Latest news with #34thAnnualConference
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Navajo activists oppose a proposed hydrogen pipeline that could be the world's longest
Activist Jessica Keetso voiced strong opposition to a proposed hydrogen pipeline through her Navajo Nation homeland during a discussion on energy development and environmental justice at the Society of Environmental Journalists' 34th Annual Conference in Tempe. Keetso, of environmental advocacy organization Tó Nizhóní Ání, and Capital & Main reporter Jerry Redfern emphasized the historical exploitation of Navajo resources. Redfern said: 'In the last 100 years, there's been near-constant mineral extraction of all types on Navajo lands: coal, uranium, vanadium, oil, gas. And it has never brought a great deal of prosperity.' Tallgrass Energy's proposed hydrogen pipeline could potentially be the world's longest. It would stretch over 200 miles from Shiprock, New Mexico, to north of Flagstaff, following an existing Navajo-owned natural gas pipeline that runs along 13 inhabited communities. The company in 2020 bought a shuttered coal power plant located just slightly south of the Navajo Nation. It wants to transform the structure into a hydrogen power plant, where it either make the hydrogen or transport it. It also planned the construction of another factory in Farmington, New Mexico, solely to sequester CO2, Redfern explained. The project aligns with the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub, backed by New Mexico's Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. It is seeking $1.25 billion in federal funds to develop hydrogen from natural gas in the Four Corners region. But while Tallgrass Energy promoted it as a clean energy solution, the pipeline aims to leverage the Navajo Nation's natural resources. Tallgrass has been engaging tribal leaders since 2021, Keetso said. Keetso and Redfern argued that hydrogen production from natural gas perpetuates the same century-old harms, consuming scarce water resources and risking further ecological damage. 'More roads that go into building gas or oil operations tear up and divide the landscape,' Redfern said. There's also the problem of fuels leaking into the surrounding environment, the panelists explain. Hydrogen also requires special pipelines. It can't be run in the same pipelines of natural gas. 'I would not want a natural gas plant running, they're unsafe. And then a CO2 pipeline, that's also very dangerous, and a hydrogen pipeline, all close to one another,' Redfern said. Keetso said 'none of those concerns have been addressed.' 'There's a lot of people living along that pipeline route,' she said. 'There's three chapters that don't have internet, so how are you going to monitor these in case of an accident?' In the crowd, researcher Joe Romm, author of the book The Hype About Hydrogen, supports the panelists' concerns. 'It's ridiculous to take natural gas, split out the hydrogen and then burn the hydrogen atoms,' Romm said. 'World's projects have all ended up being scrapped in the last 6 to 9 months for green hydrogen.' The discussion underscored distrust in Tallgrass Energy's corporate promises of economic benefits, given past unfulfilled commitments. It also highlighted a demand for sovereignty, sustainability, and accountability in energy projects. 'We don't want this in our community. It's not welcome,' Keetso said. But she said tribal leadership has the ability to disregard the public. 'But our leadership should rather be protecting our land and our water,' Keetso said. Natasha Cortinovis is a master's student at the University of Arizona, and is part of a student newsroom led by The Arizona Republic. Coverage of the Society of Environmental Journalists conference is supported by Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism, the University of Arizona and the Arizona Media Association. These stories are published open-source for other news outlets and organizations to share and republish, with credit and links to This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Navajo activists oppose a proposed hydrogen pipeline
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Walling off the US-Mexico border would be 'catastrophic' to wildlife, researchers say
The wall at the United States' southern border disrupts ancient migration corridors, which researchers say threatens species like mountain lions, black bears, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, whitetail deer and mule deer, wild turkeys, desert tortoises and Mexican gray wolves. 'There are animals trying to cross as if their life depended on it,' Sierra Club researcher Erick Meza told attendees at the Society of Environmental Journalists' 34th Annual Conference in Tempe on April 25. 'Finding them dead at the feet of the wall is common.' Southern Arizona zoologists from Wildland Networks, Sky Islands Alliance and Sierra Club have been monitoring wildlife in the borderlands since 2020 to try to understand what happens when nearly 70% of the border is blocked off by a wall that's up to 30 feet tall. In 2022, cameras picked up a wolf that came out of the Gila River from the north that kept on pacing back and forth for three days along the border wall, but, unable to cross it, ended up going back where he came from and dying. But that wolf isn't the only animal severely impacted by the 760 miles of barrier separating the United States and Mexico, which almost blocks off an entire continent, those zoologists explained. 'All these species do not fit through the openings in the wall,' Harrity said. 'Jaguars won't get through either.' If the United States wants to reestablish a population of jaguars, there cannot be a wall, journalist John Washington said. The wall's design — steel bollards spaced 4 inches apart or solid panels—prevents most animals larger than a bobcat from passing. Small 8.5-by-11-inch openings have allowed some female mountain lions to squeeze through, a feat researchers call remarkable but insufficient. 'For many species, those openings are the only way through the wall,' Sky Islands Alliance zoologist Eamon Harrity said. 'But there's only 19 in the entire barrier.' At the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, Wildlands Network zoologist Myles Traphagan observed many animals before the construction of the wall, but very few after. 'One skunk out of 1641 pictures,' he said, noting ancient watersheds were bulldozed. 'I mourn that damage, like if I had lost a loved one.' The Sierra Club in 2021 sued the Department of Homeland Security. The lawsuit secured open floodgates for two years at San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, more little wildlife openings, some funds for conservation science and habitat restoration, and engagement in environmental planning before further wall construction. However, challenges remain. The Department of Homeland Security controls wall modifications, and the Trump administration could restart construction. Researchers recently learned that the new administration wants to build across the 27.5-mile-long San Rafael Valley, considered the last network of wildlife connectivity at the southern border. The "Sky Islands," tall mountains in the Sonoran Desert where the San Rafael Valley lies, are one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. They are the northernmost range of the jaguar, and the place where many species' northernmost and southernmost extents of migration range happens, the zoologists said at the conference. 'If we block this, it's forever. We are going to lose so many species,' Harrity said. 'Driven north by warming climates, species will run into a barrier that will prevent them from reaching climate refugees.' The zoologists repeatedly described that outcome as 'catastrophic.' But until the San Rafael Valley and the 63 miles of the Tohono O'odham Nation remain unwalled, there remains some hope for wildlife. Natasha Cortinovis is a master's student at the University of Arizona, and is part of a student newsroom led by The Arizona Republic. Coverage of the Society of Environmental Journalists conference is supported by Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism, the University of Arizona and the Arizona Media Association. These stories are published open-source for other news outlets and organizations to share and republish, with credit and links to This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Researchers: Border wall expansion would be 'catastrophic' to wildlife
