FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, May 24, 2018 Contacts: Esther & Steven Abeyta, San Jose Residents, 505.440.1669 Michael Jensen, Communications, NMELC, 505.362.1063 Juan Reynosa, Deputy Director, SWOP, 505.247.8832 ext. 115 Jon Block, Staff Attorney, NMELC, 505.989.9022 ext. 122
San Jose Neighborhood Residents Thank Mayor Keller for Withdrawing from Sunport Boulevard Extension Project ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Residents of Albuquerque’s San Jose neighborhood are relieved that Mayor Tim Keller has withdrawn the City of Albuquerque’s support for the Sunport Boulevard Extension project.
Esther Abeyta, a San Jose resident, said, “We are thankful that the Mayor’s staff listened to the issues that are important to the residents of San Jose and that the Mayor stopped supporting this project that would have negatively impacted the community of San Jose for many decades.” In 2015, Human Impact Partners (HIP), based in Oakland, California, analyzed the County’s Environmental Assessment and conducted a Health Impact Assessment of the Sunport Extension project. HIP concluded that:
San Jose is recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency as an Environmental Justice Community because of this disproportionate environmental burden, including the GE South Valley and AT&SF Superfund Sites. The area has refineries, chemical plants, cement and gravel crushing operations, asphalt batch facilities, gasoline tank farms, and railroad off-loading. San Jose has the worst air quality in Bernalillo County. Juan Reynosa, Deputy Director of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) said, “There are a lot of problems with the entire Sunport Boulevard Extension project, such as traffic congestion, air quality deterioration, and the failure to adequately study and present alternative routes in a transparent way to the public. The biggest issue, however, is the failure to consider the cumulative impacts of this project within the context of the many existing threats to people’s health in the South Valley.” Bernalillo County is the driving force behind the Sunport Boulevard Extension project and the Woodward Road Expansion project to 2nd Street, even though most of the project would be inside City limits. It is estimated that completion of the Sunport Extension project and the accompanying Woodward expansion to 2nd Street would bring an additional 30,000 vehicles into the project area. Jon Block, staff attorney at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, which represents SWOP and Steven and Esther Abeyta, said, “For a long time, the County tried to separate the environmental impact analysis of the Sunport Extension from the Woodward expansion to 2nd Street. This is called “segmentation” and is not permitted under federal highway rules for environmental impact analysis. This forced the County to go through another joint environmental impact analysis. More importantly, there was an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) done in the 1990s and the County should have carried out a Supplemental EIS, not a much simpler and less stringent Environmental Assessment.” The County has said they will mitigate impacts of the project with a design overlay without changing zoning. The overlay deals primarily with site design issues like setbacks, building orientation and height, and landscaping, which are supposed to invite different businesses, for example green industry, to locate in the area. However, as Juan Reynosa asked, “Who’s going to put in a green business next to an oil tank farm, an asphalt plant, or surrounded by auto junk yards?” Added Steven and Esther Abeyta, “We hope the NM Department of Transportation and Bernalillo County Public Works will take compassion and grace upon their hearts and minds, take into consideration the impacts the Sunport Extension road project will have on the community of San Jose, and withdraw their support from the Sunport Extension road project.” ###
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In a letter dated May 1, 2018, the Mayor informed the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of the Highway Administrator that, “issues regarding community participation and opposition, concerns about noise and traffic, and the development consequences that would come from the Project … have not been adequately addressed.”
“The neighborhood of about 4,000 people in south Albuquerque already bears a disproportionate environmental burden, from past hazardous chemicals and other materials that contaminated soil and water, and air pollution from traffic and industry. San Jose is racially and ethnically diverse, younger, with lower income and higher unemployment than the county as a whole, and meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's criteria for an environmental justice neighborhood. The neighborhood is in an area that has among the highest death rates in the county from several health conditions, including cancer, diabetes, and conditions related to heart disease.”