I can’t help but think about the 2008 election. Right?

I already have a candidate in mind, and I’ll vote for that person if that person makes it to the general election. But with all the hoopla about Iowa and caucuses and who’s ahead in one poll versus who is ahead in another poll, I can’t help but scream a little inside my head.

And I know it’s not just me. I met a friend for breakfast this morning, and he was freaking out about NPR’s coverage of Iowa. He couldn’t get over all the “man on the street” interviews…”Who cares?” he kept asking.

But I’m not here to criticize any outlet’s coverage, I just think there are some bigger issues to keep in mind this election cycle.

For instance, check out this report. The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office released it last month. In it, three teams of researchers evaluated the security of electronic voting systems used in that state. The three systems include Election Systems and Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic and Premier Election Solutions (formerly called Diebold).

Their conclusion?

All of the studied systems possess critical security failures that render their technical controls insufficient to guarantee a trustworthy election.

Not only that, but:

The security failures present in the studied systems place incredible pressures on the physical election procedures. The review teams provide a number of procedures that mitigate or completely address issues throughout. However, in many cases, we could not identify any practical procedures that adequately address the limitations.

The state of Colorado has just decertified its ES&S system — which, by the way, is used by most precincts here in New Mexico.

(Today, in fact, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, is hosting a public forum on “possible legislative solutions to problems following the decertification of electronic voting machines by Secretary of State Mike Coffman.”)

KUNM has done some great coverage of the issue here in New Mexico, which you can access on-line here. If you aren’t familiar with this issue, this story by Jim Williams is a fantastic place to start.

It would be nice if we could all move beyond the beauty contest in Iowa — where candidates will say whatever they can to win favor — and concentrate on some real issues.

update: Like I was saying….Here’s a story from Sunday’s NYT Magazine, titled, “Can You Count on Voting Machines?”

It’s going to be a big year around here.

Obviously, there’s the whole presidential election to bite your nails over, but there is a ton of stuff happening locally in New Mexico: Desert Rock Power Plant, drought, oil and gas issues (including in Santa Fe County), endangered species issues, the Abq Drinking Water Project will be coming on-line this summer (“how you feeling ’bout that, Rio Grande?” I had to ask when I was down at the river this morning), we’ll find out what’s going to happen in Datil….there’s just a lot going on. And then, of course, the planet is warming and New Mexico’s cities keep sprawling.

So send me your news tips, announcements of meetings, comments, etc. and since I’d like to start the new year off on the right foot, send me notice of good things happening, too.

After a Christmas-time conversation with two bright, young women now sort of related to me, I’m more convinced than ever that one person can make a difference and that a whole lot of people working together toward positive change can create better communities and a more sustainable, just world. And I’m also convinced that I need to spend less time in front of a computer, so who knows how frequent postings will be on this site…

Anyway, if you need a good new year’s message, check this out. (Thanks to Sharon, for emailing me the link.)

Oh, and one more thing: here’s a story in the Santa Fe New Mexican about the upcoming Santa Fe County meeting concerning the new oil and gas ordinance.

The Carlsbad Current-Argus has a story about the Forest Service’s upcoming Travel Management Rule meetings. Read the story here, and check out the schedule below:

The TMR Team has begun the planning process to include a series of public workshops to occur at the following locations:

Cloudcroft — Thursday, Jan. 10 at The Lodge;

Las Cruces — Saturday, Jan. 12 at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum;

Alamogordo — Monday, Jan. 14 at the Sergeant Willie Estrada Memorial Civic Center;

Ruidoso — Wednesday, Jan. 16 at the Ruidoso Convention Center;

El Paso — Saturday, Jan. 19 site to be determined;

Carlsbad — Tuesday, Jan. 22 at the Carlsbad Public Library Annex.

Also, the Lincoln National Forest Web site will have the information posted on the Travel Management Rule Implementation Web page showing dates, times and locations.

Here’s that Travel Management Rule website, by the way.

Also, in uranium news, I’ve got a couple of stories for you. The first is from the NM Business Weekly:

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Traveling Resource Center will visit Shiprock, N.M., and Kayenta, Ariz., this month to help individuals interested in filing claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).

For more information on the EEOICPA, visit this site.

And over the holidays, the Telluride Watch started a series of stories on uranium mining on the Navajo reservation. (Read Part I here.)

And, if you’re interested in what’s happening with the proposed border wall fence, you can check out this short story in the The Monitor.

I’ve been receiving phone calls and emails about an issue down in Datil. I don’t have all the details at this point, but according to one email I received, there will be a community meeting Tues, Dec. 4 at 6:30 at the elementary school in Datil.

Apparently, a company named Augustine Plains Ranch LLC is planning to drill 37 wells, each 2000 feet deep. The wells are proposed for Catron County, on land the company has recently bought. Here are some of the details, according to the application on the New Mexico State Engineers Office’s website:

The applicant proposes to drill 37 wells, all with 20-inch casing, and all approximately 2000 feet deep, to be located at coordinates described below in Catron County on land owned by the applicant. The applicant further proposes to divert and consumptively use 54,000 acre-feet of ground water per annum for domestic, livestock, irrigation, municipal, industrial, and commercial purposes of use, to include “providing water to the State of New Mexico to augment its capacity to meet [Rio Grande Compact] deliveries to the State of Texas…at Elephant Butte dam,” and “[offsetting] effects of ground water pumping on the Rio Grande in lieu of retirement of agriculture” via a pipeline to the Rio Grande.

And here’s some more information from the application, which is dated October 12, 2007:

The proposed wells are generally located north and south of U.S. Highway 60 between the Catron-Socorro County Line and Datil, New Mexico. The proposed place of use includes all of Catron and Socorro Counties.
Any person or other entity shall have standing to file an objection or protest if they object that the granting of the application will: (1) Be detrimental to the objector’s water right; or (2) Be contrary to the conservation of water within the state or detrimental to the public welfare of the state, provided that the objector shows how they will be substantially and specifically affected by the granting of the application.
A valid objection or protest shall set forth the grounds for asserting standing and shall be legible, signed, and include the complete mailing address of the objector. An objection or protest must be filed with the state engineer not later than 10 calendar days after the date of the last publication of this notice. An objection or protest may be mailed to the Office of the State Engineer, 121 Tijeras NE, Suite 2000, Albuquerque, NM 87102-3465, or faxed to 505/764-3892 provided the original is hand-delivered or postmarked within 24 hours after transmission of the fax. The State Engineer will take the application up for consideration in the most appropriate and timely manner practical.

From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment on an innovative new program designed to help federal agencies conserve imperiled species on non-federal lands. The recovery crediting system gives federal agencies flexibility to offset the impact of their actions on threatened and endangered species found on federal lands by undertaking conservation actions on non-federal lands, as long as the affected species receive a net conservation benefit.

President Bush announced the new recovery crediting system during his October 20 visit to Patuxent Research Refuge to discuss the steps the Administration is taking to preserve habitat for migratory birds and imperiled species. The recovery crediting system is another cooperative conservation tool that provides incentives for private landowners to conserve endangered species and foster environmental stewardship of the nation’s natural resources.

“Conservation success resides in nurturing a Nation of citizen stewards,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett. “The recovery crediting system creates incentives for federal agencies to join with local communities to conserve federally protected species—and give them a helping hand on the road to recovery.”

Under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), federal agencies are required to use their existing authorities to conserve threatened and endangered species and, in consultation with the Service, ensure that their actions do not jeopardize listed species or destroy or adversely modify critical habitat. Section 7 applies to management of federal lands as well as other federal actions that may affect listed species, such as federal approval of private activities through the issuance of permits and licenses, or through other actions.

Federal agencies will be able to use a recovery crediting system to create a “bank” of credits accrued through beneficial conservation actions undertaken on non-federal lands. A federal agency can develop and store these conservation credits for use at a later time to offset the impacts of its actions on federal lands. Credits must be used to benefit the same species for which they were accrued. The Service will review each recovery crediting system to ensure the net conservation benefits outweigh any potential impacts that could occur during project implementation. Each proposal will be evaluated on its own merit, and some activities related to particular listed species may not be appropriate for the new credit system.

The program is modeled on a successful pilot program developed at Fort Hood in Texas involving the Service, the Department of Defense, the Texas State Department of Agriculture and other agencies. Using the pilot recovery crediting system, the U.S. Army has been able to fund habitat conservation and restoration projects with willing local landowners on more than seven thousand acres of private land surrounding the military base to benefit the endangered golden-cheeked warbler. Fort Hood provides important training areas for troops deploying to Iraq and is also home to the largest known population of golden-cheeked warblers in its breeding range. The credits accrued through these off-base conservation efforts ensure that the Army can conduct mission-critical training at Fort Hood while continuing to benefit the warbler in its home range. Fort Hood has also been able to
build important partnerships through this pilot program that will continue to benefit the golden-cheeked warbler and other imperiled species.

“So many of our nation’s imperiled species live on non-federal land,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall. “This system will make it easier for other federal agencies to reach out to the American people and work with other landowners to do what we can’t do alone.”

This announcement on the recovery crediting system is draft guidance, and the Service will be soliciting public comments on it for 30 days. A notice of the availability of the draft guidance was published in the Federal Register on November 2, 2007. The draft guidance may also be downloaded from the Service’s web site at
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/policy/oct.2007.html. Comments must be
submitted by December 3, 2007 via mail to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Attention Recovery Crediting, 420 ARLSQ, Washington, DC 20240. Comments may also be faxed to 703/358-2175 or emailed to recovery_crediting@fws.gov.