Council overrides vetoes, stopping environmental justice regulation hearing after first day

Dec. 4—It was over almost before it began.

One day into what was expected to be a weeklong hearing, City Council effectively froze deliberations on an environmental justice rule under consideration by the Air Quality Control Board.

As opening statements wrapped up, witnesses were called to the stand, and the public lined up to comment, Albuquerque City Council was simultaneously heading toward a vote to override Mayor Tim Keller's Nov. 22 vetoes of legislation that would dissolve and remake the board and keep it from hearing the very type of rule the board was currently discussing.

There are seven members on the joint city-county board, with three appointed by Bernalillo County and four appointed by the city of Albuquerque.

One bill, sponsored by Councilor Dan Lewis, would pull the current Albuquerque members and replace them with four new members, including an engineer, physician, college or university representative and member of a polluting industry.

Another bill would have prevented the board from hearing an environmental justice regulation until February. Both passed on a 5-4 vote on Nov. 8; one vote short of being veto-proof.

Councilors voted 7-2 to reinstate the moratorium. Councilors Tammy Fiebelkorn and Isaac Benton were against. Councilors Klarissa Peña and Pat Davis flipped their votes. They voted 6-3 to override the veto and allow the members to be removed from the board, with Fiebelkorn, Benton and Davis against, and Peña once again changing her vote.

The board is one day into a $49,000 contract, including audio and visual, with the Albuquerque Convention Center for the hearing, which was planned to last at least one week.

The Health, Environment and Equity Impacts rule, proposed by a group of South Valley residents called the Mountain View Coalition and backed by the Pueblo of Isleta, would have required the cumulative impacts of air pollution to be taken into account before approving air permits.

The rule attracted the criticism of some defense contractors, developers and other industry members, including major employers like Kirtland Air Force Base, the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories. Attorneys for opposing groups called the proposed regulation overly onerous and "effectively fatal" to anyone seeking a new or modified air quality permit.

"This rule, it just goes too far," said Capt. Ariel Noffke, assistant regional counsel for the U.S. Air Force, who was joined by attorneys representing the National Nuclear Security Administration and Sandia National Laboratories, at the Monday hearing.

Dori Richards, attorney for the NNSA, said the proposed rule could quadruple permitting time from one year to four.

Others spoke about how the regulation could adversely affect their businesses and economic development as a whole. One attorney called the regulation a threat to national security, due to the impact on the laboratories and their ability to meet federal contracts.

Noffke said the Air Force has not had the opportunity to meaningfully engage with the drafting of the regulation, which she called "underdeveloped." Several speakers, both at the hearing and the City Council meeting, said there was a lack of stakeholder involvement throughout the monthslong process.

"We encourage regulation," Noffke said. "The issue here is the process."

But others pointed to holes in existing regulations that have allowed disproportionate amounts of pollution to clog the air of low-income and minority neighborhoods.

Xavier Barraza, environmental and economic justice coordinator for Los Jardines Institute, expressed skepticism about the economic effects of the proposal.

"The cost of polluting in Albuquerque has stayed the same for the last decade," Barraza said during public comment.

Dr. Nicky Sheats, director of the Center for the Urban Environmental at the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University and the first witness called, said environmental regulations need to take race and class into account to be sufficient. Sheats helped develop a New Jersey environmental justice rule that the HEEI regulation was partly based on.

"A lot of people come out and say we're all for environmental justice," Sheats said. "But when the rubber hits the road, are we going to pass policies that address it?"

Air Quality Control Board Chair Maxine Paul stepped out of the Monday hearing to speak at the meeting, urging councilors to sustain the mayor's veto. County Commissioner Barbara Baca also spoke, expressing worries about abruptly ending a meeting already in progress.

The removal of the members will not take effect until the hearing likely would have concluded; however, the resolution is expected to take effect during the scheduled hearing this week.

Also on the council agenda were two resolutions to create joint working boards to improve the board with input from Bernalillo County.