Senator Martin Heinrich plans to introduce the “Buffalo Tract Protection Act” into Congress this year. ES-CA sent a letter of support HeinrichLtrReAct_Jul2016 for the proposed Bill BuffaloTractHeinrichBill_July2016.
If you want to send your individual letter, you can email it to his aide Abby Lewis at Abby_Lewis@heinrich.senate.gov, or send by regular mail to Hon. Martin Heinrich, United States Senate, 303 Hart Senate, Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. The more letters the better.
The final Rio Puerco Resource Management Plan could come out any day. The draft published in July 2012, opened the Buffalo Tract and other nearby public lands to gravel mining. Our area already has six gravel mines with four of them being among New Mexico’s thirteen largest. The cumulative negative economic and quality of life impacts, as well as health risks, of these mines on our area cannot be overstated.
Sandoval County passed Resolution 8-6-15.7 on August 6, 2015 “the Board does not support any new sand and gravel mining on the BLM Land Known as the Buffalo Tract…”. An August 2014 blind survey of our membership, 91% Agreed or Strongly Agreed “Never allow any type of mining or extraction (except water) on the property (Buffalo Tract)”. According to Plate 58 published in the 2012 draft RMP, there is a 60 mile aggregate rich (Rio Grande) corridor with an abundance of areas better suited for gravel mining.