Polls are open in Mora County as residents return home – By Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico
A week before Primary Election Day the sun is out in Mora County, the clear skies disturbed only when a gust of wind picks up ash from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fires and lands it on cars parked outside the main polling site.
That’s the view described by Mora County Clerk Carlos J. Arellano, as he runs the final days of early in-person voting from the town proper. Residents are returning home weeks after the two wildfires combined, forcing evacuations and destroying homes.
Voting numbers are down. A county that averages between 1,600-1,700 voters for primary elections, Mora has so far counted 161 ballots and received just over 100 absentee ballots, Arellano said.
Part of that can be blamed on the fact that he had to move their usual polling site an hour away to Wagon Mound, N.M., for safety reasons.
The clerk reopened its normal location in Mora last week, and Arellano said more people are filing in to vote, but he is expecting a smaller turnout because of the reality residents have to face when they return home.
“Some people have lost their homes. People are still evaluating their properties. A lot of property burned. A lot of mountain area burned,” he said. “A lot of people are totally devastated. There’s a lot of emotions running. People are concerned about their personal property and their livelihood more than the current election.”
Arellano said he is anticipating at least 1,200 votes by the end of the day on Tuesday, June 7, saying that voters in the area typically participate on Primary Election Day, taking it in as a community event.
In addition to the early and absentee precincts, Mora County will have all 11 polling sites running next week, Arellano proudly states. “We’ve got Chacon, Holman, Cleveland, Mora, Guadalupita, LeDoux, Ocate, Waterous, Wagon Mound, Rainsville and Buena Vista.”
According to the New Mexico Secretary of State, Mora has 3,698 registered voters and nearly 75% are registered Democratic. That’s what makes the primary election here so important, because the winner will often go without a Republican opponent in the general election.
In the county’s contested races, six Democrats are vying for two county commission seats, five are running for sheriff and two are seeking the county assessor seat — all positions that will be instrumental in the rebuild from the destruction caused by the fire and life after.
Legislative spots, such as the representative seat, are also contested in the primary and will play a role in getting state aid to the county.
“The next thing on our slate is our watershed is destroyed. So we’re anticipating flash floods and other things happening,” Arellano said.
He is ready for Tuesday, and in the meantime, he’ll be sweeping away the ashes of what the state’s largest wildfire has burned in his community.
“The wind comes, and all those ashes and everything are blowing around, and that’s affected a lot of people,” he said. “It just blows. You can’t even see sometimes.”
Crews hold containment of Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire at 50%, as evacuation orders ease - By Megan Kamerick, KUNM News
Fire managers on the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire say they have made good progress containing the massive blaze and limiting its growth.
The fire is now 50 percent contained and stands at over 492 square miles. Both fires began as prescribed burns by the U.S. Forest Service before combining to become the largest fire in state history. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that just one community remains in the “go” evacuation status, the Pecos Canyon corridor that is bisected by state highway 63. But officials said residents of San Miguel, Mora, Taos, Colfax and Santa Fe counties should remain on alert for changes to evacuation statuses and road closures.
The hottest areas of the fire continue to be north of the Pecos Canyon area near Spring Mountain where the steep, rugged terrain makes it difficult to place firefighters.
Crews slow northern flank of Black Fire with humidity set to rise - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
As a new Incident Management Team took the lead fighting the Black Fire in southwestern New Mexico early this morning, officials said they’ve been able to limit the fire’s growth despite heavy wind gusts.
Winds were milder today across the Gila National Forest, where the blaze has now charred over 385 square miles, though it was warmer and dry.
Officials say the nearly 760 firefighters assigned to the fire were able to hold the fire’s northern side, but it continues to spread south and east. The forecast calls for increased humidity overnight, which is expected to ease the fire’s activity.
A community meeting is scheduled for tomorrow [Wed] at 6 p.m. at the Sapillo Volunteer Fire Station in Mimbres.
New Mexico man accused in woman's killing caught in Arizona - Associated Press
A New Mexico man accused of shooting the mother of his child to death with the toddler in the room has been captured in Arizona.
Lovington Police Chief David Miranda told KOB-TV in Albuquerque as he was driving back from Holbrook, Arizona, Monday that 26-year-old Zion Gibson killed the victim as the 3-1/2-year-old girl was nearby.
According to investigators, 25-year-old Rosa Trujillo called 911 on May 23 when Gibson showed up outside her home in Lovington.
The dispatcher heard Trujillo yell that Gibson broke a window and had a gun. Then the sound of gunfire erupted with nearly a dozen rounds heard.
Authorities say Gibson called the victim's parents and told them to check on the child because he had just killed Trujillo.
Miranda says Gibson drove into Arizona. State police there took over pursuing him. He crashed his car in Holbrook and surrendered after a brief standoff.
He will be transported back to New Mexico.
Gibson is expected to be charged with first-degree murder and other counts.
It was not immediately known Tuesday if he had an attorney.
To understand the orphan well problem in NM, someone’s going to have to count them - Samuel Gilbert, Source New Mexico
The 50-square-mile stretch of public land known as “the glade” is described on the Bureau of Land Management’s website as a “great spot for the weekend warrior.”
The glade is punctured by 600 oil and gas wells, connected by hundreds of access roads and an arterial network of buried gathering lines that leave unvegetated, eroded scars on the land.
It’s not far from Mike Eisenfeld’s home. He’s the energy and climate program manager for the San Juan Citizens Alliance. He lives in Farmington, N.M, an agricultural community transformed into a center of oil and gas production.
“You should be reclaiming and revegetating well pads and pipeline right of ways,” Eisenfeld said, driving past a cleared well pad, his voice sputtering as his truck traversed the washboard roads that have become a popular off-roading venue for locals. “And cleaning up the mess you have created.”
The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan infrastructure package last year with nearly $44 million to plug and reclaim orphaned oil and gas wells in New Mexico. The first round of funding is part of a nationwide push to address growing concerns over abandoned wells’ environmental and health impacts — particularly the release of the potent greenhouse gas methane.
“Orphan wells are an enormous source of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 86 times more potent than CO2,” wrote Sen. Martin Heinrich in an emailed statement to Source New Mexico. “These emissions have devastating impacts on our climate and the health of our communities.”
TOTAL NUMBER OF ORPHAN WELLS IDENTIFIED BY BLM? ZERO
According to the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (NMOCD), the agency charged with regulating oil and gas production, 1,741 orphaned and abandoned wells have been identified so far on state and private land.
“We are continuing to work to refine the numbers, looking through well files and other available data,” said Adrienne Sandoval, director of the division. Her agency plans to use drones and other technology to locate more orphan wells sites. “That number is going to continue to fluctuate and possibly grow. We are gaining a better understanding of the problem.”
While many have lauded the move to identify and plug orphan wells, the true scope of the problem in New Mexico is still poorly understood. On federal lands in New Mexico — where the majority of oil and gas extraction takes place — the number of orphan wells is still unknown.
The Bureau of Land Management leases oil and gas permits on such land. Through the agency’s process of reviewing records and inspecting wells deemed high-priority, BLM has not identified any on federal lands in the largest oil and gas region in the state, according to a spokesperson.
“BLM New Mexico is not aware of any federally managed orphaned wells residing under its administration within the state of New Mexico,” wrote BLM’s Allison Sandoval in an email to Source New Mexico.
Eisenfeld said this is dubious, and that there are likely many on BLM land.
Logan Glassenap, a staff attorney for the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, agrees.
“We know there is a problem. We don’t know its scope,” he said. In March, the alliance wrote a letter to BLM requesting an audit of all inactive oil and gas wells.
“We do know what it will take to get this under control,” Glassenap said. “But the first step is to figure out how many there are.”
In the San Juan Basin — New Mexico’s largest oil and gas region — there are nearly 40,000 wells located primarily on federal and tribal lands. Eisenfeld estimates there are likely thousands of wells in the region that, while not classified as orphaned, are “in some state of neglect, idleness or abandonment.”
“The problem is bigger than anyone realizes,” said Eisenfeld, piloting his gray Tacoma toward the Horseshoe Gallup Field in the Four Corners region of New Mexico, home to hundreds of non-producing wells. “Were at the cusp or really trying to assign liability and responsibility. That’s a good thing, but this will not be an easy fix.”
AGING PUMPJACKS, MILES OF HOSE
Eisenfeld first visited the Horseshoe Gallup Field after following a tip from a local rancher. The field is in a valley northwest of the San Juan Generating Station, the massive coal plant located in the Four Corners region of New Mexico. What Eisenfeld found was a landscape of aging oil and gas infrastructure, including 122 wells that have not produced oil or gas in at least five years, according to data from the Oil Conservation Division.
“These wells pose numerous environmental threats,” Eisenfeld said. “The government, as far as we can tell, considers these active sites and is not concerned about them.”
Judging by the state of some of the oil and gas infrastructure, five years seems like a low assessment of their age. The oil and gas field is littered with aging pumpjacks, exposed metal gas lines, and miles of rubber hoses carrying natural gas that mirror an expansive, ad hoc irrigation system braiding through the desert.
“Those hoses are not supposed to be permanent,” said Eisenfeld, crossing an arroyo and driving up a small hill to a collection site where “gathering” lines from nearby wells feed into a series of storage tanks.
The site appears unmaintained — rusted metal tanks and plastic barrels of chemicals with indiscernible labels bleached white from the sun. An overflowing waste container in one corner of the site emits a powerful smell of raw oil. These containers, according to Eisenfeld, are supposed to be emptied regularly.
“This personifies a dump zone,” said Eisenfeld, standing between an old yellow tanker truck, tires exposed to the rims, and the oil-stained ground near the waste container.
It’s an important question. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, nonproducing unplugged wells can leak “oil and other toxic chemicals” that contaminate water sources, contribute to air pollution and emit methane, the main component of natural gas.
The latter is of particular concern in the San Juan Basin, which has the highest concentration of methane pollution in the U.S.
Understanding the true scope of the problem will be crucial in plugging wells, Glassenap said, and thus reducing methane emissions and environmental damage.
“Whatever funding might come from the infrastructure bill, we won’t know how sufficient that funding is until we get an idea of the scope of the problem.”
According to the OCD, 6,000 wells in New Mexico have not produced in more than a year, and 2,600 of those are on federal lands.
“If there were 10 of me, we could find thousands,” Eisenfeld said, noting the limited resources of his organization.
Where do we send the bill?
Orphan wells are part of a larger “culture of abandonment” that has defined the oil and gas industry since oil was discovered in the region a century ago, Eisenfeld said.
In that time, the San Juan Basin has experienced numerous boom-and-bust cycles, with companies coming and going with fluctuating demand. Companies frequently declare bankruptcy and renege on environmental obligations to plug wells.
“With limited capital and the possibility of bankruptcy, oil and gas operators may not be able to plug wells and reclaim facilities effectively,” said the OCD in 2020.
Reclamation has been piecemeal and best. The industry has left an indelible mark on the landscape.
“It’s a real problem. It’s not just oil and gas but any extractive industry,” Glassenap said. “We have legacy mines that remain a problem 100 years later,” Glassenap said. “No one knows where to send the bill.”
Jury deliberates verdict in 'We Build The Wall' fraud trial - By Larry Neumeister Associated Press
A prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments at a criminal trial Tuesday that there is overwhelming evidence that organizers of a "We Build The Wall" campaign to raise millions of dollars for a wall along the U.S. southern border defrauded investors by lying to them.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman urged Manhattan federal court jurors to deliver guilty verdicts on fraud and conspiracy charges against the lone defendant: Timothy Shea.
"You will quickly see that the evidence is overwhelming," the prosecutor said as he delivered a rebuttal after defense attorney John Meringolo told the jury that an acquittal was the only fair verdict.
Jurors deliberated for a short time late Tuesday without reaching a verdict. Their work resumes Wednesday morning.
Former presidential adviser Steve Bannon was once a defendant in the case, but ex-President Donald Trump pardoned him as he left office last year. Two other defendants had pleaded guilty to charges and await sentencing.
Meringolo insisted in his closing that there were multiple ways that jurors could conclude there was reasonable doubt and that an acquittal was fair.
"There are two sides to every story," he said. "Their story has doubt and their story has reasonable doubt."
As he had in his opening statement a week earlier, Meringolo insisted that a company prosecutors say was created to carry out a fraud — Ranch Property Management — was not the shell company the government claimed it was. And he said prosecutors were wrong to say his client didn't work.
"It wasn't a shell company. Tim worked," he said.
Sobelman and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos in an earlier closing argument attacked the motives of Shea, who owns an energy drink company, Winning Energy, whose cans have featured a cartoon superhero image of Trump and claim to contain "12 oz. of liberal tears."
They maintained that Shea, of Castle Rock, Colorado, and his former codefendants siphoned money from the fund, which raised over $25 million from thousands of donors after it was created in late 2018.
"No one donates to a nonprofit thinking that the nonprofit is going to loan money to an energy drink company," Sobelman said.
"They stole and looted from the organization," Roos said, citing hundreds of thousands of dollars that did not go to a stretch of several miles of wall that resulted from the fundraising effort.
Crews make gains against New Mexico wildfire, largest in US - By Paul Davenport Associated Press
Crews were making progress in stopping the nation's largest active wildfire from spreading on Monday, the fourth straight day of warnings of extreme fire conditions in northern New Mexico.
The nearly 8-week-old fire was surrounded by containment lines cut and scraped around half of its perimeter, enclosing 493 square miles of forested mountains and foothills east of Santa Fe.
Nearly 3,000 firefighters and other personnel were assigned to the blaze, the largest in New Mexico's recorded history.
Red flag warnings were issued for Saturday through Monday because of high winds and low humidity, but crews backed by bulldozers and aircraft dropping water by midday Monday were able to jump on hot spots and allow only minimal growth, officials said.
With forecasts calling for improved weather conditions beginning Tuesday, fire officials said they were reducing the frequency of livestreamed evening "community meeting" briefings from daily to three times a week.
"This change is a direct result of the positive progress firefighters have made in containing this fire and limiting fire growth," officials said in a statement.
In another reflection of gains made to check the fire's growth, San Miguel County on Saturday lifted evacuation orders for several areas on the fire's western flank and downgraded pre-evacuation warnings in others.
Thunderstorms could develop in the area during a period beginning Wednesday night and ending Friday, said incident meteorologist Bruno Rodriguez. However, "we're not expecting widespread, wetting rain with it."
Initial estimates say the fire has destroyed at least 330 homes but state officials expect the number of homes and other structures that have burned to rise to more than 1,000 as more assessments are done.
The fire started in early April as a result of prescribed burns that either got out of control or smoldered for months before bursting into flames with drier and warmer weather.
Most of the large fires so far this spring have been in Arizona and New Mexico in a region where many fire managers have described forests as "ripe and ready to burn" due to a megadrought that has spanned decades and warm and windy conditions brought on by climate change.
Governor's mansion used state funds for party costs - By Daniel J. Chacón Santa Fe New Mexican
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office tapped into a taxpayer-funded expense account to pay for a political event at the governor's mansion in October, prompting her reelection campaign to quietly reimburse the state two months later.
Documents obtained under a public records request show New Mexicans for Michelle, the governor's campaign committee, issued the state a $1,837 check in December to pay for expenses stemming from a Democratic Governors Association party hosted by Lujan Grisham in Santa Fe.
At the time, Lujan Grisham was serving as chairwoman of the association, a Washington, D.C.-based political organization dedicated to electing Democratic governors and other candidates.
The reimbursement appeared in the governor's campaign finance reports as a "campaign event."
"The campaign transparently and expeditiously reimbursed the state for an event hosted by the Governor as chair of the Democratic Governors Association," campaign spokeswoman Kendall Witmer said in a statement Wednesday.
Witmer did not provide any other comment or information about the event, and the Democratic Governors Association did not return messages seeking comment.
While the campaign reimbursed the state for purchases related to the event, "the contingency fund does allow for use (of the expense account) to host dignitaries and other guests from any political party," Maddy Hayden, a spokeswoman for the governor, wrote in an email.
Expenses reimbursed by the campaign include an $890 purchase from Colorado Party Rentals for 100 12-inch ivory-gold chargers, 100 10-inch ivory-gold dinner plates and stainless steel forks, knives and teaspoons.
Lujan Grisham's contingency fund spending has been a source of controversy in the past, and it's given the governor's critics, particularly Republicans hoping to win back control of the Governor's Office in November, ammunition to use against her as she runs for a second term.
A review of expenditures last year found spending on alcohol, dry cleaning and thousands of dollars worth of groceries for the governor's mansion, including Wagyu beef, a purchase that has generated stinging criticism against Lujan Grisham.
Complaints about the governor's spending initiated a "risk review" by the State Auditor's Office, which found the contingency fund has broad parameters.
"Statutory authority remains ambiguous without definitions (within the law) concerning what constitutes 'expenses directly connected with obligations of the elected office of governor,' which could be broadly interpreted, or what could be considered 'perquisites or allowances for state employees,' " according to a report the office issued last year.
"As a result, the New Mexico state Legislature may wish to review the matter and consider whether further statutory clarification is necessary with respect to the fund," the report stated.
Since the controversy with Lujan Grisham erupted, The New Mexican has been requesting invoices and receipts related to the contingency fund on a regular basis. On April 21, the newspaper made another request for invoices, receipts and expense reports from September to April.
The New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration called the public records request "excessively broad and burdensome" and said it needed additional time to gather the documents, first on May 4 and then again May 6. The department fulfilled the request Friday.
The latest batch of receipts and invoices since September turned up at least eight purchases of alcohol, including liquor, wine and beer.
"The expenses are directly connected with obligations and requirements of the elected office of governor — exactly what the contingency fund is intended to be used for," Hayden wrote.
Hayden did not respond to numerous questions about the contingency fund spending, including whether the purchase of alcohol is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.
"I noticed you refer to 'the governor's contingency fund,' " Hayden wrote. "I just want to make sure you are aware that this fund has been available and utilized by many past governors and is budgeted by the state legislature. Governor Lujan Grisham is the first governor to disclose detailed information about the use of the fund to taxpayers and continues to use it in a fiscally responsible manner."
According to Hayden, less than 19 percent of the total budgeted contingency fund for the year has been spent, leaving around $78,000 unspent.
"During the (administration of former Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican), for the six-month period from July 1 to December 31, 2017, we estimate that average monthly contingency spending was around $5,000 a month, based on records (as there were no reporting requirements at that time). For comparison, the spending you are inquiring about averages to around $2,200 a month," Hayden wrote.
The fund created headaches for Martinez, too.
Martinez tapped into the fund to pay for what turned out to be a raucous holiday party at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa. The party drew calls to police following reports of bottles being thrown from a balcony — an incident some say may have ended Martinez's hopes for national office.
At a little over $5,200, spending for the month of September was the highest for Lujan Grisham in the most recent review of invoices and receipts.
Included in the September spending was a $1,551 invoice from Cowgirl BBQ in Santa Fe.
The invoice showed an Aug. 30 delivery to the governor's mansion of "mesquite smoked BBQ beef brisket" and other dishes for 45 guests.
"This was an evening gathering that honored state employees for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic," Hayden wrote.
The event isn't listed in the governor's official schedule, which is posted online.
State launches infant formula website and crowdsourcing campaign – By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
As the United States continues to experience a shortage of infant formula, New Mexico officials on Friday launched a new website where parents and caregivers of infants can find infant formula supplies.
NMformula.com is meant to provide medically reliable information for families with questions about how to ensure their children receive proper nutrition, acting Department of Health Secretary David Scrase said in a news release.
“We are committed to assist families in New Mexico during this national formula shortage until it is resolved and want to remind anyone caring for an infant to understand the necessity of assuring formula is used in ways that are both accurate and safe for the child,” Scrase said.
The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told a Senate committee on Thursday the U.S. government should consider creating a stockpile of infant formula to avoid the possibility of future shortages.
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in about two months, he expects manufacturers to start to produce a surplus of infant formula, and when they do, the federal government will need to decide if it wants to “maintain that surplus as a government activity for the foreseeable future.”
The New Mexico website first asks parents and caregivers to contact their local Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Office, and provides an interactive map of WIC offices throughout the state.
If they can’t find formula that way, the state site instructs them to call their baby’s pediatrician or provider to see if they have in-office samples or any similar formula that may be more readily available in stores and is nutritionally similar to their infant’s typical formula, and to check smaller stores and drug stores that have formula when larger stores do not.
The website says parents and caregivers should not: give toddler formula to infants, nor dilute formula to make it last longer, nor make their own formula.
The site also links to the NM Infant Formula Support Network, a Facebook group created by the Early Childhood Department, where people spread info about where specific formula brands and types are in stock, and share surplus formula they may have, along with other resources.
NMformula.com also links to the Human Milk Repository of New Mexico, a nonprofit accredited milk bank that sells human breast milk for $4.50 per ounce, before taxes.
For parents and caregivers able to afford child care, the state also uses federal funding to pay for the Child and Adult Food Program, which provides infant formula for both home-based child care and child care centers.
The state’s efforts to crowdfund infant formula come two weeks after a mother in Massachusetts launched the Free Formula Exchange, a national mutual aid network aimed at connecting people who need formula with people who have formula to donate.