Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association

Proposed Bar and Restaurant in Algodones

Owners of a property in Algodones, right off the I-25 freeway and to the west of it, have applied to open a store, restaurant and bar there. The area is presently zoned to allow for businesses, including stores, restaurants and bars, but requires that they be closed by 9 PM. The applicant has requested Conditional Use zoning to allow the establishment to be open until 2 AM. The County Planning and Zoning Commission has twice denied this application to extend the hours of operation until 2 AM. The applicant is appealing this denial to the Sandoval County Commission.

That appeal will be heard at the County Commission Meeting on July 18, 2013, at the Sandoval County Administration Building. The meeting begins at 6 PM, though this agenda item will probably be heard later in the meeting.

Algodones, our neighbor to the north, relies on the same Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office for their police protection as does Placitas. Both areas also rely on the same fire and rescue services. In addition, other than the casinos, there are no establishments, that serve liquor, open later than 10 pm in the Placitas, Algodones, Bernalillo area. Statistics show that establishments serving liquor tend to have more need for police, fire and rescue services the later in the evening they are open. We all have to share the same emergency services we have in Sandoval County.

Many Algodones residents have previously objected to the granting of a later closing time for this proposed bar and restaurant. If you wish to make your opinion known on this matter, you may attend the Sandoval County Commission meeting.

For full information on this topic see the LPA web site, here

The Farmington BLM office has responded to the request (see here) by LPA (Las Placitas Association) and ES-CA for an extension to the comment period on the WEPIII Pipeline Project Environmental Assessment (EA), by denying that request.  See the BLM’s denial of request letter here.  The proposed pipeline would carry natural gas liquids, such as butane and propane, and would utilize old pipelines presently running through Placitas, through Las Huertas Creek and in the vicinity of the Creek.  It would increase the volume and pressure of material running through those pipes.  There are already safety concerns with the present pipeline, due to its age, how it is subject to erosive damage, as became apparent during flooding events such as occurred in 2006, and how it was originally built when there was a far lower population density in the Placitas area, such that even if the pipes were in brand new condition they might not be safe to operate in our present community.  So the added volume and pressure running through these old pipes raise very legitimate concerns for the safety of our community.  This is especially so in the present drought, with conditions so tinder dry, such that an explosion of highly volatile fuels could easily ignite a major fire that would spread throughout large portions of Placitas and beyond.

Due to the denial of extension,the official comment period ended last Friday, April 26.  LPA and ES-CA issued our comments on April 26 (see here), which also protested the BLM’s denial of our request for extension.  The BLM also disappointed us by backing away from a previous offer to host a public meeting on this important matter for our community.

The most objectionable aspect of the BLM’s response was to deny that they had any responsibility to report on public safety concerns in the EA.  They passed the buck on this to the federal Dept. of Transportation PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration).  We have been in contact with PHMSA on this issue, and at their request have issued FOIAs (Freedom of Information Act requests) for vital information on the safety issues involving this pipeline running through Placitas.  Thus far PHMSA has not responded, long past the 20 days they had to respond.

In our response letter we cite a recent federal district court ruling in California by Judge Grewal, which invalidates BLM’s similar attempt there to pass the buck on public safety concerns as regards a fracking project.  Judge Grewal ruled that because BLM took the lead on the EA for that project, it could not properly claim that public safety factors were “outside the scope of this EA because they are not under the authority or within the jurisdiction of the BLM”.  Applying this to the Farmington BLM office’s attempt to evade the public safety issues in their EA, it should also be ruled as inadequate.  The BLM office issued a FONSI – a “Finding of No Significant Impact” – on this EA, thus claiming that a more extensive EIS (Environmental Impact Study), with full risk assessment, is unnecessary.  But clearly there is major impact on our community if there are any unanswered safety problems with the proposed project.

We will be pursuing this issue, vital to Placitas, at various governmental levels.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just announced that they are accepting comments on the proposed Western Expansion Pipeline III project.  The project proposes to substantially increase the pressure in the existing natural gas liquid pipeline that runs through Diamond Tail, Las Huertas Creek, the Placitas Open Space, and the 3100 acre BLM “Buffalo” parcel.  “Natural gas liquids” are substances like propane and butane, which are byproducts of natural gas wells.

ES-CA and the Las Placitas Association are primarily concerned about the continued safe operation of the pipeline in our community.  To that end, we have engaged BLM on the lack of safety information in the Environmental Assessment, and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for safety records for this pipeline with the U.S. Office of Pipeline Safety.  LPA and ES-CA representatives have also met with State pipeline safety officials on this issue.  LPA and ES-CA will be submitting detailed comments regarding the safety of this project on behalf of their members.

The project Environmental Assessment link is located here on the LPA website.  It is 155 page PDF document.

The public comment period ends April 26, 2013.  Comments may be directed to Ms. Lorraine Salas, Project Manager, Bureau of Land Management, lsalas@blm.gov.