Jul 3, 2014
Self-reliance and self-determination are two characteristics historically associated with the Southwest.
Well, down in the tiny town of Mountainair, words are swiftly turning into action. The Lobos Pipeline is a project proposed by Kinder Morgan to move carbon dioxide through parts of New Mexico and Arizona and on to Texas for use in fracking. But the citizens of Mountainair want to take a closer look at just how the pipeline would affect the world they live in, perhaps for generations to come.
To explore how the proposed pipeline could affect community health, national non-profit organization Human Impact Partners is leading a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) with partners who include the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership, the Partnership for a Healthy Torrance Community, the New Mexico Department of Health, and Torrance County residents.
The HIA, which will highlight how the proposed pipeline could affect health and equity in surrounding communities, will be submitted as a comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) currently being prepared by the Bureau of Land Management.
An HIA considers the health of a community in a broad sense; one might even say that it speaks to the vitality of a community. Priority issues in the HIA include potential impacts to: culture and connections to the land, changes in land use, economic vitality, safety, and water resources.
The citizens of Torrance County are gathering data in order to make an informed decision about a project that could greatly impact their lives.