Letters to the Editor (Nov. 26)

Rebuttal to fossil fuel propaganda

Editor:

The pro-pollution letter printed on Oct. 15 submitted by Donna Crawford, of Los Lunas, is just another pack of lies from the fossil fuel industry.

Her citations are all right-wing propaganda sources: the Rio Grande Foundation, partly funded by Koch family non-profits; Save On Energy, a Texas energy provider; the notoriously right-wing editorial board of the Albuquerque Journal; and Alex Epstein, a fossil fuels advocate.

Fossil fuels propagandists always say that banning fracking will drive costs higher, but never mention that fracking as it exists today is polluting the aquifers and creating medically dangerous air quality around Farmington and all over SE New Mexico. And none of these mining and fossil fuel robber barons are ever accountable for cleaning up their mess.

Siding with PNM and blaming renewables for raising rates to New Mexico homeowners is just another such lie. PNM Resources raised their per-share dividend around 3 percent this year, because they are making huge profits — which we, the people, have to pay for. The total payout this year will be ballpark $96 million (80 million shares times 30 cents/quarter times four quarters).

Recent news also makes Crawford’s letter superfluous: (A recent) article in the Journal about development at Santolina/West Mesa describes a plan to build 80 megawatts of solar capacity that will add about $1 billion to the New Mexico economy just for construction. Two companies have already signed paperwork for solar, and a third has signed for construction of backup battery storage.

And just last week, the International Energy Agency announced, in its enormously influential annual report, that solar energy is now the ‘cheapest electricity in history’.

Polluters be damned. My motto in this area is “Zero tolerance for pollution in New Mexico.” There is no actual choice in the matter.

G.E. Nordell

Rio Communities

Grateful to community

Editor:

Because of the effects of the coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, Daniel D. Fernandez, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 9676 in Los Lunas and La Vida Felicidad, Inc. partnered to conduct a food and personal hygiene products drive, to benefit Valencia County residents.

From Oct. 1, to Oct. 17, the VFW Post and La Vida Felicidad, Inc. received donations of food and hygiene products valued at over $3,000 and cash donations of $1,500. La Vida Felicidad, Inc. and four local churches distributed 100 percent of the donation they received.

The four churches are the First Baptist Church of Los Lunas, Peralta United Methodist Church, San Clemente, St. Vincent de Paul Society, and Grace Fellowship Church. Each church and La Vida Felicidad received food and hygiene product valued at over $500, plus checks for $300.

Post Commander Chet Pino and La Vida Felicidad, board of directors member Jean Davies and Quality Assurance Director Katie Otero want to thank each and every donor, but especially, the Walmart Distribution Center employees and Universal Waste Systems, Inc. employees, who each donated $500 cash.

There were also private citizen who donated a total of $500, with several checks exceeding $100. Thank you for your generosity.

The four churches and La Vida Felicidad also deserve a special thank you for agreeing to distribute the food and personal hygiene products to struggling Valencia County residents.

In addition, thank you to the members of Boys Scout Troop 360 and their scoutmasters for volunteering to help post veterans sort and box the donations of food and hygiene products.

Conducting this drive was a learning experience, because we were unware how many Valencia County families are struggling and being provided meals and food boxes every week. We learned that these four churches and La Vida Felicidad are providing more than 500 food boxes to Valencia County resident each and every week.

Please continue to support La Vida Felicidad and all local food pantries and thank you all very much for your generosity and for making this a tremendously successful community service project.”

Chet Pino

VFW Post 9676 Commander

The truth about abortion from a doctor

Editor:

When inflammatory and false claims about abortion are made by politicians during elections, I worry about my patients’ ability to get the health care they need.

I am not an abortion provider, but I am a primary care doctor for adults, and that means taking care of many women during their reproductive years including prenatal, postpartum, pregnancy loss, and abortion care.

Supporting women through abortion care means ensuring that they seek and obtain an abortion when they need one in an environment that supports their overall health.

I’d like to set the record straight. Abortion care is not offered right up until delivery or after a baby is born, and abortion care is never taken lightly. In health care, our ability to prevent unwanted pregnancies is imperfect. Even planned pregnancies can be periods of intense joy — but also of hardship and unimaginable tragedy.

Your doctors’ ability to diagnose conditions that might threaten the life of an expecting mother, or identifying fetal complications, is also limited by practical medical science. Not all complications can be discovered early in pregnancy.

These kinds of deeply personal and private decisions have no one right answer. In life, we are presented sometimes with impossible decisions, and any one of us should be able to make that decision for ourselves with the help of our medical provider and the advice of those closest to us.

Abortion later in pregnancy happens under the most difficult and heartbreaking circumstances. Politics has no place there.

Heather Brislen, MD

Albuquerque