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Cibola County Commissioner Christine Lowery
PAGUATE, N.M. — Born in 1949, Cibola County Commissioner Christine Lowery has been witness to most of Cibola County’s history, starting back in 1981. Lowery grew up in Paguate, New Mexico and has played a very active role in her community and surrounding communities. One of the prominent positions she currently fills is commissioner for Cibola County, representing District 1. She was elected in the year of 2018, and her term officially started January of 2019. Now, Lowery is preparing to enter a new position — one that is very near and dear to her.
Lowery was recently selected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to serve as chair for the Small Communities Advisory Subcommittee. Many new members were recently added to this subcommittee, as well as to the EPA’s Local Government Advisory Committee. According to www.epa.gov, “Chartered in 1993 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Local Government Advisory Committee provides independent policy advice to the EPA Administrator on a broad range of issues affecting local governments. The Small Community Advisory Subcommittee was established by EPA in 1996 to advise the Administrator on environmental issues of concern to the residents of smaller communities.”
Lowery submitted a selfnomination application statement to the organization, originally applying for a position on the LGAC. Lowery’s application provided her background and experience, why she was interested in serving on the committee, and details about some of the environmental history and issues facing the Cibola County area.
One portion read, “My grandparents were raised in the village of Paguate, and built their home in the 1940s. Currently, I live in that home, on the lip of the “reclaimed” Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine — once the world’s largest open-pit mine, now a Super Fund site. My husband and I, both retired social work professors, have lived amid my relative-system (familial and clan) on the Pueblo of Laguna for over twenty years. Some relatives have died of cancer, others have suffered multiple health complications, including lung disease, as former miners, drillers, drivers. My interest in serving on the Local Government Advisory Committee is spiritual, personal, and purposeful for the people I serve.”
The EPA had different plans though, placing her as chair of the SCAC instead. According to www.epa.gov, the EPA collected 150 nominations for these committees. One detail Lowery made sure to point out was that, although she qualifies for this role because of her involvement in local government, she will not be representing the Cibola County Commission. She is entering this role merely as an “informed member of a small community, who holds a public office,” Lowery explained. Other details that further qualify Lowery for the role are her involvement in other organizations, such as the Laguna-Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment (LACSE), and therefore, the encompassing organization, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE).
As quoted on www.epa.gov, Lowery explains the unique role of SCAS, saying, “The Small Communities Advisory Subcommittee focuses on the grounded experience of environmental impacts and EPA response to local communities and counties.”
Commissioner Lowery of Cibola County, New Mexico, “As a Pueblo woman, I recognize the art of storytelling as an effective form of communication. These stories can strengthen the EPA stakeholder process, depending on who the storytellers are, who hears them, and how the stories are carried.”
Lowery will set forth on this new endeavor on Wednesday, September 1, to hold an orientation session and “start shaping the SCAS leadership role,” the county commissioner shared.