The Atkore United Poly Systems fire on Aug. 6, 2023. Health advocates want more data on the impact of climate change on human health in New Mexico from events such as fire, extreme heat, flooding and other weather events.(Photo courtesy of Albuquerque Fire Rescue)
Health care advocates and officials will renew efforts to track harm to New Mexicans’ health from climate disasters in the forthcoming legislative session.
Healthy Climate New Mexico, a nonprofit collective of health care professionals concerned about climate change, and nine other groups back two proposals to improve preparedness and adaptation to extreme weather driven by human-caused climate change.
The first would beef up a climate health program at New Mexico Department of Health to track health impacts from heat, wildfire smoke, drought, flooding, dust and severe storms. The second is a proposal to offer grant funds for local and tribal governments to better respond to weather disasters.
“Our bills are focused on adaptation and resilience, preparedness and collecting data, which is essential in really knowing who’s at highest risk and where the solutions need to be applied, said Shelley Mann-Lev, the nonprofit’s executive director, who has decades of public health experience in New Mexico.
Both require state funds. First, there’s $1.1 million for a climate health program to fund additional staff for the Department of Health; implement more warning systems; and increase communication between the department, the public and other state agencies.
The request for the Extreme Weather Resilience Fund would be $12 million. Advocates have said they’ll introduce two bills with sponsors in both the House and Senate, but neither was filed as of Friday, Jan. 10.
This would be the third time similar proposals have been brought before lawmakers, and Mann-Lev said there’s been increased support from both the governor’s office and members of the legislature.
A spokesperson from the New Mexico Department of Health declined to comment, saying it’s policy to not speak about legislation proposed by outside groups. A spokesperson from the governor’s office declined to comment since the bills have not been formally introduced.
Sen. Liz Stefanics (D-Cerillos), who plans to sponsor the Senate legislation, and has introduced it before, said there seems to be more momentum and concern around the issues.
‘Beyond the body counts’
Other groups supporting the bill include Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, New Mexico Voices for children, four public health groups, including the American Lung Association, and two climate organizations.
Advocates note that climate disasters already harm and kill New Mexicans. Deaths and injuries from extreme heat are rising; floods across the state, including Roswell, raise concerns for mold development; smoke from wildfires harms lungs, especially for children and the elderly.
Stephanie Moraga-McHaley ran the environment health tracking program at the New Mexico Department of Health until her retirement in 2024. She supports the bill because it could expand the current program, which tracks the raw numbers of deaths and injuries.
“There’s just so much that needs to be done besides the body counts,” said Stephanie Moraga-McHaley, who retired from the health agency in March. “We need to get some action in place, some coordination with other departments and communities in need.”
Current numbers of impacted people are an undercount, said Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg, a Healthy Climate New Mexico board member and public health researcher.
Matthews-Trigg said New Mexico health officials have made improvements in tracking the number of heat injuries and deaths – which are difficult numbers to pin down – but there needs to be more funding and staff on board.
“We know from emergency department visits that they’re increasing dramatically due to extreme heat,” Matthews-Trigg said. “But, we also know how we’re tracking these is really just giving us a sliver of the actual impact of heat on our communities and on health.”
He said climate disasters pose the “greatest public health threat in our lifetimes,” and warned that impacts will only worsen if heating from fossil fuel emissions doesn’t slow.
“It’s not going to go away,” he said. “And we’re flying blind, without the surveillance.”
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