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KSJD Newscast - January 27th, 2016

  • Voters in the town of Mancos are set to choose a new mayor and decide a ballot question in April.
  • Environmental groups are praising a newly proposed Interior Department rule aimed at reducing venting, flaring, and leaks of natural gas.

Voters in the Town of Mancos are set to choose a mayor and decide a ballot question in April. Town Clerk Heather Alvarez says two current trustees, Queenie Barr and Will Stone, are running for mayor. The ballot question would allow the town to offer telecommunications services. Five candidates have also filed for five open board seats: incumbents Matthew Baskin and Lorraine Becker, and Craig Benally, Frederick Brooks, and Ed Hallam.

Environmental groups are praising a newly proposed Interior Department rule aimed at reducing venting, flaring, and leaks of natural gas. The rule would require energy producers to use existing technology on public and tribal lands to limit flaring – the burning of raw natural gas at wells. It would also clamp down on methane leaks and venting, the deliberate release of unwanted gas. In a statement, the nonprofits Diné CARE, Western Environmental Law Center, and San Juan Citizens Alliance supported the rule, saying current methane waste exacerbates climate change. The New Mexico chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility also applauded the proposal, saying methane emissions are a serious public health threat in the Four Corners, which sits under a 2,500-square-mile “hot spot” of the gas. Public comment is being taken on the proposal, and the BLM plans to hold public meetings in February and March.

 

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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