ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A poll out this week shows that New Mexico voters by a significant margin support "Wild and Scenic" designations for the Gila and San Francisco rivers and their tributaries.

Commissioned by the Southwest Green Chamber of Commerce, the poll shows 65% of voters in the four counties surrounding the rivers and 76% of voters statewide support protecting the waterways.

Guadalupe Cano, a member of the city council in Silver City, said the designated protection would help sustain local and rural economies that depend on such traditions as grazing, ranching, hunting and fishing.

"The lifeblood of our community is the forest and river; that's the one thing that connects every single person in the community," she said. "This is the one thing that crosses generations, it crosses different socioeconomic groups, different ethnicities, everything."

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both D-N.M., have committed to introducing legislation that would safeguard roughly 450 miles of both rivers and their tributaries as Wild and Scenic. Local municipalities and governments on the Gila and San Francisco also have pledged their support for preserving the waterways.

New Mexico's Gila area became the world's first wilderness when it received the designation in 1924. The Wild and Scenic designation would go farther because it specifically protects the free-flowing nature of rivers, something the Wilderness Act and other designations cannot do. Cano said it also would protect people's experience of the river.

"Some people, they come to New Mexico because they're looking for solitude," she said, "and then there's some people who were raised on the river and so, that's something they do every year as a tradition with their family. Being able to go the river and have those moments with your family is really important, and family is really important in this state."

Annually, outdoor recreation generates nearly $10 billion in consumer spending in New Mexico, including $3 billion in wages and salaries. Outdoor recreation also employs nearly 100,000 people in the state.

The poll, conducted in late 2019, included interviews with almost 400 state voters and is online at wildgilariver.org.

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Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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A new report highlighted efforts to restore Pennsylvania's wildlife habitats and called for stronger conservation to protect native species.

With Pennsylvania ranking among the top five states for animal-vehicle collisions, more than more than 1 million animals are killed on roads annually.

Stephanie Wein, clean water and conservation advocate at the PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center, said the report provided recommendations to enhance wildlife corridor projects and protect the state's diverse species, from bobcats and black bears to migrating songbirds. She added an infrastructure project along a Pennsylvania Interstate is keeping both wildlife and drivers safe.

"One example is in State College, Pennsylvania," Wein pointed out. "I-99 has a bunch of underpasses that allow black bear and deer and bobcat, geese and blue heron to get under that highway that was crossing through some of the biggest stretches of Pennsylvania wilderness."

Wein noted there is bipartisan support for wildlife corridors in Pennsylvania. House Resolution 87 passed with strong backing from both parties. At a Wednesday news conference, lawmakers will share goals of protecting wildlife, preserving nature and improving driver safety.

Wein emphasized wildlife corridor projects can be as simple as adding fencing along roads. She underscored a case study in the report about fencing on U.S. Route 522 near Mount Union, where the road was built over vital nesting grounds, helps female map turtles along the Juniata River to stay off the roadway.

"In that first season, over 50 nesting females of this threatened species were killed on that road," Wein reported. "Local conservationists working with PennDOT, they actually got a fence installed that stops them right at the road's edge."

The report recommended Pennsylvania agencies try to keep securing federal funds to address habitat fragmentation. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 created a $350 million Wildlife Crossings Program for safer roads. PennDOT secured a 2023 planning grant and should continue seeking funding to protect wildlife and drivers.


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Lawmakers in the West Virginia Senate have passed a bill to remove mandated inspections for chemical storage tanks in the oil, coal and gas industries.

The measure is now pending before the House Energy and Public Works Committee.

Morgan King, climate and energy program manager for the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, said lawmakers have repeatedly tried to gut protections over the past decade but this time, they appear close to succeeding. She added up to 1,000 tanks scattered across the state would be removed from inspections.

"That just puts us at risk for future water crises if another leak occurs and it's not caught," King contended.

West Virginia passed strict regulations aimed at preventing water tank leaks after a 2014 chemical spill. The spill dumped around 10,000 gallons of chemicals into the Elk River, which supplies drinking water to around 300,000 people in the Charleston area.

According to the West Virginia Environmental Council, 38% of all confirmed tank leaks reported to the West Virginia Department of Environmental protection are located in zones of critical concern. King believes the move signals lawmakers are willing to put the bottom line of industries and their profits above the health and safety of Mountain State residents.

"We're seeing that they're putting the interests of the executives over that of public interest," King outlined. "Around our health, around economic growth, around our ability to have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink."

In the weeks following the 2014 chemical spill, the West Virginia Poison Center received thousands of phone calls from people reporting rashes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms, according to a state report, which also found an increase in emergency room visits.


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West Virginia environmental groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, arguing the agency failed to consider residents' health when it gave the stamp of approval for the creation of four valley fills on a thousand-acre surface mine in Raleigh County.

Vernon Halton, executive director of the nonprofit Coal River Mountain Watch says the region experienced severe flooding in the 1990s and early 2000s, and says more valley fills, which involve dumping rocks, minerals and waste into nearby waterways, will put their lives at risk.

"It's going to permanently endanger the people whose homes are in the valleys below, he explained."

According to Environment America, valley fills permanently bury headwater streams and reduce water quality. More than 2,000 miles of headwater streams have been buried due to mountaintop removal.

Haltom added that communities continue to grapple with health challenges unparalleled outside of the coalfields.

"Higher rates of cancer, higher rates of heart disease, higher rates of birth defects, higher rates of other diseases, and most of them can be linked to the airborne dust that people are forced to breathe," he continued.

Research has shown breathing in toxic dust promotes the growth of lung cancer cells in people living in communities near mountaintop removal. Coal is mined in 22 of West Virginia's 55 counties, according to federal data.