The Bureau of Land Management’s job is to protect the Rio Grande Corridor for all of us, not exploit it with the 520-mile SunZia Transmission Line for transporting wind energy produced in eastern New Mexico to markets in Arizona and California. The Bureau of Land Management is selling out our rural communities first in Escondida and now Belen that don’t have resources or time or political influence to oppose them. How does the destruction of our property values and indeed our communities compare with short-term construction jobs for out-of-state linemen?

And this is only the beginning of the end. The Rio Grande Corridor in central New Mexico will inevitably become a Transmission Corridor that should never have been located here. It threatens local artists, international photographers, film and tourist industries, to say nothing of 400 species of birds in one of the most renowned birding sites in North America.

The Bureau of Land Management needs to apply whatever resources they still have to find an appropriate site for their power corridor rather than negatively impacting those of us who feel powerless to stop them from bringing on our ecological and cultural and economic ruin.

When the Bureau of Land Management exploits us, they are guilty. When we let them exploit us, we are guilty. Our message to them should be: Not Here Not Ever.

Hope Phillips

San Antonio

 

Hope Phillips, San Antonio