October 18, 2008

Honorable Bill Richardson

Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

VIA HAND DELIVERY AND REGULAR MAIL

Dear Governor Richardson:

Two years ago we hand-delivered a package of evidence to you during your

campaign rally in Sunland Park. The evidence demonstrated that our community was
dangerously contaminated. We asked you to help us. A copy of our letter to you is
attached hereto.

Here’s what we asked you to do:

“1. We want due process of law. We want the people in charge of Sunland Park’s
environment and the health and welfare of its residents who have been concealing
environmental hazards to be removed from the decision-making process so that
honest people can do their job. It is impossible for Sunland Park residents to get
due process of law when individuals making the decisions know that if they tell us
the truth they may go to prison!

“2. We want every agency involved in concealing contamination in our region to

COME CLEAN! We want a complete disclosure. We want to know what they
have hidden from us, why they hid it, and the name of each person involved.

“3. We want an environmental assessment of our community made by

independent scientists and engineers.

“4. We want to learn what the impact of the contamination has been on the health
of the people who live and work in Sunland Park.

“5. We want a voice – just like you promised in your Environmental Justice
Executive Order. In order for us to have a voice we are going to need the ability
to be certain that the preceding requests are complied with honestly. This will go
a long way to restoring the trust of the community that has been so foolishly
squandered by the individuals who betrayed us.”

Instead of addressing our request to remove conflicted people from the decision-
making process you turned us over to the individuals who were concealing the
contamination problem. You refused to address our evidence because you cannot
address the evidence.

Here’s what your conduct means: It proves that the people of Sunland Park, El
Paso and Cd. Juarez are being deliberately sacrificed by public officials on your watch.

After we handed you our package of proof, you held yourself out to Hispanics as
a person who they could trust to protect their interest. And you held yourself out to the
people of the United States as the presidential candidate most concerned about the
troubling environmental questions that plague the planet. Throughout this period you
concealed the material fact that you were intentionally sacrificing the mostly Hispanic
population of Sunland Park, El Paso, and Cd. Juarez.

Attached to this letter you will find an excerpt from the Docketing Statement of
Luz Vargas In the Matter of the Application of Camino Real Environmental Center Inc.
for the Renewal and Modification of a Solid Waste Facility Permit for the Camino Real
Landfill, Appeal No. SWB 07-41(P) which was recently filed in the Court of Appeals for
the State of New Mexico. The “Statement of the Case and Facts” from the Docketing
Statement tells the story of what happened to our communities while you were seeking
higher office. It includes references to the sworn testimony and exhibits which were
filed in that case. It tells a story of trickery, fraud and deceit.

The testimony of Olga Arguelles, a life-long Sunland Park resident, summed

things up correctly. She was asked, “Are you still waiting, Olga, for New Mexico Border
Health and New Mexico Environmental Department to address the evidence that you
were walking around with, trying to get an explanation to?” She replied, “No, Mr.
Moore, I’ve lost all hope…, “I have no hope for them to give us any answers, not from
Richardson, not from NMED, not from Border Health.”

That’s got to change, Governor.

Very truly yours,

Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental Group

ENCLOSURES:
1. Letter of October 26, 2006 from SPGEG to Governor Richardson
2. Excerpts from Vargas Docketing Statement