Youth climate activists convene on eve of session

On the eve of the 2022 regular legislative session, a panel of New Mexico youth climate activists will hold a live discussion about organizing for power-shifting solutions, instead of proposals prioritizing the pockets of industry and corporations.

Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) plans to host an Energy Democracy Convergence today to deliberate the principles, frameworks, opportunities and threats in environmental and climate justice movements.

The group says we are in a critical moment with climate scientists having warned the world we need to act before the planet heats to a point where hundreds of millions of people will face flooding, droughts, poverty and other effects of climate change.

“We need to make sure that these investments and plans benefit our communities,” the group said in a Jan. 12 news release. “Climate policies should be led-by and directed by those impacted.”

Climate is the focus of one-quarter of the proposals in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s agenda for the 30-day session.

Environmental and climate justice groups have opposed the administration’s Hydrogen Hub Act because it promotes producing and distributing so-called blue hydrogen, which is developed from natural gas. This is all happening in a state that already struggles policing natural gas operators.

The governor’s blue hydrogen proposal was part of an agenda released Friday alongside a new conservation fund called the Land of Enchantment Bond, a statute codifying climate goals, and a proposal to reduce the carbon footprint of the transportation industry called the Clean Fuel Standard Act.

“This agenda supports a thriving New Mexico, one where we choose to proactively invest in families, communities, workers and businesses,” Lujan Grisham said in a written statement Friday.

YUCCA counters that the climate legislation proposed in the Roundhouse over the last few years took a “top-down corporate approach” that prioritizes industry and corporate interests.

“We need to make sure to work together to build power and work against forces that aim to co-opt and divide us or marginalize us — and get clear about what we are working FOR,” YUCCA wrote.

YUCCA members spoke about the legislative process and the forces behind it at a panel on Dec. 2 hosted by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Elena Gonzales, a YUCCA member from Socorro, said there is a misleading popular narrative that New Mexico is a leading state in combating climate change.

“We cannot lead the climate movement while we are also leading in oil and gas production,” she said. “Those two things cannot coexist, and we have to recognize that fact to move forward in a just and equitable way.”