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Thursday, December 6, 2007

Wilson Brings Tour to Edgewood

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    As part of her campaign for election to the U.S. Senate, Congresswoman Heather Wilson made a stop in Edgewood on Friday.
    About 15 people came to the Edgewood Community Center to attend the local stop on Wilson's "Listening Tour."
    The tour began in Santa Rosa and would cover 19 New Mexico counties in six days, Wilson said.
    Wilson said she is doing the tour so she'll "have a chance to listen before the campaign gets too campaign-like."
    Wilson discussed immigration, taxes and alternative forms of energy, including ethanol and the proposed biomass plant near Estancia.
    She called the tax situation "a train wreck and you can watch it in slow motion."
    The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which is affecting a growing number of people, was discussed. This tax, put in place in the 1960s, was designed to tax very wealthy families at the time but was not adjusted for inflation, so it is expected to impose higher taxes on millions of Americans next year.
    "We need to get (the AMT) fixed," Wilson said.
    She also said she supports the federal Farm Bill, but noted that it covers a great many things. She said many dairies are very large and efficient, so they don't benefit from the bill, but it is important for rural development and for crop farmers.
    She also said she is in favor of tax benefits for alternative forms of energy such as ethanol, solar and wind. In the list of alternative energy sources, she also includes biomass and nuclear energy, which are more controversial.
    In fact, she strongly opposed a decision by New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry to deny an air quality permit to a proposed biomass plant near Estancia.
    "(The Estancia biomass plant) is just a smart thing and it may not happen because the Environment Department is listening to a small number of people," she said.
    Wilson later clarified that the small number of people she was referring to are the Forest Guardians, an environmental group that has opposed construction of the biomass plant.
    The air quality permit for the plant was later granted on appeal, and now the state has denied renewable energy production tax credits for the plant. That denial has also been appealed and a final ruling is expected as soon as Tuesday.
    Taking on another contentious issue, the U.S. border with Mexico, Wilson said, "I oppose amnesty ... we've got to get operational control of the borders."
    She said she would not support legislation that made it a felony to assist illegal immigrants. She said she knows ranchers, "some of the most conservative people you'll ever meet," who leave water out for illegal immigrants that may be in a desperate situation.
    A successful Senate bid would have Wilson abandoning a senior position in the House of Representatives for a junior position in the Senate.
    Wilson was asked Tuesday if that change would be harmful to New Mexico's position nationally.
    "New Mexico needs to look to the future, and build seniority in the United States Senate," she said in a statement Tuesday. "Nobody can replace Pete Domenici. Thirty-five years ago, Pete Domenici couldn't have replaced the Pete Domenici New Mexico now relies on."