News New Mexico: 08/06/11

EPA Could Cost PNM $750 Million and Kill Jobs

Four Corners Power Plant

The Daily Times - FARMINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ruled that San Juan Generating Station will be required to install expensive pollution controls to dramatically reduce emissions from the coal-burning power plant. The EPA ruling gives the plant's operator, Public Service Company of New Mexico, five years to comply. PNM immediately announced it would appeal the ruling. The agency's plan sets strict limits on nitrogen oxide emissions, which are linked to haze. The agency said its plan would reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by more than 80 percent. That would improve visibility at Mesa Verde National Park and 15 other federally protected areas, and benefit public health, the agency said. Local elected officials, business groups and PNM waged a fierce campaign to persuade the EPA that a less restrictive state plan would be adequate to cut pollution. The EPA turned away those efforts in announcing that selective catalytic reduction technology is necessary to cut pollution. PNM estimates installing that technology would cost more than $750 million and call into question the plant's long-term viability. The federal agency counters with its own estimate that the requirements will cost only about $229 million. Environmental groups hailed the ruling as a long-overdue reckoning for a major polluter. Read full story here: News New Mexico

31 U.S. Soldiers Die in Afghanistan Crash

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Thirty-one U.S. special forces members in Afghanistan died aboard a NATO helicopter that crashed Saturday in an area reported to have insurgent activity, officials said. The crash occurred in the eastern province of Wardak, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said in a statement. It is among the worst single-day losses of American lives in the Afghan war. Seven Afghans were also killed during the crash in the restive central-eastern region, the statement said. A Taliban spokesman says the group claimed responsibility for shooting down the vehicle. NATO's International Security Assistance Force spokesman Justin Brockhoff confirmed the crash and acknowledged the helicopter had been flying in area where there was reported insurgent activity, but declined to offer additional details. Last month, a NATO helicopter was brought down by insurgent fire in the country's eastern province of Kunar. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack, though no injuries were reported. In a separate incident, a NATO service member died Saturday after an improvised explosive device detonated in southern Afghanistan. Read full story here: News New Mexico

U.S. Debt Loses A A A Rating from Standard and Poors

(CNN) -- A day after Standard & Poor's rating agency downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from its top rank of AAA, there were more questions than answers Saturday about what effects the move will have on the economy and American consumers. The move by S&P, one of the leading credit rating agencies, came just days after Congress approved a deal to deliver $2.1 trillion in savings over the next decade. The deal followed heated debt-ceiling talks in Washington. "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said Friday shortly after markets closed. While was unclear what the short-term impact of the credit rating downgrade would be, some initial answers were expected Monday when the stock market reopened. Read full story here: News New Mexico

NASA Study on Global Warming: Huge Discrepancies Between Data and Forecasts

Dr. Roy Spencer

International Business - Global warming proponents can catch up on the sleep they lost worrying about the planet getting hotter with each passing day. A NASA study which analyzes satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011, published in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing, reports that Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than global warming proponents' computer models have predicted. The data also supports prior studies which suggested that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap is far lesser than what has been claimed by the global warming doomsters. The discrepancy between the model-based forecasts of rapid global warming and meteorological data showing a slower rate of warming has given rise to heated debates for more than two decades. "The satellite observations suggest there is much more energy lost to space during and after warming than the climate models show," Dr. Roy Spencer, study co-author and principal research scientist in the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, said in a press release. "There is a huge discrepancy between the data and the forecasts that is especially big over the oceans." Read full story here: News New Mexico

Martinez to Jerome Block: Step Down

Susana Martinez

KOB TV - A KOB Eyewitness News 4 investigation is now leading to calls for Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. to resign. Santa Fe Bureau Chief Gadi Schwartz uncovered questionable uses of Block's state issued gas card.
The latest records from May to mid-June show multiple purchases of gas on Block's Public Regulation Commission card in just one day. Governor Susana Martinez was speaking in Farmington on Friday night and she made it very clear what she wants Block to do. "I am asking that he step down from his position," Martinez stated. The Governor said what she has heard so far is shocking and said New Mexico families expect more. She said it is important that elected officials are held to a higher standard. Read full story here: News New Mexico

69% of American Adults Say It's At Least Somewhat Likely that Climate Data Has Been Falsified

Rasmussen - The debate over global warming has intensified in recent weeks after a new NASA study was interpreted by skeptics to reveal that global warming is not man-made. While a majority of Americans nationwide continue to acknowledge significant disagreement about global warming in the scientific community, most go even further to say some scientists falsify data to support their own beliefs. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 69% say it’s at least somewhat likely that some scientists have falsified research data in order to support their own theories and beliefs, including 40% who say this is Very Likely. Twenty-two percent (22%) don’t think it’s likely some scientists have falsified global warming data, including just six percent (6%) say it’s Not At All Likely. Another 10% are undecided. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Hydrating the Key to Practice Heat

KOB TV - Brutal summertime heat has killed two high school football players in Georgia and a coach in Texas this week, leading many parents to worry about their young athletes here in New Mexico. Paramedics took a player from the Eldorado High School practice field in Albuquerque late this afternoon, saying the player was suffering from dehydration, dizziness and disorientation. "He'll be fine," said one paramedic. "This is just a precaution." Across town at Highland High School, the Hornets were in pads and helmets and the thermometer said it was 92 degrees in the shade, only there wasn't a speck of shade anywhere near the sun-roasted artificial turf of their practice field. The kids did get numerous opportunities to guzzle water, probably a lot more opportunities than Tommy McDonald got when the NFL Hall-of-Famer played at Highland back in '51 and '52. Coaches have learned a lot since then. "We give these guys breaks about every 30 to 45 minutes, making sure they're staying hydrated," said Hornets head coach Derek Maestas. "We also make sure that after practice they'll have appropriate drinks. We're trying to get them to have chocolate milk. That way they replenish the fluids that they have. We're always looking out for these boys to have plenty of fluids in them." Read full story here: News New Mexico

Governor in Farmington for Baseball Tournament

Susana Martinez

The Daily Times - FARMINGTON — It's the time of year many wait patiently for, plan vacations around and even stake out a parking place days in advance in anticipation of. The Connie Mack World Series is finally here, and there's no better way to kick off such a treasured summertime tradition than with ceremonies fit for baseball royalty. Held annually at Farmington's Ricketts Park, the Connie Mack World Series has seen its fair share of famous faces and golden gloves, and this year is no different from the last. New Mexico's governor, Susana Martinez, traveled to the Four Corners prior to the start of the series to visit with local businesses and was thrilled to stick around for the parade and opening night festivities, where she threw out the first pitch. "I was here for the series last year," Martinez said in an interview with The Daily Times Editorial Board on Friday. "To see the crowd and all the excitement ... I had never realized just what a big event this is." When given the choice of whether to throw out the first pitch or to sing the National Anthem, the governor was quick to respond. "Definitely throw the first pitch," she asserted. "It's phenomenal what kind of baseball event is put on here. And to throw the ball in front of all those people ... are you kidding me?" And a good choice she made as her pitch cleared the plate, not quite a strike, but good enough to get the 7,000 or so people in the stands cheering. Read full story here: News New Mexico

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