We are asking folks to contact their U.S. Senators and Representatives to ask them for their help with the Gondola Project. We want you to ask our Congressional Delegation to contact the Forest Service and ask them to cancel the project or develop an Environmental Impact Statement for the Gondola Project.
Here is a refresher on the project in case you need it.
There are 3 ways to contact your Senators and Representatives.
Write a letter and submit it electronically << Quickest and easiest!
Write a letter and mail it
Call your Senator or Representative
Links, addresses and phone numbers are listed below.
Writing a Letter:
You can write your own letter but we've included a sample letter below to give you a head start. Copy the sample letter and personalize it. You must include individual information as indicated by the bold sections in the sample letter. You don't need to write a lot, but to make your letter stand out you need to include some individual information. If you submitted comments during the last comment period you can probably reuse what you wrote in your comment. And be sure to delete the bold instruction sections before sending your letter.
Once you have your letter written, it is easy to copy it and send it to every Senator and Representative. So we'd like you to contact both Senators and all three Representatives. But If you can only send one letter, send it to Senator Heinrich.
To make a big impact we want letters to be submitted together. So we are asking you to submit your letters by Sunday, August 27. But don’t wait until then to send your letter. Write your letter today and submit it today.
Submit the letters here:
Sen. Martin Heinrich : https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/contact/write-martin
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: https://www.lujan.senate.gov/contact/contact-form/
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez: https://fernandez.house.gov/contact << Taos's Representative
Rep. Melanie Stansbury: https://stansbury.house.gov/contact
Rep. Gabe Vasquez: https://vasquez.house.gov/address_authentication?form=/contact
(If Representative Vasquez website doesn't recognize your address send you letter by email to florian.anderson@mail.house.gov)
(If you want to mail your letters we've listed mail addresses at the bottom of this page)
When you are done submitting your letters, send your friends a link to this webpage and ask them to write their own letter today.
Here is a sample letter to help you get stated:
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August 20, 2023
Dear Senator Heinrich/Senator Lujan/Representative Leger Fernandez/Representative Stansbury/Representative Vasquez
[INTRODUCE YOURSELF. STRESS THAT YOU ARE A RESIDENT OF NORTHERN NEW MEXICO AND STATE YOUR PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THE PROJECT]
I'm writing to you today to ask for your help with the U.S. Forest Service's Taos Ski Valley Gondola and Other Improvements Project. I'm concerned about the Gondola project and am asking you to speak to the U.S. Forest Service and ask them to fix the process errors in the project and further ask the Forest Service to develop an Environmental Impact Statement as part of the project's NEPA process.
I believe the Gondola Project is seriously flawed. Among other problems, it will negatively impact the the quantity and quality of water in the Rio Hondo, promote unnecessary development on fragile forest lands and increase financial disparities in northern New Mexico.
[ADD YOUR OWN SPECIFIC CONCERNS WITH THE PROJECT HERE]
In addition to those negative effects, the Environmental Assessment process of the Gondola Project had significant process errors, including:
-Failure To Notify And Engage With Acequias, Land Grant Communities And Other Rural, Historic Communities.
-Environmental Justice Issues
-Failure To Include Alternatives including "No Action" Alternatives.
-Failure To Consider Available Data On Water Quality
-Failure to Consider the Cumulative Impact of the Project
-Numerous errors and discrepancies including misstatements and factual errors.
-Missing documents
-An overwhelming number of conflicts with the Carson National Forest Forest Management Plan
These issues are discussed in detail in the Acequia de San Antonio's response to the Draft Environmental Assessment, which can be found at: https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/DownloadCommentFile?LetterId=860850&IsLetter=False
The Forest Service is poised to make a decision on this project soon. But this phase of the Taos Ski Valley Gondola and Other Improvements Project has been severely mishandled. It does not comply with the applicable statutes, regulations and Presidential Orders governing the process. Continuing from this point cannot result in an Environmental Assessment that meets the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and U.S. Forest Service rules and regulations.
Therefore, I'm respectfully asking you to speak to the Forest Service and ask them to cancel the project or, if canceling is not an option, develop a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that includes the components the Environmental Assessment missed and corrects the many errors in the Assessment.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak about this issue. I'd be happy to provide more information if needed.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION]
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If you want to call the offices:
Phone numbers for our Senators and Representatives are listed below.
You won't get to talk to the Senator or Representative directly, one of their staff members will answer the phone. That is OK. Make sure whoever answers the phone knows that you are from New Mexico.
Tell them you want to leave a message for the Senator/Representative and are calling about the "Taos Ski Valley Gondola and Other Improvements Project” being led by the U.S Forest Service and you would like the Senator/Representative to...
"...speak to the Forest Service and ask them to cancel the project or develop a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project that includes the components the Environmental Assessment missed and corrects the errors in the Assessment".
The staff member will ask you for some personal information and that's all you need to do.
U.S. Senators for New Mexico
Sen. Martin Heinrich
On-line contact form: https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/contact/write-martin
Mailing address:
The Honorable Martin Heinrich
United States Senate
709 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5521
Sen. Ben Ray Luján
On-line contact form: https://www.lujan.senate.gov/contact/contact-form/
Mailing address:
The Honorable Ben Ray Luján
United States Senate
498 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-6621
U.S. Representatives for New Mexico
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez
District 3 (Northern New Mexico including Taos)
On-line Contact Form: https://fernandez.house.gov/contact
Mailing address:
The Honorable Teresa Leger Fernandez
United States House of Representatives
1510 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6190
Rep. Melanie Stansbury
District 1 (Central New Mexico)
On-line contact form: https://stansbury.house.gov/contact
Mailing address:
The Honorable Melanie Stansbury
1421 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6316
Rep. Gabe Vasquez
District 2 (Southern New Mexico)
On-line contact form: https://vasquez.house.gov/address_authentication?form=/contact
Mailing address:
The Honorable Gabe Vasquez
1517 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2365