Letters: Make sure dollars are used to clean up our land

Uranium mining stopped on the Navajo Nation in the 1980s but contaminated uranium waste from decades of mining continues to leak into groundwater supplies.

Many families from uranium communities have faced the devastation of kidney, liver, stomach, and gallbladder cancers.

Congress has spent money to clean up some sites of former uranium mines, but there are hundreds of abandoned mines remaining to be cleaned up.

This month, Congress is working on the Build Back Better Act to cut pollution, invest in clean energy and create jobs. The Navajo Nation needs to be full participants in all of those efforts.

We need U.S. senators Krysten Sinema and Mark Kelly to strengthen the Build Back Better Act to make sure that funding from that act is used to clean up our land and protect our water.

We also need to declare our independence from fossil fuels that pollute our air and water.

Climate change is real, and it’s time to stop building more power plants that burn methane gas and transition to more modern power sources.

Ed Becenti
St. Michaels, Ariz.

Legislature convenes 2nd special session

The New Mexico Legislature convened for the second special session of the 55th Legislature on Monday, Dec. 6, and I’m proud to be representing the Northwest’s District 9 as we take on the once-a-decade process of redistricting our state’s congressional districts, state senate, state house, and Public Education Commission.

The process this time is a little different than it has been in the past, as a result of the formation of the Citizens Redistricting Committee, which the Legislature voted to create last session.

This independent, non-partisan body took on the initial steps of analyzing the latest census and demographic data, receiving public comment, and drafting initial concept maps. The Legislature is now evaluating those maps to ensure that they best represent New Mexico’s current landscape.

Having reviewed these maps myself, I am pleased to report that they are fair and provide accurate representations of District 9’s unique demographics. In fact, the state house map is currently making its way through the Legislature, has been endorsed by the All Pueblo Council of Governors, the Navajo Nation, and the Jicarilla Apache Nation in a historic tribal consensus.

The other key topic of this session is appropriation of the remaining federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which I am spearheading as chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

House Bill 2 appropriates and transfers more than $504 million of ARPA state relief funds and capital project funds to carefully-selected projects, including broadband, transportation, housing, conservation, tourism, outdoor recreation, higher education, and more to aid a strong pandemic recovery.

In the coming weeks, we’ll also be carefully and responsibly evaluating how the remainder of the more than $1 billion in federal funds can be best leveraged to the benefit of all New Mexicans and developing effective legislation to do so in the upcoming 30-day session.

All bills and corresponding maps are viewable on the New Mexico Legislature’s website.

If you’d like to participate, the Roundhouse is open to the public for this special session, with proof of full COVID-19 vaccination required to enter the building. Floor sessions are viewable from public galleries and committee meetings are open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

Digital public participation is also available. Members of the public can view floor sessions and committee meetings on the website’s Webcasts tab and can provide comment via phone or Zoom as indicated on the daily schedule at the What’s Happening tab.

As always, I also welcome direct input from my constituents. Feel free to reach out to me at patricia.lundstrom@nmlegis.gov.

I look forward to hearing from you, as my colleagues and I continue to do the people’s work at the Roundhouse during this special session and regular session in January 2022.

State Rep. Patricia Lundstrom
House District 9
Gallup, N.M.

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