June 15 – Santa Fe County is one step closer to creating an emergency planning committee sought by many local residents, including opponents of a solar project south of Santa Fe.
On Friday, the State Emergency Response Commission adopted a policy giving the county the authority to appoint members of a local emergency planning committee on an interim basis, subject to subsequent confirmation by the state commission at its next meeting on September 6.
A longstanding federal law called the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and current state policy require each New Mexico county to have an emergency planning commission charged with developing and regularly reviewing response plans for chemical emergencies.
However, state oversight of the commissions fell by the wayside during the coronavirus pandemic, and about a third of New Mexico counties, including Santa Fe, lack required commissions and hazmat response plans, Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management program manager Zachary said. Wachter said this during the State Emergency Response Commission meeting on Friday.
Eldorado resident Ashley Schannauer initially raised concerns in February about the lack of an emergency planning committee in the county, after which state and county leaders agreed on the urgency of creating one.
Schnnauer became involved because of his and other residents’ opposition to the lithium-ion battery energy storage component of a solar project in Rancho Viejo proposed by global energy company AES Corp. in early 2023, which is still under review by district staff. Schnnauer and other area residents argued that Santa Fe County should halt consideration of allowing the solar installation, a potential fire hazard, until the county has contingency plans in place.
Brad Call, the county’s new emergency management director, prioritized the creation of a local emergency planning committee shortly after his appointment in late April.
He wanted to start the process by submitting rules for creating such a commission at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, but withdrew his proposed rules after Schnnauer, a retired attorney, passed federal law on the State Emergency Response Commission – and not the county – gave the authority to appoint the commission.
In a letter to county leaders, Schnnauer also criticized Call’s proposed rules, saying they would not give community members “a meaningful say in what happens in this situation.” [emergency response] plan,” he said in an interview.
“Those statutes did not give any community group the right to vote on anything. That was a real problem,” he continued.
“It’s the people in the community who actually deal with these dangers every day, and there are people in the community who are familiar with the risks [who] are going to want them addressed, and so if you don’t have anyone from the community in a meaningful way, you’re not going to have a good plan. It’s just going to be a piece of paper,” Schannauer said.
The rules drafted by Call established 29 voting members of a local emergency planning committee, including local elected officials, public safety leaders, transportation leaders and some facility representatives, such as representatives from the BNSF Railway and Public Service Company of New Mexico.
The non-voting members would include additional public safety leaders; representatives from hospitals, corporations, utilities and the media; and community organizations recognized under the province’s Sustainable Land Use Development Code.
On Friday, members of the State Emergency Response Commission said Call’s proposed rules are consistent with federal law, which requires representation from various sectors, including community groups.
The county “ultimately has discretion to determine what representation is feasible,” the state commission wrote in a letter to the Santa Fe County Commission, noting that “strict adherence to representation from all sectors listed” would require the functioning of a commission could hinder.
The state commission has asked Santa Fe County to provide a list of people who match the voting members of the commission, as outlined in the bylaws drafted by Call, who state commissioners say will be officially appointed to a local emergency planning commission at their next meeting .
State commissioners “recognize that EPCRA requires them to be appointed [local] committee members, but there is also a desire to respect local autonomy, because provinces know themselves best,” said Wachter.
Call said he appreciated the support of state committee members and had plans to identify individual committee members “as soon as possible.”
