NMiF looks at housing gaps and pollution in New Mexico after federal shifts

This week, New Mexico in Focus zeros in on two pressing issues facing our state: a housing crisis and threats to our air, water, and soil.

Late last month, President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed rescinding the "endangerment finding" - an Obama-era addition to the Federal Clean Air Act of 1963 that recognized the dangers of climate change.

Host Nash Jones sits down Camilla Feibelman, director of the local chapter of the Sierra Club, and Ben Shelton, deputy secretary of the state's Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, to discuss what the EPA's proposal could mean for greenhouse gas regulations in our state.

Later, the two discuss the EPA's decision to extend deadlines for states and the oil and gas industry to comply with methane standards set last year by the Biden administration, and how millions of tons of pollutants that would have been capped now won't be.

Investigative journalist and author Mariah Blake has spent years reporting on the ways PFAS, commonly referred to as "forever chemicals," have posed a threat to our environment. Senior Producer Lou DiVizio recently sat down with Blake to talk about her new book: "They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals."

In July, Trump signed an executive order directing two federal agencies to shift their resources away from housing and instead towards forced mental health and substance abuse treatment, as well as criminal enforcement against unhoused people. Two leaders of a local nonprofit tell DiVizio how that executive order will restrict housing access to a growing population of people living on the streets.

NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) on Friday, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 10 at 7 a.m. and streaming on the PBS video app. Involved, informed, in-depth media: watch New Mexico in Focus again online shortly thereafter.

Host
Nash Jones

Segments
EPA Proposes Rolling Back Greenhouse Gas Regulations
Correspondent
Nash Jones

Guests
Ben Shelton, deputy secretary, NM Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department
Camilla Feibelman, director, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter

Journalist and Author's New Book on Dangers of 'Forever Chemicals'
Correspondent
Lou DiVizio

Guest
Mariah Blake, author, Investigative Journalist

How the EPA's Delay of Methane Regulations Would Spur Air Pollution
Correspondent
Nash Jones

Guests
Ben Shelton, deputy secretary, NM Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department
Camilla Feibelman, director, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter

Nonprofit Says Executive Order Will Widen Housing Gaps in NM
Correspondent
Nash Jones

Guests
Serge Martinez, New Mexico Center for Housing Law
Allison Freedman, New Mexico Center for Housing Law

New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."

NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus's senior producer for public affairs is Lou DiVizio. Host and producer of New Mexico in Focus is Nash Jones. Producer is Antonio Sanchez. Multimedia journalist is Cailley Chella.

Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You. Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund. Funding for Our Land: New Mexico's Environmental Past, Present & Future is provided in part by the Neeper Natural History Programming.