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Tucson Audubon Society
A Powerful Love Story: Maestros Group Provides Transmission Line Alternative
Nancy Valentine-Holub
(Article first appeared in the February 2004 Vermilion Flycatcher newsletter)
It all started with a common love—a love for the Santa Cruz River—and it took us places we would never have imagined.
Love for the cottonwood-willow canopies and riparian wetlands, home to hundreds of species of resident and migratory birds. Love for the miracle of the ribbon of life, its biodiversity and a human history sustained by it for eons.
We watched together on a stretch of river near my home in Tubac as the seasons changed, the birds nested then fed their young, fledglings took flight, and as some became obvious in their migratory absence. We watched as the leaves of the riparian forest bloomed their pubescent chartreuse, matured to a kelly green polka dotted with nests, then turned gold with the onset of winter. We learned to be still and watch as Blue Heron became accustomed to our presence as he fished the river’s waters. We watched as the Gila topminnow population and the presence of our heron friend fluctuated with the seasonal flow and the nitrate concentration of this effluent dominant river.
We watched together, unbeknownst to the both of us at the time, that we would choose to watch this place together for the rest of our, and the river’s, life.
We also came to that moment of recognition that we would continue to work to sustain this special place—together.
Our passion for caring for the Santa Cruz River came to each of us from different paths. I was board member, president and program coordinator for the Friends of the Santa Cruz River. As an environmental attorney, Hugh Holub has been working for the past 10 years to improve the quality, and to guarantee the flow, of waters to the Santa Cruz River, which over time had become effluent-dominant, dependent for its health on discharge from the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant.
We both admired each other’s strident commitments to saving the river but, coming from the world of experiences that we had, we knew we had to do better. As a journalist and public relations professional for 20-plus years, and Hugh as a specialist in water law for just as many years, we had skills well suited to applying to our mission.
As fate would have it, Hugh and I married and became life partners, and partners in a project to help sustain the Santa Cruz River. We could never have imagined that our shared loves would evolve into a project to solve some of the border region’s environmental, economic and quality-of-life issues through the mechanism of building a power plant.
But it has.
Counter-intuitive as is the building of a power plant to enhance the health and sustainability of a river, the concept became an elegant solution that is being put forth by our partnership called the Maestros Group. What we had initially termed “the peoples’ power plant” is now the Ambos Nogales Generating Station. The project continues to gain merit and credibility with those representing a broad range of human and natural communities in this border region.
The evolution of the Maestros Group project over the past four years has been a quest with a succession of positive answers (after much due diligence) to the question of “Why not have a power plant sustain the river and be an environmental asset for the region, too?”
The road we’ve traveled and the synergy of the concept is intricate and innovative. Details of the project—bi-national in nature and involving US and Mexican federal and state regulatory and environmental agencies—are spelled out in our website maestrosgroup.com. Simply put, however, should we succeed in its development, the Maestros Group project will, among other environmental benefits, assure a clean and continued flow to the Santa Cruz River.
Hugh’s and my shared loves and values are integral to our marriage and to our mission to sustain a healthy home to the myriad bird species that we hope will continue to dazzle and amaze us on our walks along the Santa Cruz River for a very long time to come.
Our website further details the project, its status, and the additional environmental, economic development and quality-of-life benefits to be derived from its implementation. We invite your questions, comments, vigilance and support.
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This page was updated on 12/28/05