Earth Matters w/ Camilla Feibelman and Charlie de Saillan

On today’s show, Earth Matters co-producer and Gila Resources Information Project executive director Allyson Siwik gives us a preview of environmental bills under consideration in the 2021 legislative session with Camilla Feibelman, Executive Director of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club and Charlie de Saillan, staff attorney with the NM Environmental Law Center.

Because of COVID and the need to prevent the spread of the disease, this year’s 60-day session is largely virtual. Despite these challenges, the slate of environmental bills being introduced is ambitious. There are a number of climate change and renewable energy bills, legislation to strengthen our bedrock environmental laws, and proposals for a just transition to a renewable energy economy.

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Guests

Camilla Feibelman, Executive Director of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Camilla Feibelman serves as Director of the Rio Grande Chapter of Sierra Club, which represents over 10,000 members. Camilla works with hundreds of volunteers throughout New Mexico and West Texas to protect special places like the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Albuquerque’s Rio Grande Bosque, and to help curb global warming while stimulating the economy through renewable energy development. Feibelman was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate as a Trustee on the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation in 2014.

Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club – https://www.riograndesierraclub.org/

To get involved in the Sierra Club’s Lobbying Team, text 505-715-8388 with your name and contact information.

Charlie de Saillan, staff attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center

Charlie is an environmental attorney in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He moved to New Mexico in 1993 to work for then Attorney General Tom Udall. Since June 2018, he has been a staff attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, a non-profit, public-interest environmental law firm. Before moving to New Mexico, Charlie worked at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., handling enforcement litigation under federal hazardous waste laws, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. At the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, Charlie helped develop the state’s natural resource damage program. He also led a national attorney general work group on amendment of the Superfund law, urging Congress to retain strong liability and cleanup provisions. In 1999, Charlie moved to the Environment Department where he handled enforcement and permitting actions involving air quality, water quality, hazardous wastes and site remediation. He successfully took on hard rock mines, petroleum refineries, electric power plants and national nuclear weapons laboratories. He negotiated a settlement agreement for comprehensive investigation and cleanup of pollution at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

NM Environmental Law Center’s priority bills – nmelc.org