On Jan. 17, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an investigation into the City of Albuquerque and the Albuquerque City Council over allegedly discriminating against a South Valley neighborhood by taking action to prevent the adoption of a rule to reduce pollution in the area.
The investigation stems from two complaints filed by the Mountain View Coalition and the New Mexico Environmental Law Center.
The EPA will investigate complaints alleging that actions taken by the Albuquerque City Council and the Albuquerque Environmental Health Department “discriminated against persons in Albuquerque on the basis of race, color, and national origin, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the EPA’s complaint acceptance letter reads.
The South Valley, where the Mountain View neighborhood is located, had an 81% Hispanic or Latino population as of July 2024, according to U.S. Census data.
The complaint alleges that the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board took action to prevent the adoption of the Health, Environment and Equity Impacts rule, which was ultimately modified and adopted in December 2023.
The HEEI rule requires that pollution-emitting facilities within a mile of overburdened areas use a Best Available Control Technology procedure to mitigate pollution impacts.
The adopted rule is less comprehensive than the version that had been proposed by the Mountain View Coalition and the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, which would have prohibited implementing new pollution-emitting facilities in overburdened areas.
“Since the 1970s, dirty industrial development has been in our neighborhood due to economic incentives and zoning policy,” Mountain View Community Action President Marla Painter wrote in a statement to the Daily Lobo. “The Environmental Protection Agency has defined our neighborhood as an environmental justice community, meaning our health is endangered due to the disproportionate amount of pollutants generated in our community.”
The neighborhood is also home to two Superfund sites, seven petroleum tank farms and miles of auto salvage yards, according to Mountain View Neighborhood Association President Genevieve Chavez Mitchell. Two recycling plant fires have occurred in the area, Chavez Mitchell wrote.
“We have worked diligently for many years to counter the ongoing onslaught of industrial development,” Painter wrote. “We continue to be overburdened with industrial pollution.”
Painter said the City Council illegally interfered in the HEEI rulemaking process, as a councilor — who Painter said she could not name for legal reasons — stormed into the hearing room and disrupted the deliberations of the Air Quality Control Board, cutting short its allotted time to go through the proposed HEEI rule.
In a statement to the Daily Lobo, Staci Drangmeister, director of communications and marketing for Mayor Tim Keller’s office, wrote that the office shares “the concern that our frontline communities are overburdened by pollution and warned that council’s interference would bring legal challenges."
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Lewis and the Air Quality Control Board did not respond to the Daily Lobo’s request for comment.
The complaint also requested that the City be required to hold a listening session for public comments on the matter and, if warranted, take all actions necessary to review the City of Albuquerque and the City Council’s actions and bring both into compliance with Title VI and EPA regulations.
By accepting the complaint, the EPA has determined the Mountain View Coalition has “successfully plead plausible allegations of discrimination based on the actions of the Albuquerque City Council,” according to an NMELC and MVC press release.
Maria Fernandez is a beat reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
