Gallina, and are well within our watershedboundaries....
RACC Newsletter Nov/Dec 2017
Jemez Mt. Electric Co-op Moves in the Right Direction “On August 25, 2017, the Jemez Mountain’s Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees voted to send a letter to Tri-State Generation & Transmission asking to discuss the possibility of increasing the use of...
Watershed Alert September 2017
The following is a report regarding the use of Roundup weed killer by the DOT on roadsides near the community of Dixon. Spraying also occurred in our watershed near Abiquiu. If you would like to submit a comment of concern to the DOT, please use the link for Paul...
August/Sept 2017 Newsletter
El Rito Watershed Events Generate Energy! The El Rito Library and Purdue University kicked off Watershed Week in El Rito on July 8thby hosting the El Rito Watershed Study: A Community Forum, a mind-blowing event about a study whose subject is our very own El Rito...
June/July 2017 Newsletter
Exploring San Pedro Parks Wilderness and Rio Gallina Canyon by RACC board member Barbara Turner Both of these amazing places are very near the existing oil and gas leases on the border of the Rio Chama Watershed (no permits to drill have been issued so far). I can...
April/May 2017 Newsletter
Comment Letters Mailed to BLM Many thanks to all who attended the comment letter-writing event in February regarding oil and gas parcel leasing near the Continental Divide in our watershed! We mailed to the BLM, by certified mail, over 28 comment letters, all composed...
Feb/March 2017 Newsletter
Many thanks to Carolyn Riege and Norbert Hufnagl, partnersin Earthen Touch Natural Builders, for planning and hosting this important watershed event. Please stop by and join us in speaking up for the Rio Chama Watershed! Governor Martinez Appoints Oil Company VP...
Watershed Alert Feb 2017
Rio Chama Watershed Alert!!! THIS IS AN IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD REGARDING OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT IN OUR WATERSHED!!! WITH A WESTERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (WELC) LAWSUIT SUPPORTING US, THIS IS A BATTLE WE CAN WIN. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS TO...
RACC supports Santa Fe National Forest lawsuit against BLM
RACC is supporting this Western Environmental Law (WELC) suit filed November 18, 2016 against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Interior as well as the U.S. Forest Service (NFS) under the Department of Agriculture, for...
BLM: Stop auctioning off Chaco to oil and gas
Author: Mona Blaber Fracking in Greater Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico is on the increase and causing more health and public safety problems than ever. Please write to the Bureau of Land Management Farmington Office to protect these sacred and precious...
Methane rule a triple win!
From the Western Environmental Law Center Today, after a decade of advocacy led by WELC, the Bureau of Land Management released new rules that will reduce methane pollution from the oil and gas industry, the nation's largest methane emitter, on our public lands....
Big setback for Chaco Canyon and Santa Fe National Forest conservation
from the Western Environmental Law Center: Hopes for a respite from a fracking boom plaguing Navajo and public lands in New Mexico’s Greater Chaco area were thwarted Thursday when the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's decision to deny a temporary...
Sign petition to condemn fracking in the Santa Fe National Forest
Dear Friend of the Rio Chama Watershed: In 2014, we sent hundreds of letters to the BLM protesting plans for drilling and fracking in the Santa Fe National Forest and the Rio Chama Watershed. Despite your efforts, the BLM and U.S. Forest Service have auctioned over...
October/November 2016 Newsletter
Rafting the Rio After reading, researching, and writing about the Rio Chama Watershed in a layperson’s sort of way over the last few years, I finally had the opportunity to actually be on the body of the river itself for a glorious stretch of time over a few days...
Here’s Your Opportunity to Make Your Voice Heard
The Forest Service is holding five general meetings and five technical meetings on evaluating the Santa Fe National Forest lands for wilderness designation and you are invited. They are scheduled in the evening to make it easier for the public to participate. The...
August/September 2016 Newsletter
RACC COMMUNITY SOLAR FORUM SHINES A successful Community Solar Forum, organized by RACC board member Cinda Graham (thank you Cinda!), took place at the El Rito Community Center on the evening of July 28thand brought in an audience of 30 from the surrounding area....
The fight for public lands in New Mexico heats up
Published in the Santa Fe New Mexican, July 29, 2016 The 100 degree-plus New Mexico summer hasn't slowed the Bureau of Land Management's seemingly relentless drive to offer up public lands to the fossil fuel industry. In a sneaky and secretive move, the bureau tried...
Rio Chama Watershed Alert!
This is a Rio Chama Watershed information alert. The BLM has received expressions of interest in leasing approx. 46,000 acres of Santa Fe National forest, with a large area that runs through our watershed and into Abiquiu Lake, for geothermal exploration and...
RACC Presents A Forum of Local Solar Energy Users
ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT GOING SOLAR and joining the new energy economy? Join RACC on Thursday, July 28th from 5-7pm at the El Rito Community Center, 208 State Rd 554 and get answers to your solar questions from a panel of community members who have taken the leap and...
Fracking rule voided by Court
via the New York Times WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday night struck down an Obama administration regulation on the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for oil and gas on public lands, a blow to President Obama’s muscular stand on the extraction of fossil...
BLM pulls Chaco leases for now
Oil and gas leases to drill and frack near the Chaco Canyon National Historic Park have been cancelled, the BLM announced today. The agency explained that the 2,122 acres under consideration for sale in October, 2016, were pulled because the National Environmental...
WELC Files Suit to Protect Rio Chama Watershed
The Western Environmental Law Center has officially filed a lawsuit regarding the October 2014 oil and gas lease sales parcels located east of the Continental Divide in the vicinity of the Rio Chama and Rio Gallina watersheds. Over a hundred of you wrote letters of...
June/July 2016 Newsletter
Fracking the West Are you interested in issues involving water, energy, climate and our public lands? High Country News is a brilliant, bi-weekly magazine that the RACC board of directors reads and can highly recommend to you. They recently published an...
Thank you to all who attended our public meeting
More than 60 people were present for the Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens public meeting last Saturday, February 20. Sending a shout out to Kyle Tisdel of the Western Environmental Law Center and Steve Harris of Rio Grande Restoration for their participation. In fact,...
You’re Invited to a Community Event Concerning Fracking in the Valley
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens will host a public meeting on Saturday, February 20th, from 3 to 5pm. The meeting will be held at the Rural Events Center. The purpose of the meeting is to update community members on the status of potential oil and gas development (aka...
Dear Congressmen: Keep It In The Ground
The following letter was sent to US Senators Udall and Heinrich as well as US Rep. Ben Lujan January 6, 2016 Honorable Tom Udall United States Senate 531 Hart Senate Office Washington, DC 20510-3104 RE: The Keep It In The Ground Act of 2015/ S.2238 Senator Udall, Rio...
Our comments to US Forest Service regarding their revised Plan for the Santa Fe National Forest
December 3, 2015 Santa Fe National Forest Attn: Forest Plan Revision 11 Forest Lane Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508 Submitted via email to: santafeforestplan@fs.fed.us Re: SCOPING COMMENTS RE: SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST PLAN REVISION Thank you for the opportunity to...
Protest Letter Concerns Officially Dismissed by the BLM
Updated November 13, 2016 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has, at last, finalized responses to protest letters regarding your concerns about the dangers of oil and gas fracking leases in the Santa Fe National Forest within the Rio Chama Watershed. The BLM...
September 2015 Newsletter
New solar panel installation in Northern New Mexico One Person's Story of Going Solar in the Watershed by Barbara Turner We just had an ultra-modern looking aluminum roof-mount solar structure, studded with 18 beautiful blue solar panels, installed next to the old...
July 2015 News
Update on BLM Cebolla Parcels Proposed for Oil and Gas Development The status of the BLM’s Cebolla parcels has been updated by Brad Higdon of the Taos BLM Field Office. According to Brad, these parcels are now on “indefinite deferral”. While the BLM has the Mineral...
Public Meeting about Geothermal Energy Development
There will be a public meeting tonight, June 1, at the Cuba Ranger District Office at 5:00 PM, and another at the Forest Service Office in Santa Fe on June 2. The public is invited to submit comments through June 12. We don't yet have a comprehensive understanding...
May 2015 Newsletter
NEW RACC NEWSLETTER SCHEDULE WILL BE BI-MONTHLY If you are receiving this newsletter, you are a member of Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens. We welcome your input. In this bi-monthly newsletter we will endeavor to inform you about current issues affecting the Rio Chama...
October 2014 Newsletter
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "To protect the public health and land, air, and water of the Rio Chama Watershed, Rio Arriba County, and the State of New Mexico, and to promote sustainable development through education,...
September 2014 Newsletter
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "To protect the public health and land, air, and water of the Rio Chama Watershed, Rio Arriba County, and the State of New Mexico, and to promote sustainable development through education,...
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens August 12, 2014
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "To protect the public health and land, air, and water of the Rio Chama Watershed, Rio Arriba County, and the State of New Mexico, and to promote sustainable development through education,...
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens August 8, 2014
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "To protect the public health and land, air, and water of the Rio Chama Watershed, Rio Arriba County, and the State of New Mexico, and to promote sustainable development through education,...
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens August 1, 2014
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "To protect the public health and land, air, and water of the Rio Chama Watershed, Rio Arriba County, and the State of New Mexico, and to promote sustainable development through...
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens July 18, 2014
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "Support and focus concerns, actions and outreach related to the quality and use of land, air, and water resources in Rio Arriba County and the State of New Mexico while maintaining...
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens June 4, 2014
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "Support and focus concerns, actions and outreach related to the quality and use of land, air, and water resources in Rio Arriba County and the State of New Mexico while maintaining...
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens May 24, 2014
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "Support and focus concerns, actions and outreach related to the quality and use of land, air, and water resources in Rio Arriba County and the State of New Mexico while maintaining...
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens, May 8, 2014
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "Support and focus concerns, actions and outreach related to the quality and use of land, air, and water resources in Rio Arriba County and the State of New Mexico while maintaining...
April 2014 Newsletter
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organizations whose mission is to "Support and focus concerns, actions and outreach related to the quality and use of land, air, and water resources in Rio Arriba County and the State of New Mexico while maintaining...
RACC Member Barbara Turner’s inspiring essay, “Thinking Like The Rio Chama Watershed” may be downloaded as a PDF file here.
Donate now to help protect the Rio Chama from toxic chemicals and the preserve the quality of water for generations to come.
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