Heat and degraded air quality harming New Mexicans is projected to worsen in the coming years, as climate change fueled by burning and extracting fossil fuels cranks up the planet’s temperature.

State lawmakers heard that message from panels of experts from government and outside groups in an interim Water and Natural Resources Committee meeting Monday held in Albuquerque.

Extreme heat is the deadliest natural disaster, killing more people in the U.S. than flooding and hurricanes combined. Hotter, drier conditions also increase and intensify wildfires. It leads to arid conditions causing dust storms and increases air pollution.

The data shows the Southwestern U.S. is the fastest warming area in the lower 48 states, and New Mexicans are feeling the consequences, with 50 people going to emergency rooms between April and May.

With extreme heat growing more frequent and intense, New Mexico has to transform its approach, said heat public health expert Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg, a co-founder of advocacy group Healthy Climate New Mexico.

“The stark reality is this: every summer, New Mexicans are dying preventable deaths,” Matthews-Trigg told lawmakers. “It’s time we shift our focus from individual actions to collective community efforts.”

Extreme heat is killing more people crossing the border

He said New Mexico’s current model treats extreme heat as a matter of personal responsibility, which ignores both science and experience from people who shoulder the brunt of heat exposure.

And while New Mexico has made more efforts to track data on heath injuries and deaths – which are difficult numbers to pin down – members of state agencies said they still required more funding and staffing.

Requests for money by agencies and policy experts included adding six more staff to collect heat injury and death data for the New Mexico Department of Health.

Mann-Lev said that New Mexico’s application for federal funds for $2.5 million to track public health and environment was rejected because of a lack of staff at state agencies to spend it down.

Shelley Mann-Lev, the Executive Director of Healthy Climate New Mexico said the group has been working to establish a statewide public health and climate program.

Supporters said the program would deal with heat, wildfire smoke, drought, flooding, dust and severe storms.

Mann-Lev also supports establishing a $10 million fund to help towns and cities address climate needs.

“That fund would be dedicated at least 50% to communities with populations of less than 100,000 (people),” Mann-Lev said. The proposal has failed the past three sessions.

Deadly heat

Emergency room visits due to heat stress have nearly doubled since 2010 in New Mexico, said Lauren Reichelt, New Mexico Environment Department’s director at the Environmental Health Division.

When temperatures rise above 90 degrees, so do visits in southern and northwestern NM, many of them outdoor workers, men between 18- and 44-years-old, Reichelt said.

Heat stroke and heat exhaustion in New Mexico emergency rooms rose from 200 visits to over 400 visits. Those are only for those specific conditions, Reichelt said, the real impacts are much larger since heat exacerbates heart and kidney conditions.

“If you wanted the real number, you’d have to add a zero at the end and either double or even quintuple it,” she said about estimates on heat-related injuries.

The New Mexico Environment Department ascribed 900 emergency room visits to heat in 2023. This year, there have already been 600 visits due to heat, Reichelt said.

Matthews-Trigg said most existing interventions on extreme heat are ineffective and a waste of money.

“Telling someone to get somewhere cooler, if they don’t have access to transportation is pointless,” he said. “Setting up cooling centers that are not welcoming, that don’t allow pets or in inaccessible locations will mean the people that need them are unable to go to them.”

Another recommendation is to offer people help with energy bills, since some research shows people don’t use air conditioning or swamp coolers out of financial hardship.

“People literally cook inside their homes because they can’t pay a few dollars to stay cool. This is an incredible injustice,” Matthews-Trigg said.

Gerilyn Antonio, the tribal liaison for the New Mexico Alliance of Health Councils, requested that the state work to consult with tribes, provide tribal-level data, rather than just county-specific data.

“There’s not a comprehensive picture of how tribal communities in our state are affected,” Antonio said about heat.

She said the legislature needs to increase funding for state agencies and work to improve communications to Pueblos.

Sen. Liz Stefanics (D-Cerillos) said the legislature might consider combining the state agencies with climate bureaus or divisions under one office.

“If we could bring together the entities that are working in this, we might be able to better fund something as a whole, rather than piecemeal,” Stefanics said.

Pollution, wildfire smoke and dust

Extreme heat and drought are worsening New Mexico’s air quality said JoAnna Strother, who directs advocacy for the American Lung Association in the Southwest.

Ozone, also known as smog, worsens in high heat, causing a “sunburn” effect on the lungs and worsening or causing lung diseases.

Particle pollution means very tiny amounts of solids and liquids inhaled into the lungs. The pollution is sometimes due to wildfire, but also just emissions from gasoline, diesel or wood fuels.

“Particle pollution can be very dangerous to breathe, especially at higher concentrations. It can trigger illness, hospitalization, and premature death and can even cause lung cancer,” Strother said.

Just over half of New Mexicans live in a county with at least one failing air grade and 32% of New Mexicans live in counties with three failing grades for air quality, she said.

Las Cruces is the 15th most polluted city for ozone, and Albuquerque the 21st in national rankings. But it isn’t just urban areas affected, Eddy County ranked as the 17th most polluted county for ozone in the U.S.

Particle pollution has also worsened in both Albuquerque and Las Cruces, she said.

Maxine Paul, the former chair of the Albuquerque Air Quality Control Board said the legislature’s passage of a bill to reduce pollution from cars and trucks is still being implemented, but that it will work to reduce pollution.

The New Mexico Environment Department only has seven staff to travel around the state, measure, and collect data on air pollution, said Dana Bahar, the deputy director of the Environmental Protection Division.

‘There’s no future where our landscapes are not flammable’

Wildfires and smoke are inevitable in New Mexico, said Matthew Hurteau, a professor studying fire ecology at the University of New Mexico, but the state can do more to limit smoke exposure.

Climate change’s drying effect has made New Mexico’s forests more flammable, meaning the devastating 2022 fire season is projected to become “fairly normal,” as the atmosphere warms and dries, he said.

His research shows forest management is key to reducing pollution from these fires.

“If we restore frequent fire to these forests, through mechanical thinning, and prescribed burning, we can significantly reduce the amount of emissions that are happening, particularly in large doses,” he said.

Elimination of wildfire isn’t an option.

“There’s no future where our landscapes are not flammable in New Mexico,” Hurteau said. “Anyone who tells you that we can manage smoke impacts by putting out wildfire is delusional.”

He said the state needs to do more to clean people’s air, such as offering air purifiers in rural communities.

In addition to air purifiers, wearing properly fitted N95 masks filters out harmful particles and works to protect peoples’ lungs from wildfire smoke and other pollution, said Strother.

How you can protect your community from wildfire smoke

‘Albatross around our neck’

One top lawmaker expressed frustrations at New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney, saying the administration and agency is failing to display a sense of urgency.

Senate Pro Tem Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) invoked 18th century poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” saying New Mexico had an inescapable burden in relying on fossil fuels.

“We all have this albatross around our neck, thanking oil and gas for giving us funding, at the same time trying desperately to keep them from destroying the Earth.”

She asked Kenney what is preventing the environment department from being at full staffing, asking if the governor requested the agency to keep its budget flat, if it can’t pay enough for staff, or a combination of issues.

Kenney said he feels Stewart’s sense of urgency, but the environment department lacks an office for 167 of its staff, and said state hiring remains slow.

“We have no shortage of people wanting to work there. We just need quicker processing to get them in the door,” Kenney said.

Stewart said she wants New Mexico to be seen by the rest of the country as a model for addressing climate change, boldly addressing public health and economic impacts.

“You can’t say that about us right now. Little tiny steps,” she said pantomiming footprints with her hands. “Little tiny steps while the Earth is burning.”