Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association

By Dick Ulmer, Chairman, ES-CA Land Use Protection Trust Board
LPT.ES-CA@comcast.net

The Lafarge holdings in NM—operations at the Placitas Mine, Albuquerque and Santa Fe—have been sold to Vulcan Materials (a company based in Birmingham, AL, that has prior history here in NM). Vulcan’s new signs are up at the local mine—but “the beat goes on” with no visible change in terms of the mining operations and the impact to Placitas residents.

1) Study Groups
We’ve had two different study groups looking at different aspects of the mining issues in the Placitas area. We’ve have some top talent volunteer their expertise in hydrology, geology, chemistry, astronomy, environmental engineering and more—to help us look at various areas of concern and how we might ascertain if the condition exists and actions to mitigate.

Two issues are getting the highest attention—high arsenic discharge water and carcinogenic small particulates in the mine’s fugitive dust. We have found that the Lafarge water that they use to wash the mined materials and control dust is taken from a high arsenic level well and that the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Water Quality Bureau has no record of Lafarge having received the proper permit for the discharge ponds on the mine property—we have been told that the current operator (Vulcan) has been contacted to provide sample for NMED analysis. We are still waiting to hear the final disposition of violations identified by the NMED Air Quality Bureau (AQB) during their inspection of the mine (which included fugitive dust issues). We are also looking at possibly contracting to a qualified environmental monitoring service to get a more thorough evaluation as we have other states (e.g. California) moving strongly to limit such gravel mining operations due to the distance these fine particulates (10 µm or less) can travel (10’s of miles) and the potential for impact on surrounding residents.

2) Legal Activity
Legal activity has been slow but may be about to pick up. The lawsuit filed by the County in District Court has thus far been a case of musical chairs with the 5th Judge assigned in 4 months due to challenges by the parties to the suit. The case is now assigned to the Chief Judge McDonald. In discussions between our lawyers (Myers) and the County Attorney, there is a high expectation that this could be assigned for mediation, so the LPT Board has requested our lawyers to prepare a motion for intervention in order that we might have direct representation “at the table” should that occur. Also, based on discussions with our counsel, we will be looking for the opportunity through our intervention to challenge any attempt to extend the lease beyond 2015 and the clear level of expansion in level of mining activity over that which was evident when the nonconformance was initially granted.

3) Financial Status
Our stakeholders have provided just under $40K ($39,150) and we’ve spent just over $7K for legal support. As reported above, we will now likely increase substantially our spend rate—not only due to the active participation in the County lawsuit through intervention (and potentially, mediation), but also due to the need to invest in environmental monitoring services to enable us to objectively quantify the damage being done to Placitas residents by mining operations. This was anticipated when the LPT was formed and the objective was set at $100,000 for our funds drive. While the gifts to date have been substantial, we still are well short of what will be required to avoid having to leave our future to our County officials—not an outcome that many of us want to contemplate.

As can be seen from a review of the contributions to date (LPT 2014 Progress Report  at www.es-ca.org), we have a low percentage of Placitans who have contributed—the best way to change that is through your efforts (we know you “get it!”). We would request that each of you reach out to your contacts and neighbors and help them to understand that this is impacting them and encourage them to also send a check to help in the fight. If there is anything we can do to provide you or your neighbors with information to improve understanding, please contact me. This is important and the next few months will be key to deciding if Placitas can provide the quality of life that we moved here to gain, or will become the gravel mining capital of New Mexico.

We much appreciate your continued help.

On Saturday, September 20, 2014, Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association, along with the Placitas Community Library, sponsored its first Candidate’s Forum at the Placitas Community Center.

Participants represented offices for:                                                                              NM House of Representatives, District 22 – Representative Jim Smith and Candidate John Wallace;  Sandoval County Assessor – Incumbent Tom Garcia and Candidate Antonio Montoya; Sandoval County Commissioner – James Dominguez; and Sandoval County Sheriff – Sheriff Doug Wood and Deputy Jesse James Casaus.

In attendance were in excess of 90 local residents.  Candidates for each office provided 7-1/2 minutes of presentation and answered pre-submitted questions for 15 minutes. Comments received from attendees said the Forum gave them an opportunity to meet the candidates and learn of the Candidate’s positions.

Join us for a Candidates Forum at 2 PM on September 20, at the Placitas Community Center, 41 Camino de las Huertas.  This event is sponsored by ES-CA and the Placitas Community Library.

Presentations will be given by candidates for State House of Representatives – District 22, Sandoval County Assessor, Sandoval County Commission – District 1, and Sandoval County Sheriff.  Here is the agenda and candidate biographies: Candidates Forum Agenda and Bio’s

Questions for the candidates must be pre-submitted in writing prior to start of Forum.  Forms for submitting questions will be available at the Forum, or you can fill out this and bring to the Forum: Candidates Forum Question Form

The ES-CA board met on September 2, 2014. All seven Board members were present: Bob Gorrell (BG); Orin Safier (OS); Ed Majka (EM); Chris Daul (CD); and, Jerry Saxton (JS), Lynn Koch (LK); and Tony Hull (TH). Also in attendance were: Susan Fullas; Judy Labowitz; Dick Ulmer; George Franzen; and, Scott Stevens.

Dick Ulmer reported on the Land Use and Planning Trust and noted the following items: there was a Signpost article on lack of enforcement by the Air Quality Bureau, concerning LaFarge; total contributions are over $39,000 to date; LaFarge has been sold to Vulcan/CalMat; the LPT Board favors joining the lawsuit that the County has against LaFarge, but has some issues to discuss first. A meeting was held on 8/28/14 to discuss water issues in the Placitas area. It was noted that the largest concentration of arsenic in groundwater is where LaFarge is located. There are no NM state standards on silica in the air. It is a carcinogen that is found in sand and gravel mining operations.

Ed Majka reported on the following items for the Political/legal Committee: ESCAFCA approved a 2.2 million dollar bond issue for the November election. The proposed annexation of Fisher Sand and Gravel may be on the next agenda of the Bernalillo Council meeting. Ed will notify all ES-CA members if and when this item is on an agenda.

There are three at-large director positions are up for election this year. BG and LK are running for re-election. OS is not running for re-election. Susan Fullas has decided to run. Elections will be held in November. All ES-CA members are eligible to run for this position and to vote. Please let Bob Gorrell know if you are interested in running.

Bob Gorrell reported on the I 25/Rt. 550/165 Interchange that he and OS met with David Wilson (the engineer retained by NM DOT to review the project) to discuss his preliminary report. He did acknowledge ES-CA’s concerns about the missing acceleration lane from I 25 NB to Rt. 165 EB, lack of adequate signage and some other issues. BG will schedule a meeting with NM DOT to discuss this report.

ES-CA is hosting a Candidates’ Forum on Saturday, September 20th, from 2-4 pm at the Placitas Community Center. Flyers advertising the event are being placed around Placitas. OS will send e-mails to ES-CA members reminding them of the event. Ed has prepared a handout listing the format and bios of all of the attending candidates, which will be given out to all attendees on the 20th.

ES-CA is hosting a Member Appreciation Party on Sunday, September 28th, from 5-7 pm, at the Placitas Community Library. All ES-CA members are invited and will also be encouraged to bring a guest. Wine, water and light food will be served. It will be a good opportunity to meet your neighbors and the Board members.

Orin reported that iContact is working well as the new system for contacting ES-CA membership. The Board unanimously agreed to retain Chris Miller to manage and update the ES-CA website.

The Board unanimously agreed to issue a Statement of Support, concerning what ES-CA would like to see done with the management of the Buffalo Tract in the BLM land. Bob will be posting a separate article here in the Forum about this issue.

ES-CA is responsible for litter cleanup on the first mile of Rt. 165 in Placitas. Bob reported that litter cleanup was done last month but that participation was minimal. Members are encouraged to participate in this activity as it benefits the whole community.

The next Board meeting will be on Monday, October 6th, beginning at 6:30 pm at La Puerta Realty. All members are welcome to attend.

The meeting was called to order at 6:33pm by President Bob Gorrell.

Board members present were: Bob Gorrell (BG); Lynn Koch (VP) (LK); Orin Safier (Treasurer) (OS); Chris Daul (Secretary) (CD); Ed Majka (EM) and Jerry Saxton (JS). Representing Director Tony Hull was delegate Joan Fenicle. Also attending were: Judy Labovitz; Steve Vaughn and Scott Stevens.

Treasurer’s Report: OS submitted a financial report.
Membership Committee: JS noted that he had sent out draft letters for Board review. It was also stated that district representatives would be enlisted to followup with members where contact information was missing. LK noted that she had signed up six new members.
Political/Legal Committee: EM reported that the last P/L meeting had been cancelled so that members could attend the Bernalillo Council meeting where a resolution was passed establishing a four month moratorium on mining in Bernalillo. EM reported on his meeting with Fisher representatives and that they were going to reapply to Bernalillo for annexation of their property. ED submitted notes of his meeting. ED also reported that LaFarge has approached Bernalillo about annexation. It was noted that Bernalillo Mayor Jack Torres has suffered a heart attack and it is unknown as to what action Bernalillo will be taking regarding these matters in the near future.
IT Committee: OS reported that there had been a response to our advertisement for a webmaster. A meeting will be scheduled with the applicant and certain Board members as an interview. OS also reported that he had researched using iContact. LK made a motion that was passed for OS to contract with iContact.
Communications Committee: CD reported that ES-CA had an article in the August issue of the Signpost. An advertisement will be placed in the September Signpost concerning the candidates’ forum on Sept. 20th.
Watchdogs: SS and LK reported that new members have agreed to be Watchdogs.
LPT: Steve Vaughn reported (on behalf of Dick Ulmer) that the Trust has raised over $30,000 but that it will need close to $100,000 in order to pay for total estimated legal costs. The LPT is reviewing the option of intervening in the County lawsuit against LaFarge or possibly filing their own lawsuit against LaFarge.
I 25/Rt. 550/Rt. 165: BG reported that a meeting has been scheduled for August 13, 2014 with the 3rd party engineer that has been studying the interchange, based upon ES-CA comments.
Candidates’ Forum: EM reported that seven of the eight candidates have agreed to attend. Gary Miles, who is running for Sandoval County Commission, declined to attend.
Member Appreciation Party: JS reported that the event is scheduled for September 28, 2014, from 5-7pm at the Placitas Library.
Hospital Tax: ED reported that the County tax for UNMH Regional and Presbyterian RUST hospitals will be up for reauthorization in 2016. ED said the P/L Committee will begin research on this issue and report to the Board as to whether ES-CA should support/oppose/or take no position on the reauthorization.
At-Large Director Nominations: BG reported that the following people have been nominated to run for the 3 at-large director positions this year: Bob Gorrell; Susan Fullas; and George Franzen. Orin Safier is not running for re-election and Lynn Koch is undecided at this point.
Algodones Flooding: CD noted that a meeting is scheduled for August 6, 2014, in Algodones to discuss the recent flooding issues. CD will attend the meeting on behalf of ES-CA.
BLM Buffalo Tract Disposition: The Board discussed preparing a list of survey questions concerning uses of this property. The final draft will be circulated by BG for Board approval and then a survey will be sent to all ES-CA members.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:22 pm.

The next meeting is in the process of being rescheduled since the regularly scheduled meeting falls on Labor Day. A notice will be posted in the Forum.