Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice 202 Harvard SE Albuquerque, NM 87106 505-268-9557   Updated: 17 October 2009 Newsletter October 2009
October 2009 Newsletter Contents Noticias for all! Membership Application	Noticias for all! Art Project at P&J: October 1 - November 7 Connections. Photographs by Roger Harmon. Please join us for a reception, Sunday, November 1, from 1:30 to 4pm. At 2:30pm the reception will include an informal ceremony of connection called a "baci", common in Laos & Thailand. Welcome! Green Column by Ann Peterpaul Young People Demand Action Five hundred young people from more than 50 countries met at a United Nations climate change conference in Poland last December. They strongly insisted that delegates promise to "safeguard the survival of all peoples and nations." Because of these actions the delegates put these Survival is Non-Negotiable goals on paper. If you go to 350.org's website, you will see that several young activists are planning more than 1,000 events in 50 countries for the International Day of Climate Action. The date of this event is October 24. In another happening, 12,000 young people met in February on Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to create 5 million new green jobs by investing in clean energy. The young activists are part of the Power Shift. Apparently, the stimulus bill did include $50 million toward training. The source for the abovementioned information is Mothermagazine. "You must be the change you want to see in the world" -- Mahatma Gandhi.
Celebrate the Donald and Sally-Alice Thompson Chapter #63 of Veterans for Peace - Monday October 12, 7pm at P&J. Come join us celebrate the renaming of the Albuquerque Chapter of Veterans for Peace - Hurrah Sally and Don!!! Refreshments will be served. For information, please contact Willard Hunter at 710-9651. 1Sky Albuquerque -- Want to take on global warming? Join 1Sky in ensuring that bold climate and clean-energy job legislation is passed through the Senate this fall. Throughout the month of October, 1Sky will be voicing public support to senators Udall and Bingaman to vote for bold legislation that jumpstarts a clean-energy economy and takes on global-warming pollution. For details, please call 266-0545. Interested in attending the November Vigil to shut down the School of the Americas (SOA)? Albuquerque presente! Join us this year November 20-22. There will be a massive rally at the gates of Fort Benning as well as workshops, teach-ins and concerts in Columbus, Georgia. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, assassinated, raped, "disappeared," massacred or forced into refuge by those trained at the School of the Americas - now called the Western Hemisphere Initiative for Security Cooperation. If you are interested in attending the vigil contact Renee at 341-9146. Go to www.SOAW.org/november for more info. More Protective Standards for the Rio Grande -- Just Out of Reach? By Janet Greenwald and Lesley Weinstock Every three years the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Surface Water Quality Bureau proposes amended standards for the rivers of New Mexico, including the Rio Grande. This process is called the Triennial Review; 2009 is a Triennial Review year. This year the NMED is proposing that the standards for long-lived alpha-emitting radionuclides be 10 times as protective as they are currently. Long-lived alpha-emitting radio nuclides include man-made radioactive isotopes, such as Plutonium. Colorado recently made its standards for these radionuclides in rivers and streams 100 times as protective. New Mexico needs to do the same. Recent research, such as that done by the world-renowned physicist, Dr. Arjun Makhijani, shows that our health, and specially that of a fetus or young child, is not protected under the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards, which are less protective than NMED's proposed river water standards. Increasingly, rivers have become a source of tap water everywhere, just as the Rio Grande has become for us in Albuquerque. The Water Utility Authority (WUA), which oversees domestic water supplies for Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, supports standards 100 times as protective for long-lived alpha-emitting radionuclides for the upper reach of the Rio Grande (above Cochiti). However, according to its correspondence with the NMED, the WUA does not support even the 10-fold more protective standards recommended by the state for the Albuquerque reach of the Rio Grande (located between Bernalillo and Isleta). It is this reach of the river that currently supplies 25% of Albuquerque's tap water and soon will supply 90%. From November 2008 through March 2009, at every WUA meeting, the groups Agua es Vida Action Team (AVAT) and Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD) asked that the WUA produce a written report with a budget (if their reasons were monetary) explaining why it would not support more protective surface water standards for the Albuquerque reach of the Rio Grande. The WUA has refused to comment concerning this request. Please support more protective water quality standards for the Albuquerque reach of the Rio Grande including 0.15 picocuries/liter for the long-lived alpha-emitting radionuclides. The Water Utility Authority board consists of two city counselors: Chair Trudy Jones: 768-3106, Rey Garduño: 768-3152, city counselor Rey Garduño's assistant: Julian Moya: 768-3183, and three county commissioners: Vice Chair Alan Armijo: 468-7185; Maggie Hart Stebbins: 468-7108, and Art de la Cruz: 468-7448. Also on the ABQWUA board is a representative appointed by Mayor Martin Chávez: 768-3000. If you recognize your city or county representative on this list, please contact that person; if not, contact the chair of the ABQWUA, Trudy Jones and Mayor Chávez. Thank you!
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