thanks Lou joining me around the table for this three-part conversation we've got Josie Zuniga with youth United for climate crisis action Daniel so former Tribal Council Delegate for the Navajo Nation and Gail Evans senior attorney with the climate law Institute at the center for biological diversity thank you all for being here today thanks for having us oh so in 1971 when the US Congress was passing all kinds of Environmental legisl clean water Clean Air Act Endangered Species Act New Mexico voters added a provision to the State Constitution and I'm just going to read it real quick um the protection of the state's beautiful and healthful environment is hereby declared to be of fundamental importance to the public interest health safety and the general welfare the legislature shall provide for control of pollution and control of despoilment of the air water and other natural resourc resources of the state consistent with the use and development of these resources for the maximum benefit of the people this is hardly poetic but it is a really lovely sentiment and Gail I'd like to start with you last year New Mexico laws filed a lawsuit demanding the state comply with this provision um what are you seeking and how did the state respond so New Mexico laws actually stands for New Mexico Land Air waser and the sacred this was a name that was actually given to our group by Daniel so um and this is a group of indigenous Frontline and youth and some environmental organizations that have come together to hold the state accountable to this constitutional Duty that you just mentioned so it's it's much more than um just a a nice sentiment it is actually a constitutional obligation so before the voters voted to amend our Constitution and add this Pollution Control Clause the state already had the power to pass laws and uh do Environmental Protection but once our voters chose to amend the Constitution it became more than just like an authority to do something it became a constitutional duty to do something and given the amount of oil and gas production and pollution that we have in our state now we have a oil and gas pollution crisis and the state isn't fulfilling its Duty that you just read in this constitution to control pollution it says the state shall control pollution and when you look at what's happening in communities with heavy oil and gas production the state is simply failing to fulfill this constitutional Duty and that's where NM laws came together indigenous Frontline and youth came together to hold the state accountable to this Duty right so Daniel you live in the San Juan Basin in Northwestern New Mexico can you describe the impacts that you see of oil and gas development how it affects the land the air the people yes uh Laura I guess uh the main thing you have to understand is uh the navajos who live in the Eastern Navajo agency of newx the Far East part um we have allotments and in in that aspect then uh my siblings and I there's uh six remaining we have shares in allotments and through the majority approval of the other shareholders then oil and gas development is on those allotments and what I see is number one the he heavy truck traffic and the the dust that's raised um it relatives grandmothers first brought it to our attention that uh we had to do something and so that's where we became in involved uh and uh basically uh tried to work with the state agencies and basically the oil conservation division um the environment department just wouldn't listen wouldn't take into account the heavy impact I called it the tsunami of oil and gas development that took over uh parts of San Juan County and sandal County and it's really been um uh harmful it impacts the dirt the roads are all dirt roads the heavy truck traffic raises dust um I've had relatives invite me into their uh kitchen and basically one older gentleman says last night I wiped the table and look I've got dust on the table again it's affecting and I'm Brea breathing it in is what he basically says I'm here to take care of my aunt and my uh mother and and and they're without water and electricity and so those aspects that really uh hits home um another Grandma mother basically says I would have never signed the lease if I knew this truck traffic is 24/7 I get notes from my grandchildren's teacher saying how come uh this grandchild is falling asleep it's because of the 247 noise from the drilling from the truck traffic and so that's basically how um I I had a message to to stand up and and speak for the people and and since then that's what we we've done uh and so that's uh and I and you know the way the um laws of New Mexico basically intertwines with the uh mineral leasing act of United States and oil conservation division has a step in there that approves the unit agreements to authorize the number of Acres that would be in a unit the number of Wells that would be in a unit and the direction of those horizontal um developments so it's really different one grandmother basically told me I wish I would have never signed it I thought it was the old style vertical up and down I thought I about the John Wayne movies where they strike oil and everybody's getting wet with the oil this is different way different this uh hydraulic fracturing and it's uh the impact is on the land affects the air quality and uses millions of gallons of a precious resource and it's devid stating the the landscape and and that's where we're part of the reason I'm uh part of the New Mexico uh laws uh group asking um the courts to address this mandate that the citizens of New Mexico put into the Constitution yeah thank you Daniel Josie you live in the greater Carl's bed area can you describe for New Mexicans who maybe don't visit or don't live that area what is the development like where you live yeah thank you Laura I live in the carlbad area um I grew up on the outskirts of carlbad in an area known as Otis growing up Otis was really only Farmland there were miles and miles of beautiful Fields cattle grazing everywhere it was quiet I remember growing up to Starry skies and clear mornings and from our backyard you can see the Guadalupe Mountains in the midst and I think it was a really beautiful way to grow up and I'm very grateful now one thing I always want to acknowledge is the peran Basin and Carl's bat has always been an oil Hub but in these last few years we've really seen production double and increase so you know where there would be a few sites kind of on the outskirts of town sites have begun pushing into town a lot of people in the perian Basin and especially those of us live on the outskirts of the city live with things like flares and Frack sites outside of our homes personally my grandmother has not one but six natural gas pipelines running through the backyard of her home of our home and right now we're dealing with a lot of as we've spoken about today truck traffic we're dealing with a lot of dirt a lot of air pollution and it's become very concerning the way the air pollution has really climbed in recent years in the peran Basin something I'm very concerned about is the Public Health crisis we're seeing a lot of upper respiratory illness and especially in school children we're seeing such high asthma rates that not only am I afraid but I'm honestly astounded that this has been allowed to go on for so long and so we have these wonderful pieces in our Constitution that could really help us and it's not about today and tomorrow it's about the future and progressing as a society where children are sick every day where children non-stop rely on these inhalers because these oil and gas facilities are allowed right outside of their schools there's flares just up the hill to some of these schools and that's frightening because it's not right and it's not okay and I think we need to see a lot of setbacks something I'm very concerned about right now is the ozone limits so the EPA has set like a legal limit for ozone days that you know areas are allowed to have so I believe the limit is 3 to 4 days within one year for ozone days I've been helping with an air quality project in the perian basin and we're seeing three to four ozone days a week for several consecutive weeks for almost a year we've been working on this project right we need to take a quick break but we will be back in 15 minutes