GRIP is a nonprofit environmental advocacy group that draws on local support and private foundations to promote community health and protect our quality of life. Despite our small size, we have taken on some of the largest challenges facing southwestern New Mexico. The High Country News (12/3/01) described us as 'a plucky group of activists' for prodding Phelps Dodge and the state to develop acceptable plans for mine closure and reclamation. We also promote planning, groundwater protection, and free-running rivers in the face of unsustainable development practices. Our approach to these challenges has been to bring technical, policy, and - when necessary - legal expertise to this area and then to combine these resources with an informed and involved public.

GRIP Seeking Proposals for GREEN JOBS CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
RFP DUE DATE AND TIME: August 25, 2010 5:00 pm

SOLICITATION: The Gila Resources Information Project is soliciting proposals from qualified Proposers to provide technical services in the area of green jobs curriculum development at the secondary school level.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this solicitation is to obtain curriculum development services for a one-year project that proposes to build capacity for green jobs training and education for New Mexico high school students. The curriculum will equip students with the knowledge, skills and abilities to compete for employment in the growing green jobs sector.

Download the full RFP here.

Summer 2010 GetAGRIP Newsletter Now Online
Page 1: BP Oil Disaster: What Can We Do?; GRIP Citizens' Watershed Monitoring Group to Form
Page 2: Good Neighbor Environmental Board Releases Blueprint for Action; PNM Slates Public Forums on Integrated Resource Plan
Page 3: Arizona Settlements Act Update; Gila River Festival Celebrates Web of Life
Page 4: Office of Sustainability Now Open for Business, Monitoring (cont'd from p.1); First Planned Unity Development Set for P&Z: Esperanza Hills to be based on principles of sustainability
Page 5: Mining Update: A View from the Trenched; Meet GCC's VISTA Interns
Page 6: Silver City's 12th Annual Earth Day Festival a Sunny Success
Page 7: State Gives Gila Region "Ecotourism" Boost; BP Oil Disaster (cont'd from p.1); GRIP CFL Giveaway
Back Page: Calendar of Upcoming Events

GRIP Citizens' Watershed Monitoring Group to Form
E Volunteers needed to track environmental quality of Silver City's watershed
By Regina Willis, VISTA Staffer

As part of its VISTA project to clean up legacy mine sites in the Silver City Watershed, GRIP is very excited to announce plans to organize a citizens’ environmental monitoring group for the Silver City watershed. The project will kick off in July and we’re looking for volunteers ready to get involved.

Current environmental monitoring in Silver City — such as surface water quality testing — is performed by government agencies. However, due to staff and budget constraints, designated sites typically are monitored every couple of years. But if trained local volunteers were able to monitor the area several times per year, critical information and knowledge would increase dramatically.

A citizens’ watershed monitoring group will increase the number of residents involved in tracking the environmental quality of our watershed and build community awareness and capacity important for stewarding our water resources. Read more.

View from the Trenches: Update on GRIP Responsible Mining Activities
By Sally Smith, Director of Responsible Mining
Summer '10

How much has changed in the realm of local mining since our update last fall? The price of copper futures first went up, peaking at over $3.32 a pound, inspiring ex¬ploration locally in existing mining areas and interest in other places not currently being mined. Copper prices have since declined again, to around $2.95 in late June. Prices are apparently very dependent on what’s happening in China, copper’s biggest consumer, as the US resists any rapid re¬covery and Europe’s economy stalls.

Officials at Freeport-McMoRan (FMI) remain cautiously optimistic and are going forward with plans to reopen the Burro Mounatins’ long-defunct Little Rock Mine as soon as permitting is complete. FMI considers the Little Rock to be a “key element in the viability of Tyrone Mine copper production” and wants Little Rock mining to begin as quickly as possible. But don’t hold your breath. Read more.

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