Oil, gas revenues to drive New Mexico's next budget windfall - Associated Press
Projected revenues for the next budget year are expected to deliver another windfall to New Mexico's coffers.
New estimates released Wednesday by legislative and executive economists during a meeting of the Legislative Finance Committee in Chama show lawmakers will have a projected $2.5 billion in new money. That's the difference between current spending levels and expected revenues in the next fiscal year.
Some lawmakers say the budget windfall represents an opportunity for New Mexico to change is trajectory and avert the big swings between spending growth followed by cuts that have been common over the past decade. However, other lawmakers and top budget officials cautioned that the recent revenue growth will likely not be sustainable in the long term.
Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, a Gallup Democrat who chairs the committee, said year-over-year spending growth should be kept in line with the state's annual average over the past decade.
State spending already has increased by about 30% over the past three-plus years. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is running for reelection, signed off this year on a $8.5 billion spending plan that included raises for teachers and state police officers and tax rebates for state residents.
This latest revenue surge could prompt a feeding frenzy in a state with high Medicaid enrollment levels, roads and bridges in need of repair, and a public school system that for years has been among the worst-ranked in the nation.
Sen. George Muñoz, also from Gallup and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said the top priority should be revamping the state's tax structure.
"If we want to really change, for once and for all, and keep our commitment to reducing tax rates, lowering the (gross receipts tax and) making New Mexico competitive with other states, this is one of the greatest opportunities we could have," he said.
The state also is expected to see a budget surplus of nearly $3.8 billion for the current fiscal year and about $2.6 billion is set to flow into a state early childhood trust fund.
But Finance and Administration Secretary Debbie Romero warned lawmakers that they will have to consider supply chain issues, a possible economic recession and volatility in the global energy market as risks to the state's revenue forecast.
Spending growth under Lujan Grisham has drawn criticism from Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti, who has said he would push to use surplus funds for annual rebates and tax cuts if elected.
Lujan Grisham sought to take credit for the record-high revenue levels, saying they were the result of her administration's policies and "the healthy economic climate we are fostering."
Oil production concentrated in the state's corner of the Permian Basin is driving the boom. Roughly two-thirds of the projected revenue growth for the coming budget year is expected to come directly from oil and natural gas receipts.
Ismael Torres, the committee's chief economist, said New Mexico is the only state that has recovered to pre-pandemic levels of oil production. The state is projected to produce 590 million barrels of oil during the current budget year.
While oil and gas is New Mexico's biggest source of income, other sectors also are projected to flourish in the next fiscal year. Manufacturing, for example, is expected to grow 41%, and economists are forecasting a 27% increase in leisure and hospitality services.
State economists also noted that inflation is driving up gross receipts tax collections as a result of rising costs for food, construction materials and other goods and services, as well as personal income taxes linked to higher wages.
Governor praises health care workers as she further lifts COVID protections - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico At an awards ceremony for health care workers at a high-end hotel with a cocktail dress code on Tuesday night, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham praised their collective effort to save lives from COVID.
“We stood up testing. We stood up vaccinations. We stood it all up. Nobody pointed at one other group and said, ‘Your job there,’ ‘Your job, something else.’ It was all a collective,” Lujan Grisham said. “In fact, to the best of my knowledge, we’re the only state that responded in that collective that held together — even when, frankly, we were too exhausted to hold it together.”
Inside the Grand Ballroom at the Clyde Hotel in downtown Albuquerque, Lujan Grisham’s Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said she has really high standards and demanded excellence from health officials.
“She wanted not to just be No. 1, but she was possessed with saving lives and us doing everything we possibly could to save lives,” Scrase said. “I’m really grateful to the governor for setting those standards and driving us to them.”
Deputy Health Secretary and acting State Epidemiologist Dr. Laura Parajon said Lujan Grisham comforted health officials and gave them a way forward during the uncertainty of the pandemic’s early days.
“She made it super clear to us that her mission was to protect New Mexicans,” Parajon said. “And she courageously put politics aside and did everything she could to safeguard the lives of New Mexicans.”
The comments from Lujan Grisham and Health Department officials bookended the presentation of awards to 15 people for actions they took to save lives during the pandemic so far.
Masks were not required at the event but were subtly encouraged (a pack of KN95s was left at each table). There were no checks for vaccination status.
The room was well-ventilated throughout the event, according to a CO2 monitor Source New Mexico brought inside.
Lujan Grisham, who said she was suffering from a “bum knee” that gave out minutes before her speech, is seeking to portray herself as “the health care candidate” in her reelection bid.
In a campaign ad broadcast Wednesday, Albuquerque endocrinologist Dr. Christina Lovato said Lujan Grisham has saved thousands of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, capped insulin costs, ended mental health copays and is working to import lower cost medicine from Canada.
Policy not stopping the spread
The awards ceremony came six days after the first day of the fall semester for New Mexico students and four days after the public education system further lifted COVID protections following the lead of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Under the New Mexico public health order signed on Aug. 12, school districts and charter schools are no longer required to report staff surveillance testing data through the Department of Health Provider Portal for COVID; social distancing is recommended but not required; and school districts are no longer required to participate in the Test to Stay program.
DOH Infectious Disease Bureau Director Dr. Miranda Durham said while vaccinations are saving lives, “they don’t necessarily get rid of cases.”
New Mexico has done awesome with vaccines, she said, but “we do lag with boosters, across all age groups.”
As of Tuesday, 72% of eligible New Mexican adults had received a booster shot, 31% of New Mexican children had completed their primary series, and only 6% of the youngest children had gotten their first dose, according to DOH.
“Our kids are going back to school, and there’s no masking anymore in schools,” Durham said. “This is, I think, a really at-risk population.”
In new guidance for schools, the CDC recommends universal indoor masking in schools, early care and education programs in communities at a high “COVID-19 community level.” Regardless of level, the CDC recommends masking in all health care settings, including school nurses’ offices.
As of Wednesday, that included Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia, Cibola, McKinley, De Baca, Roosevelt, Curry, Quay, Grant and Hidalgo counties. Together, those counties account for more than half of the state’s population.
Under the CDC’s previous “community transmission level” map, the CDC would have recommended universal indoor masking in every county in New Mexico other than Harding.
The first day of school for students was Aug. 10. The New Mexico Public Education Department said in an Aug. 12 news release it is working on an updated toolkit to align with the CDC guidance and the new health order.
No local government or school district in New Mexico has implemented its own local mask mandate.
That’s because the federal government sets the tone for state and local governments, said Kristin Urquiza, founder of Marked by COVID, a survivors’ advocacy network. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have set the tone for the rest of the country, she said.
“I do think there’s culpability throughout the chain,” she said. “Ultimately the fish rots from the head.”
Right now, the tone is “COVID is over,” Urquiza said, despite the fact that we are in a deadly surge where about 500 people in the U.S. are dying each day, according to the New York Times.
“Two years ago — a year ago — this would not have been acceptable,” she said. “It’s still not acceptable, and we should not be normalizing this amount of death, as well as disability.”
That tone was palpable at the awards ceremony. Speakers repeatedly referred to the pandemic in past tense, and the event’s emcee Pamela Blackwell, director of government relations and communications for the New Mexico Hospital Association, said we are entering “a new phase of this uncharted journey.”
Scrase’s final remark in his acceptance speech was that every single person who did anything to reduce the spread of COVID has helped to save lives.
But Urquiza said the CDC’s COVID guidance continues to walk back protections to control spread of COVID. The guidance is not informed by data showing the importance of protecting the lives of people who are at higher risk of severe or fatal COVID, Urquiza said, including elderly, immunocompromised and medically vulnerable people.
The federal government’s vaccine and treatment plan cuts those communities out of the equation, she said, because it doesn’t address keeping transmission rates low. For those individuals, it’s more probable that if they contract COVID, they would have more severe COVID, irrespective of vaccination status or what treatments are available to them, she said.
People living with chronic illness also fall into the category of those who are at high risk of severe COVID, Urquiza said, and the recommendations from the Biden administration and the CDC “really ignore the needs of those individuals.”
“Teachers, administrators, parents, school nurses, are terrified of what’s about to happen as schools are reopening,” she said. “School nurses will be on the frontlines of the explosion of cases that they will inevitably see as a result of school districts moving further and further away from masking, given these CDC guidelines.”
City officially shuts down Coronado Park, leaving some to find new place to sleep - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
City officials put up fences around Coronado Park near Downtown Albuquerque on Wednesday, the official closure of a place where as many as 125 unsheltered people once camped.
Mayor Tim Keller made the announcement about closing the park last month, surprising many. The move comes amid a housing shortage in the city and right after the Albuquerque City Council voted to ban approved encampments until at least August 2023.
The park has been an encampment for at least seven years, though the number of residents has increased over the course of the pandemic, officials said.
When the closure was announced at the end of July, about 100 people were staying at the park. In the weeks since, the city and nonprofit organizations have done daily outreach and surveying, and spoke to 110 people. They also added about 70 new people to the Coordinated Entry System, use to find housing for those who need it, according to the city.
City officials said those efforts resulted in 29 people leaving the park voluntarily. Of them 21 received motel vouchers, four were taken to the Albuquerque Opportunity Center men’s shelter, two were sent to a hospital to receive medical care, and two got help with transportation to their home city outside of Albuquerque, according to a news release.
“Every single person in this park was offered services and help several times, and many took us up on that offer,” Keller said at a news conference in the newly empty park on Wednesday afternoon.
About 40 people, however, were kicked out of the park Wednesday, and city officials aren’t sure yet where they’ll end up. The number of people in the park fluctuates between about 75 and 125, making a complete accounting of who left and who stayed difficult, said city spokesperson Ava Montoya.
Now that the park is closed, Keller said he sees three options for its future. It could reopen as a park again, become a training facility for the next-door fire department or become a new supportive housing development. It’s too soon to say what the park’s long-term future will be.
Joey “Skittles” Holmes, a resident of Coronado Park for the last year and a half, said he came to the park when his home was “stolen” from him, though he declined to elaborate. Now that the park is closed, he said, he doesn’t know where to look.
“I don’t do shelters,” he told Source New Mexico. “Maybe I’ll set my tent up in a side street or something like that.”
The city should find apartments for residents of the park, he said, and then employ them to help them pay rent, possibly by doing trash cleanup.
“That way we’ll have some ownership of our place,” he said.
Many of the park residents, like Holmes, said the city’s shelters are not an acceptable alternative. Some said the Westside shelter, which regularly has about 100 beds open, is dangerous and disconnected from services. It’s also a former jail, which makes them feel locked up, they’ve told Source New Mexico and city officials.
The mayor has cited high crime as a reason to close the park. There have been several homicides in the park, along with drug and human trafficking, police said.
One man, Joseph T. Garcia, was charged this week in a June shooting death at the park. Police said Garcia was the “self-proclaimed mayor” of Coronado Park and, though he lived nearby at Court John Motel on Fourth Street, was one of a small group of residents who sold drugs and behaved violently.
One park resident told police that the group sold Fentanyl to residents, and members had sectioned off parts of the park for themselves, according to a criminal complaint.
He’d said the park was “swimming in drugs,” and no one did anything about it, Det. L. Wise wrote in the complaint. “He explained that if someone steps out of line the ‘group’ will get them out of the park.”
The risk to residents and service providers was the final straw, Keller said. Some residents previously told Source New Mexico that they think the city is using crime as an excuse to evict them and the violence that erupts is a result of the desperate situation many residents are in.
The city’s also stepped-up efforts to clear those without shelter from public spaces in recent weeks. Keller, in his closure announcement last month, said the city is also clearing people from parks where youth programming occurs — like in nearby Wells Park — and has directed city employees to prioritize responding to calls about people on sidewalks, saying they pose a safety risk and inhibit the rights of those with disabilities.
The City Council also last month made it a crime to ignore police orders to leave drainage ditches, citing the drowning risk to those who camp in arroyos and also to first responders who might be called in to save them from a flash flood.
Meanwhile, the Council reversed course on so-called “safe outdoor spaces” ordinance, which would allow organizations to establish permitted areas for those without shelter to camp or stay in their cars. After amending the city’s zoning code to legalize sanctioned encampments, the Council voted 6-3 on Monday to impose a yearlong moratorium on them.
There are currently five possible encampment sites in the city. One has been approved, though it is being appealed.
New Mexico’s biggest city is facing a housing shortage exacerbated by the pandemic. An Urban Institute analysis in May 2020 found that the city needed 15,500 rental units affordable for those with very low incomes, plus 2,200 units of supportive housing and 800 units to quickly house people experiencing homelessness.
The park’s closure happens after the Council has invested tens of millions in vouchers and new housing options, but well before those programs are up and running. The Council also made it illegal for landlords to refuse to rent to would-be tenants who pay rent with subsidies or vouchers, but that law does not go into effect for another month.
FEMA declares new strategy to engage Native American tribes - By Terry Tang Associated Press
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed a new strategy to better engage with hundreds of Native American tribes as they face climate change-related disasters, the agency announced Thursday.
FEMA will include the 574 federally recognized tribal nations in discussions about possible future dangers from climate change. It has earmarked $50 million in grants for tribes pursuing ways to ease burdens related to extreme weather. Tribal governments will be offered more training on how to navigate applying for FEMA funds. The new plan calls for tribal liaisons to give a yearly report to FEMA leaders on how prepared tribes are.
"We are seeing communities across the country that are facing increased threats as a result of climate change," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a conference call with media. "What we want to do in this strategy is make sure that we can reach out to tribal nations and help them understand what the potential future threats are going to be."
In recent years, tribal and Indigenous communities have faced upheaval dealing with changing sea levels as well as an increase in floods and wildfires. Tribal citizens have lost homes or live in homes that need to be relocated because of coastal erosion. Some cannot preserve cultural traditions like hunting and fishing because of climate-related drought.
Lynda Zambrano, executive director of the Snohomish, Washington-based National Tribal Emergency Management Council, said tribes historically had to make do with nobody to guide them. For example, over 200 Native villages in Alaska have had to share one FEMA tribal liaison. Or different tribes were told different things. So, nonprofits like the council tried to fill in gaps with their own training, she said.
"The way that I equate it to people is that they built the highway, but they never created the on ramps," Zambrano said. "If FEMA is just now getting around to building the ramps, well, that'd be a good thing. But there needs to be very clear policy and procedure and direction—and it has to be consistent."
Tribes have historically been disproportionately impacted by natural disasters because they are in high-risk areas and have little infrastructure, she added. They will only continue to be vulnerable.
It was only in 2013 under the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act that federally recognized tribes obtained the ability to directly request emergency and disaster declarations. Before, they had to apply for disaster funding through the states.
The new strategy emphasizes making sure tribes know of every FEMA grant program and how to apply for it. The hope is this will give them an equitable chance at getting funding. The agency hopes to find ways to get around barriers like FEMA cost share, or the portion of disaster or project funding that the federal government will cover. In some cases, tribes simply can't afford to pay their share.
"In those areas where we can't, what we want to do is to be able to work with the tribes to help them find other funding sources to help them stitch together the different funding streams that might be out there," Criswell said.
However, FEMA's new strategy to engage Native tribes seems specifically aimed at those with federal recognition. That would seem to leave out tribes that only have state recognition or no recognition. In a place like Louisiana that nuance could leave out many Native Americans most affected by climate change.
When Hurricane Ida came ashore in 2021, it devastated a large swath of southeast Louisiana that has been home to Native Americans for centuries. With climate change, hurricanes are expected to get stronger and wetter. But the tribes most affected by Ida say not having federal recognition has stymied their ability to prepare for and recover from storms.
Cherie Matherne is the cultural heritage and resiliency coordinator for the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe. Upon hearing about FEMA's announcement, she said she wished the changes would also be applied to tribes without federal recognition like hers.
"It's an oversight if they don't work with state recognized tribes," said Matherne, who is living in a trailer next to her gutted home in southeastern Louisiana. "If there are grants for tribal nations and tribal people that would be very helpful information for people to know."
Another change under the new strategy is more FEMA staff meeting tribes on their land, a request the agency got from multiple tribes. This will include anything from in-person technical assistance in small, rural communities to appearing at large national or regional tribal events.
Bill Auberle, co-founder of the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University, said this focus on regular interactions on tribal land is an immense development. More intimate discussions such as workshops, roundtables and webinars are "exceedingly important to tribes."
"It's one thing to send out a notice and say 'We would like your response,'" Auberle said. "Some of those tribes are small but have very serious needs. FEMA can certainly appreciate that."
In addition to making more funds available to tribes, FEMA could also help by providing things like technical support as tribes prepare for and adapt to climate change, Auberle said.
The push to ensure all tribes fully understand how to access FEMA assistance or other related grants will be done with webinars, tribal consultations or regular meetings with FEMA regional staff.
Agency workers will get trained as well, learning a historic and legal overview about tribal sovereignty and cultural sensitivities.
Zambrano, of the National Tribal Emergency Management Council, hope this leads to every tribal nation getting funding for an emergency management program.
"Our tribal nations are a good 30 years behind the curveball in developing their emergency management programs," she said. "Nobody is better at being able to identify, mitigate, prepare and respond to a disaster in Indian Ccuntry than the people that live there."
___
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in New Orleans contributed to this report.
Climate bill's unlikely beneficiary: US oil and gas industry - By Matthew Brown And Michael Phillis Associated Press
The U.S. oil industry hit a legal roadblock in January when a judge struck down a $192 million oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico over future global warming emissions from burning the fuels. It came at a pivotal time for Chevron, Exxon and other industry players: the Biden administration had curtailed opportunities for new offshore drilling, while raising climate change concerns.
The industry's setback was short-lived, however. The climate measure President Joe Biden signed Tuesday bypasses the administration's concerns about emissions and guarantees new drilling opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. The legislation was crafted to secure backing from a top recipient of oil and gas donations, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, and was shaped in part by industry lobbyists.
While the Inflation Reduction Act concentrates on clean energy incentives that could drastically reduce overall U.S. emissions, it also buoys oil and gas interests by mandating leasing of vast areas of public lands and off the nation's coasts. And it locks renewables and fossil fuels together: If the Biden administration wants solar and wind on public lands, it must offer new oil and gas leases first.
As a result, U.S. oil and gas production and emissions from burning fuels could keep growing, according to some industry analysts and climate experts. With domestic demand sliding, that means more fossil fuels exported to growing foreign markets, including from the Gulf where pollution from oil and gas activity plagues many poor and minority communities.
To the industry, the new law signals Democrats are willing to work with them and to abandon the notion fossil fuels could soon be rendered obsolete, said Andrew Gillick with Enverus, an energy analytics company whose data is used by industry and government agencies.
"The folks that think oil and gas will be gone in 10 years may not be thinking through what this means," Gillick said. "Both supply and demand will increase over the next decade."
The result would be more planet-warming carbon dioxide — up to 110 million tons annually — from U.S.-produced oil and gas by 2030, with most coming from fuel burned after export, according to some economists and analysts. Others predict smaller increases.
The law reinstates within 30 days the 2,700-square miles of Gulf leases that had been withheld. It ensures companies like Chevron will have the chance to expand and overrides the concerns of U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras that the government was "barreling full-steam ahead" without adequately considering global emission increases.
The measure's importance was underscored by Chevron executives during a recent earnings call, where they predicted continued growth in the Gulf and tied that directly to being able "to lease and acquire additional acreage."
The fossil fuel industry's ambitions are now directly linked to wind and solar development: The bill prohibits leasing of federal lands and waters for renewable energy unless the government has offered at least 2 million acres of public land and 60 million acres in federal waters for oil and gas leasing during the prior year. The law does not require leases to be sold, only offered for sale.
The measure's critics say that's holding renewables hostage unless the fossil fuel industry gets its way. Some accuse Biden and Democrats of abandoning pledges to confront the industry.
"It's 10 more years of mandatory leases," said Brett Hartl with the Center for Biological Diversity. "We will do our damnedest but it's hard to fight them all."
Communities near polluting industrial plants will continue to suffer if the oil and gas industry remains vibrant, said Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. She worries that incentives in the law for technology that captures carbon from industrial processes could also perpetuate harm to these poor, mostly minority residents.
In Louisiana's St. James Parish, where petrochemical plants dominate the landscape, environmental justice activist Sharon Lavigne said the legislation will allow pollution from fossil fuels to keep harming her community.
"That's just like saying they're going to continue to poison us, going to continue to cause us cancer," said Lavigne, a former high school teacher who founded the group Rising St. James.
The leasing provisions mark a failure in efforts by environmentalists and social justice advocates to impose a nationwide leasing ban. The movement's high point came when Biden followed campaign pledges to end new drilling on federal lands with an order his first week in office suspending lease sales.
Republicans complained the administration still wasn't holding enough sales even after a federal judge blocked Biden's order. On Wednesday a federal appeals court struck down an injunction that had blocked the leasing suspension, but the impact could be minimal because of the new law's mandates.
A stream of potential drilling sites is crucial for companies to maintain future production because wells can take years to develop and some yield nothing, said Jim Noe, an industry lobbyist who worked with Senate staff on the climate bill's leasing provisions.
"The industry is in constant need — almost like a treadmill — of lease sales," said Noe, an attorney at Holland & Knight who represented offshore oil and gas companies. Noe said demand for oil and gas won't decline immediately and Gulf drilling brings jobs and more energy security.
A United Nations report before Biden took office warned that the U.S. and other nations need to sharply decrease investments in oil, gas and coal to keep temperatures from rising more than 12.7 degrees Fahrenheit since pre-industrial times.
Other bill provisions that focus on renewable energy and capturing carbon dioxide from industrial plants would result in net emission reductions 10 to 50 times greater than emission increases from burning more oil and gas, analysts say.
The increase in oil and gas emissions still could be substantial — as much as 77 million to 110 million tons of additional carbon dioxide annually by 2030 from new leasing, according to economist Brian Prest with the research group Resources for the Future.
Other experts had lower projections: The San Francisco-based climate research group Energy Innovation predicted up to 55 million tons of additional carbon dioxide annually from new leasing. Researchers from Princeton and Dartmouth said the impact could be negligible or as much as 22 million tons in the U.S., plus much more abroad.
Any increase hinges on global oil and natural gas prices staying high — and that in turn depends on a range of factors including the ongoing war in Ukraine, said Robbie Orvis with Energy Innovation.
"It may increase oil and gas production somewhat, but that is very much offset by all of the other pieces of the bill," Orvis said.
Yet there's uncertainty about how quickly other pieces of the bill could bring emission cuts. Wind and solar construction could run into the supply chain problems hindering many economic sectors. And technology to capture and store carbon dioxide is still being refined and is in limited use.
Other provisions could make it potentially more expensive to drill on public lands and waters. There are modest increases in royalty and rental rates and a new $5-per-acre fee when companies want particular parcels offered for lease. Another fee would require companies to pay for natural gas, or methane, that enters the atmosphere as a potent greenhouse gas.
The higher costs could dampen interest among companies, said Mark Squillace, a natural resources law professor at University of Colorado Law School.
"Even though the industry is going to be getting more oil and gas leasing if they want it, it's an interesting question: Do they want it?" Squillace asked.
Suspect in New Mexico Muslim killings detained pending trial - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
An Afghan refugee charged in the shooting deaths of two Muslim men and suspected in the killing of two others was ordered held without bond pending trial as prosecutors argued Wednesday that he was a danger to his own family and the greater community.
Prosecutors during a detention hearing pointed to Muhammad Syed's previous record, which included allegations of domestic violence and a case in which he refused to stop for law enforcement after running a red light. Charges in those cases were eventually dropped, but they argued that Syed's history showed a pattern of violence.
"The defendant is really incapable of following any sort of lawful orders or incapable of following the law, period," said John Duran, an assistant district attorney. "The defendant has really no regard for any law. It seems apparent he has further no regard for any human life."
Syed, 51, has denied any involvement in the killings that shook New Mexico's Muslim community and his defense attorneys argued that he had no criminal record since the previous cases were not pursued. They also tried to argue that he was not a flight risk and had lived at the same address for two years.
Judge Joseph Montano denied a bid by Syed's attorneys to have the defendant placed on house arrest, finding that no conditions of release would prevent him from leaving his home or from committing a crime.
The judge also pointed to a criminal complaint that accused Syed of lying in wait for the victims and the ballistic evidence amassed by investigators so far.
"The weight of the evidence here is high," Montano said.
Syed was arrested Aug. 8 more than 100 miles from his Albuquerque home. He told authorities he was on his way to Texas, citing the ambush-style killings as his concern.
Police said they received more than 200 tips and one from the Muslim community led them to the Syed family. Syed knew the victims, authorities have said.
Syed is charged with murder in the deaths of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain. Hussein, 41, was slain on the night of July 26 after parking his car in the usual spot near his home. Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who had worked on the campaign of a New Mexico congresswoman, was gunned down on Aug. 1 while taking his evening walk.
Syed is the primary suspect — but hasn't been charged — in the death of Naeem Hussain, 25, who was shot Aug. 5 in the parking lot of a refugee resettlement agency in southeast Albuquerque, and the slaying of Muhammad Zahir Ahmadi, a 62-year-old Afghan immigrant who was fatally shot in the head last November behind the market he owned in the city.
According to the criminal complaint filed by Albuquerque police, investigators determined that bullet casings found in Muhammad Syed's vehicle matched the caliber of the weapons believed to have been used in two of the killings and that casings found at the crime scenes were linked to guns found at Syed's home and in his vehicle.
Federal authorities in court filings have pointed to cell phone records and accused one of Syed's sons of possibly helping his father track Naeem Hussain before he was killed. Shaheen Syed's attorney said those accusations are thin and dismissed prosecutors claims that the younger Syed provided a false address when purchasing a gun from a local shop in 2021.
Governor: Film company relocating headquarters to Las Cruces - Associated Press
California-based 828 Productions will relocate its headquarters to Las Cruces, joining Netflix and NBCUniversal as film partners with the state, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Wednesday.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that 828 Productions plans to invest $75 million to build a 300,000-square-foot studio and 20-acre back lot over the next six years, creating at least 100 high-paying jobs in Las Cruces.
Lujan Grisham said 828 Productions' move will create at least 100 new jobs in southern New Mexico and spend $350 million on productions over the next decade.
"From Las Cruces to Farmington, we've made New Mexico the place to be for film & TV!," the governor tweeted.
828 Productions has finalized negotiations on an additional 35 acres of land in downtown Las Cruces with existing structures that will provide soundstage and set construction space, according to the Journal.
The newspaper also said the film company intends to shoot its first production in the new Las Cruces Studio before the end of this year.
Biggest US holding pen planned for wild horses faces suit - By Scott Sonner Associated Press
Advocates for wild horses are accusing federal land managers of illegally approving plans for the largest U.S. holding facility for thousands of mustangs captured on public rangeland in 10 Western states.
Friends of Animals said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday up to 4,000 horses would be held captive inhumanely for months or years at a time in dusty, manure-filled pens without shade or wind-breaks in Nevada's high desert.
At a cost of of millions of dollars annually to U.S. taxpayers, the lawsuit says it's part of the government's misguided effort to appease ranchers by accelerating roundups of mustangs competing with their livestock for public forage across much of the drought-stricken West.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. district court in Reno says the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management broke multiple environmental and animal protection laws when it "rushed through the approval process without considering the impacts of the unprecedented facility on wild horses and burros or the local community."
Interior Department spokesman Tyler Cherry said in an email that neither the department nor the bureau had any comment.
The bureau said in announcing solicitations for bids for the corral in late 2020 that more space was needed to facilitate roundups of what it says is an overpopulation of wild horse herds causing ecological damage to the range.
The bureau wrongly concluded a full-blown, year-long environmental impact review wasn't necessary for JS Livestock Inc.'s holding pens on 100 acres of private land near Winnemucca, about 170 miles northeast east of Reno, the lawsuit said.
Jennifer Best, director of Friends of Animals Wildlife Law Program, said agency officials who approved the project in November failed to adequately respond to concerns raised about disease transmission, animal waste, disposal of dead animals, groundwater contamination and "air quality in terms of odor and dust."
The less-rigorous environmental assessment the agency completed improperly relies on state permits and other documents in an attempt to satisfy the reviews required under the National Environmental Policy Act, the lawsuit said.
Among other things, the suit says the agency will require JS Livestock to clean the 40 pens that can hold up to 100 cattle as few as two times a year. Every six months, 100 horses will produce 465 tons of waste in a 750-square-foot pen and 4,000 animals would produce 18,000 tons, it said.
"BLM's decision stinks," said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals. "If the BLM based its decisions on science and not placating the meat industry that wants wild horses to go extinct, the agency would keep its hands off wild horses."
The suit says the bureau gave short shrift to numerous potential impacts, including noise the agency's review concluded wouldn't significantly differ from the existing land use — an alfalfa field.
"BLM did not explain how a facility with 4,000 wild horses and burros will have the same level of noise as alfalfa," it said.
JS Livestock didn't immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Jennifer Erickson, a woman listed as a company officer, declined immediate comment when reached by phone on Wednesday.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and its Public Lands Council are among those who back the Biden administration's efforts to reduce what it says is an overpopulation of wild horses on federal lands.
"This isn't the first time a litigious activist group has thrown themselves in the way of meaningful progress on this crisis, and it won't be the last," said Sigrid Johannes, an associate director of the groups.
"Off-range corrals are a legitimate – and badly needed – tool in the toolbox for managing critically overpopulated" areas, she said in an email Wednesday.
Nevada is home to about half the 86,000 horses roaming federal lands in 10 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
The bureau announced in January it planned to permanently remove 19,000 wild horses and burros in 2022, the most ever in a single year.
As of last month, more than 58,000 wild horses and burros were being housed in holding pens and off-range pastures at a cost to taxpayers of $50 million annually, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the 2022 roundup schedule relied on the opening of the holding facility in Winnemucca. The largest holding facility currently in operation at Palomino Valley just north of Reno has a capacity of 1,800.
FEMA declares new strategy to engage Native American tribes - By Terry Tang Associated Press
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed a new strategy to better engage with hundreds of Native American tribes as they face climate change-related disasters, the agency announced Thursday.
FEMA will include the 574 federally recognized tribal nations in discussions about possible future dangers from climate change, and has earmarked $50 million in grants for tribes pursuing ways to ease burdens related to extreme weather. Tribal governments will be offered more training on how to navigate applying for FEMA funds. The new plan calls for tribal liaisons to give a yearly report to FEMA leaders on how prepared tribes are.
"We are seeing communities across the country that are facing increased threats as a result of climate change," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a conference call with media. "What we want to do in this strategy is make sure that we can reach out to tribal nations and help them understand what the potential future threats are going to be."
In recent years, tribal and Indigenous communities have faced upheaval dealing with changing sea levels as well as an increase in floods and wildfires. Tribal citizens have lost homes or live in homes that need to be relocated because of coastal erosion. Some cannot preserve cultural traditions like hunting and fishing because of climate-related drought.
Researchers say tribes have disproportionately been impacted by natural disasters and the federal government hasn't fully funded its obligations to them. It was only in 2013 under the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act that federally recognized tribes obtained the ability to directly request emergency and disaster declarations. Before, they had to apply for disaster funding through the states.
The new strategy emphasizes making sure tribes know of every FEMA grant program and how to apply for it. The hope is this will give them an equitable chance at getting funding. The agency hopes to find ways to get around barriers like FEMA cost share, or the portion of disaster or project funding that the federal government will cover. In some cases, tribes simply can't afford to pay their share.
"In those areas where we can't, what we want to do is to be able to work with the tribes to help them find other funding sources to help them stitch together the different funding streams that might be out there," Criswell said.
Another change under the new strategy is more FEMA staff meeting tribes on their land, a request the agency got from multiple tribes. This will include anything from in-person technical assistance in small, rural communities to appearing at large national or regional tribal events.
Bill Auberle, co-founder of the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University, said this focus on regular interactions on tribal land is an immense development. More intimate discussions such as workshops, roundtables and webinars are "exceedingly important to tribes."
"It's one thing to send out a notice and say 'We would like your response,'" Auberle said. "Some of those tribes are small but have very serious needs. FEMA can certainly appreciate that."
In addition to making more funds available to tribes, FEMA could also help by providing things like technical support as tribes prepare for and adapt to climate change, Auberle said.
The push to ensure all tribes fully understand how to access FEMA assistance or other related grants will be done with webinars, tribal consultations or regular meetings with FEMA regional staff.
Agency workers will get trained as well, learning a historic and legal overview about tribal sovereignty and cultural sensitivities.
Oil spill stopped from reaching tributary on Navajo Nation - Associated Press
aAn oil spill has been stopped from reaching a tributary to the San Juan River and clean-up work continues at Standing Redrock Creek, Navajo Nation officials said Wednesday.
They said the Capitol Operating Group had a release from a corroded pipeline between the salt water tank and an injection well located in Red Valley on Aug. 7. and up to 80 barrels of brine water was released.
Tribal officials said the brine water contained oil, brine, and saltwater and the release traveled over three miles through an unnamed drainage to the Standing Redrock Creek.
"We continue to monitor the situation together and we will continue to hold the responsible party, the Capital Group, accountable and ensure that they provide the highest level of remediation as a result of the spill that occurred," Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a statement.
Tribal officials said the remediation is expected to continue into next week and includes replacing the pipeline, treating the release site and unnamed drainage and collecting the contaminated soil in the creek bed.
They said berms and additional absorbent pads have been placed throughout the creek to collect any runoff from monsoon rains.
Judge: Suit by group critical of immigration can proceed - By Philip Marcelo Associated Press
A group calling for sharply limiting immigration has scored a legal victory in its federal lawsuit arguing the Biden administration violated environmental law when it halted construction of the U.S. southern border wall and sought to undo other immigration policies by former President Donald Trump.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled last week that a lawsuit brought by the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform against three federal agencies can proceed, at least in part.
Judge Trevor McFadden said the federal district court has jurisdiction to hear the case, though he dismissed two of the Boston-area group's 11 claims.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based group advocating for less immigration that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Massachusetts coalition, cheered the decision.
"Resolving this question is long overdue," Julie Axelrod, the center's director of litigation, said in a statement Wednesday. "The massive impacts of immigration to the U.S, including degradation to the southern borderlands, our infrastructure, urban sprawl, pollution, global carbon emissions, and all other environmental considerations have become impossible to sweep under the rug any longer."
The lawsuit argues the Biden administration violated federal environmental law when it halted construction of the wall, ended Trump's controversial "Remain in Mexico" asylum process, expanded refugee programs for Afghans, Central Americans and other populations, and eased certain policies for border patrol and immigration enforcement agents, among other measures.
The Massachusetts coalition, which, according to its website, seeks to "sharply reduce immigration" for environmental reasons, says the U.S. Department of State, Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security should have conducted environmental impact analysis before implementing the immigration changes, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
"If NEPA should apply to any government policy, it should be to federal policies that induce population growth," the organization states in its complaint. "When the federal government makes the choice to create population growth through immigration, it makes a decision yielding significant and foreseeable environmental consequences."
Six people from Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Arizona who say they've dealt with the environmental consequences of federal immigration policy are also named as plaintiffs.
Steven Chance Smith, an Arizona cattle rancher, says migrants crossing the southern border leave trash, set fires and negatively impact his land in other ways. He says his family also worries about the presence of drug cartel members and human smugglers.
"Life on the border during mass migrations is very stressful," the lawsuit states. "The land is being overrun and constantly degraded."
Judge McFadden dismissed counts alleging the Homeland Security Department's instruction manual violates environmental law and that the Biden administration should have prepared a "programmatic" environmental analysis of its immigration-related actions. The next hearing is set for Sept. 29.
Spokespeople for the three agencies named in the suit didn't respond Wednesday to emails seeking comment.
Biden halted construction on border walls upon taking office in 2021, but has allowed work in very limited circumstances.
Earlier this month, his administration officially ended the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy that required asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court after the Supreme Court ruled in June it could do so.
DNA profiles lead to IDs of 2 men who died in Tucson in 2019 - Associated Press
Two unidentified men who died in Tucson in 2019 have been identified through DNA profiles, authorities said Wednesday.
Tucson police said the non-profit DNA Doe Project identified the men by building family trees from their genetic matches, with the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner confirming the IDs using corroborating data.
Police said one man was found dead in a Tucson homeless encampment without any identification in February 2019.
Genetic genealogy built from a blood sample and a DNA profile recently determined the man was 61-year-old Tommy Gayle Pool Jr. from Virginia, police said.
The other man died in July 2019 after being found unresponsive in the parking lot of a Tucson shopping center without any identification.
Police said he was recently identified as 64-year-old James "Mark" Chaparro, whose was raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Authorities said Chaparro's family believed he was living in China so they never filed a missing person report.
The California-based DNA Doe Project said it partners with law enforcement to solve cases of unidentified persons and many cases are fully funded by donors.