New Mexico seeks tougher provisions for US nuclear dump - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
New Mexico officials outlined new conditions Thursday for a proposed permit for the U.S. government to continue the disposal of nuclear waste in the southeast corner of the state, part of a multibillion-dollar federal cleanup program.
As a hedge against becoming the nation's only permanent dumping ground, New Mexico wants to raise the bar with its proposal by demanding federal officials produce a full accounting of materials still needing to be cleaned up and shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP.
The state also is putting Congress on notice that the permit would be revoked if lawmakers expand the type of waste accepted at WIPP. Currently, the repository is licensed to take what is known as transuranic waste, or waste generated by the nation's nuclear weapons program that is contaminated with radioactive elements heavier than uranium.
There are a few other commercial facilities in the U.S. that accept low-level waste, but none involves hoisting it into an ancient salt formation about a half-mile deep.
The idea is that the salt from which the subterranean landfill is carved will shift and eventually entomb the barrels and special boxes that are stacked within disposal rooms. The containers are packed with lab coats, rubber gloves, tools and other contaminated debris.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and members of the state's congressional delegation have relayed to top federal officials the concerns of New Mexicans about any plans that would call for opening WIPP to high-level waste such as diluted plutonium.
Top state officials also have criticized the federal government for prioritizing cleanup in other states rather than getting more waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory — the once top-secret birthplace of the atomic bomb — shipped to WIPP.
Prioritizing waste from New Mexico would be another condition in the permit, and state officials also want the federal government to submit annual reports on steps being taken to site another underground repository elsewhere in the U.S.
State Environment Secretary James Kenney told The Associated Press in an interview that the proposed conditions represent more than just a wish list, but rather a framework for holding the government accountable.
"One thing the federal government has taught me greatly in this job is that unless they're told to do something, they may not do it," Kenney said, adding that the proposed permit conditions would enable the state to leverage outcomes that are in New Mexico's best interest.
The Environment Department plans to release the full draft permit Dec. 20, opening a 60-day public comment period that will be followed by a public hearing and negotiations with the U.S. Department of Energy.
The DOE is expected to push back on several conditions, and it could take a year before a final permit is hashed out and approved.
The agency did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
Nuclear watchdogs were pleased with the details shared by the state Thursday, saying those steps, if adopted, would help prevent the state from being steamrolled by the federal government.
Kenney recalled being at a gas station in eastern New Mexico when he learned the DOE reached an agreement with Idaho to prioritize cleanup there and ship most of the waste to WIPP. New Mexico was never consulted, he said.
The proposed permit is aimed at reclaiming the state's authority and prioritizing public health and environmental protections in ways that haven't been seen in years, Kenney said.
"When you're talking about various things coming to WIPP, your first call, before any other state, needs to be to New Mexico," he said. "All roads lead from WIPP. They don't lead to WIPP and we will not be put in the position — and I think this permit shows that — that we will be the last one consulted."
Protections sought for coyotes in Mexican wolf territory - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Environmentalists want the U.S. government to list coyotes as endangered in parts of Arizona and New Mexico where the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America is found.
A coalition of groups argue in a petition submitted Thursday to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that small statured Mexican gray wolves are often mistaken for coyotes and that protecting coyotes would in turn cut down on wolf deaths.
Environmentalists say illegal killings are the leading cause of death for the endangered animals.
The petition pointed to cases in which Mexican wolves have been killed by people who said they believed they were killing a coyote. This misidentification invokes a federal policy that effectively protects a person from prosecution because it requires the government to prove that a defendant knew they were killing an endangered species when they pulled the trigger.
"It's an outrage that merely saying 'I thought it was a coyote' serves as a get-out-of-jail-free card for anyone who shoots one of these highly imperiled animals," said Michael Robinson with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Ranchers argue there are more Mexican wolves roaming the Southwest now than any time since recovery began more than two decades ago, and that rural communities continue to bear the costs of livestock losses due to wolf reintroduction.
Loren Patterson, president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association, said Thursday that his group learned last week that Mexican wolves were located north of Interstate 40 as well as in the Manzano Mountains near Albuquerque.
As the wolf population expands, more human interaction and incidental wolf deaths should be expected, Patterson said.
"To hamper our recreational and agriculture communities by protecting an unregulated furbearer is unjustified," he said. "The livestock industry is still not being made whole by wolf depredations and to add the inability to control problem coyote populations would just add to a tense situation between the endangered species and the people that live within the recovery zone."
He suggested real-time location maps of collared wolves, hunter education and reimbursing the full value of livestock killed by wolves would be better options for addressing the problem.
While the petition acknowledges that it's unknown how many Mexican gray wolves are killed in cases of real or alleged mistaken identity, the environmental groups argue that publications and posters encouraging hunters to learn the difference haven't helped.
There are at least 196 Mexican gray wolves in the wild in New Mexico and Arizona, according to the most recent survey. It marked the sixth straight year the population has increased.
Under the Endangered Species Act, federal wildlife officials can make a determination to protect a species that is neither endangered nor threatened when it closely resembles an endangered or threatened species.
A key consideration would be the degree of difficulty wildlife agents and other enforcement personnel would have in distinguishing the species. The petition points to a case in 2013 in which a wildlife specialist shot and killed a wolf, thinking it was a coyote.
Coyotes can be hunted year-round in Arizona and New Mexico with no requirement for a hunting license.
Republican Sen. Crystal Diamond of Elephant Butte raised her daughters on a ranch in wolf territory and she said she knows firsthand about the challenges facing southwestern New Mexico. She called the coyote proposal absurd, saying environmentalists have been trying to weaponize the Endangered Species Act and that such proposals make it more difficult to find a middle ground.
"What this does is further discredit the value and the intent of what the Endangered Species Act was created to do," she said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service must decide whether to consider the petition.
New Mexico State Police release fatal campus shooting video - Associated Press
State Police have released surveillance footage of last month's fatal shooting on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque that involved a basketball player from a rival school.
Rooftop parking lot video released Tuesday by police showed that three people approached New Mexico State University junior forward Mike Peake, 21, from behind and he was struck and shot before he started firing. The shooting killed Brandon Travis, 19.
New Mexico State University suspended Peake indefinitely from the team in connection with the Nov. 19 shooting, though he has not been charged. He was hospitalized after the shooting with a leg wound that has required several surgeries.
Travis died outside a University of New Mexico dormitory hours before the host Lobos were to play the Aggies. That game was canceled along with the Dec. 3 rematch in Las Cruces.
State Police investigators said Travis conspired with two other UNM students and a 17-year-old girl to lure Peake onto campus.
The video showed the three people coming up to Peake while his back was turned before one of them hit Peake in the legs with a baseball bat.
Peake also was shot in the left leg before the video showed him pulling out a gun and firing several shots at one of the men, according to police who said Travis was struck by four bullets.
The surveillance video also showed Peake hopping on his right leg and meeting up with three teammates in a car. Police said the men placed objects in the trunk of the vehicle before driving off and Peake's gun appeared to be one of the items.
NMSU officials identified the players as junior forward Issa Muhammad, sophomore forward Marchelus Avery and sophomore guard Anthony Roy. None of them have faced charges tied to the case, but all three were suspended for one game and missed Wednesday night's 66-65 road loss to Santa Clara.
A Las Cruces brawl at an Oct. 15 football game between the two universities was a precursor to the shooting, police said.
NMSU is hiring an outside investigator to compile a detailed report about the shooting, officials said. The Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office is working with State Police on the case.
Lawmakers to consider more limits on solitary confinement in prisons and jails - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
New Mexico prison officials use solitary confinement in arbitrary ways, even in cases where the incarcerated person’s only alleged violation is mouthing off to a prison guard, lawmakers heard Wednesday.
“It doesn’t necessarily require any real threat,” said Barron Jones, senior policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico. “It’s used arbitrarily to manage populations.”
Out of the about 5,000 people currently incarcerated in New Mexico prisons, 95% will return to their communities, Jones told the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee on Wednesday.
Solitary can make some incarcerated people more anti-social, and programming like substance use disorder treatment or education would help them reintegrate into society, he said.
Despite what Corrections Department officials say, “there is very little decent programming going on in those facilities, especially for folks housed in solitary confinement,” Jones said.
Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque) said if prison officials want to change incarcerated people’s behavior, they need consistent rules. Jones said treating incarcerated people humanely would probably stop the mouthing off to guards in the first place.
“Treating folks with dignity, providing them with resources to better themselves, and educational opportunities would also go a long way to curbing and ending the need for solitary confinement in our state,” Jones said.
2019 ATTEMPT AT REFORM
The Restricted Housing Act, signed into state law in 2019, put some limits on when and how prisons can place people into solitary.
The law prohibits prison officials from putting people incarcerated in a private or state run facility in solitary confinement if they are under the age of 18, are pregnant, or are diagnosed as mentally ill.
It still allows solitary during the first five days when a person labeled mentally ill is brought into a prison. Jones said this five-day exception is not good public policy.
He pointed to a recent story in the Albuquerque Journal about people dying from not getting drug detox in the largest jail in the state, the Metropolitan Detention Center outside of Albuquerque.
“I don’t see how this five-day prohibition will help them much more,” he said. “I’ve been in prison before, I’ve also been in county jail numerous times, detoxing. Being in the cell, by myself, while I was experiencing those pains, would not have meant anything to me. Just bring me some electrolytes so I won’t die from dehydration, or the complications of it.”
When the Act was introduced, the plan was for a “cultural shift” among prison guards, so they would gain the skills to put the new solitary law into practice, said Sen. Antonio “Moe” Maestas (D-Albuquerque).
That culture shift has not happened, Jones said. We’re probably seeing fewer people in solitary, he said, but these days it’s just being labeled differently, like placing a person in the Department’s “Predatory Behavior Management Program,” for example.
“Think about this: you have an individual who did whatever they did, they broke the law, ended up in prison, and now you’re putting them in a special unit, calling them a ‘predator,’” Jones said. “Think about what that does to their psyche.”
That program is also very arbitrary, he added. Solitary is still prison guards’ “main way of dealing with what I would call adverse populations,” he said.
“I think the culture was just too strong in the other way,” Jones said. “It’s still the us versus them mentality. As long as that continues, we’re always gonna have this as a first-line result to deal with folks who may not be behaving as best they should.”
PROPOSED CHANGES
Advocates and lawmakers are proposing further changes to the Act. Maestas and others will introduce the bill in the upcoming legislative session.
THE CURRENT PROPOSAL WOULD:
- Change the legal definition of “restrictive housing” from 22 hours per day to 17 hours per day.
- Prohibit state prisons from putting people under the age of 21 or over the age of 55 into solitary.
- Prohibit state prisons from putting people diagnosed with mental illnesses from being put into solitary, ending the five-day rule.
- Institute the Nelson Mandela Rules, the minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners adopted by the United Nations, which would prohibit state prison guards from putting someone in solitary for more than two weeks at a time, and no more than 90 days per year.
- Prohibit guards in local jails from putting people in solitary during the first three days of their time there.
- Jones said there have been countless times at MDC where people held in solitary have died by suicide. Going to jail can be a shock, especially for young people, he said.
Sedillo Lopez said the proposed changes are “well-reasoned.”
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
The proposal also would strengthen the reporting requirements in the Act. Neither the Corrections Department nor local jails are reporting who and how long they are putting people in solitary, Jones said.
University of New Mexico researchers found prisons were holding more people in solitary than they were reporting.
The law requires all state prison and local jails to report the age, race, and gender of everyone in solitary at the time the report is published. The Corrections Department is not reporting the data by facility, Jones said, and is instead aggregating the data across the entire prison system. The Department is not actually naming who they are putting in solitary and why, he said.
The first report Corrections produced in October 2019 after the law went into effect was very robust in describing the exact reasons why each person was placed in solitary, he said. But the most recent report only gives two reasons for putting a person in solitary: “pending transfer,” and “threat to security.”
Maestas said the Corrections Department puts the reports online, but they are in PDF format, and are not interactive.
The Corrections Department has several “special management populations” of incarcerated people who are subject to solitary called “protective custody,” but it is not clear if they are being counted in the reports, Jones said.
Instead, prison officials could try tracking who has conflict with whom, and keep them away from each other to try to prevent that violence, Jones said.
WHAT ABOUT ABOLITION?
Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Albuquerque) asked what it would take to entirely abolish the practice in New Mexico.
“I would say we go for the whole shebang and just get rid of solitary confinement, period,” Roybal Caballero said.
Jones said the proposed limit of 17 hours per day would be a step toward abolition.
“I agree with you,” he said. “Let’s get rid of it altogether.”
Slate of New Mexico regulatory candidates sparks concern - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Many decisions by New Mexico's most powerful regulatory panel have had direct economic and environmental consequences for one corner of the state, and yet not one candidate nominated to fill the Public Regulation Commission is from northwestern New Mexico.
Critics are concerned about the lack of representation as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham prepares to pick a new commission as part of an overhaul that takes New Mexico voters out of the equation. A constitutional amendment approved in 2020 turns the commission from a five-member elected body to a three-person appointed panel charged with overseeing electrical utilities and other industries.
Former two-term governor and U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson is among those taking notice. He called it "a glaring omission," saying residents in the area need to have a voice in future regulatory decisions.
He pointed specifically to Navajos, saying members of the Native American tribe have borne the brunt of energy development over decades, from tapping oil and natural gas reserves and uranium deposits to hosting major coal-fired power plants that have provided electricity to millions of customers elsewhere in the Southwest.
"To ignore northwestern New Mexicans and the Navajos in Cibola, McKinley and San Juan counties is both short-sighted and insensitive," Richardson told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "The PRC needs to go back to the drawing board. Period."
The former Democratic governor rarely interjects himself in New Mexico politics these days and works mostly on international issues that include freeing political prisoners and others. However, he has strengthened his relationship with Navajos over the past few years through a relief fund he and former Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah created to bring tribal members supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.
Richardson noted that many Navajo families still lack running water and electricity despite living in the shadow of the Four Corners Power Plant and the recently shuttered San Juan Generating Station.
Most of the nine candidates under consideration are from New Mexico's most populated areas — Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
"I just think it was very insensitive and wrong not to include a Navajo," Richardson said.
Lujan Grisham has until the end of December to make her appointments. The New Mexico Senate will have to confirm her choices.
Nora Meyers Sackett, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Lujan Grisham understands the impact of the energy transition on communities across New Mexico, including those affected by coal plant closures. She also said the governor will continue the government-to-government relationship she has with the Navajo Nation as the state makes its shift toward renewable energy.
As for the nominees, Sackett said the appointments will be the culmination of a multi-step process that was approved by the Legislature and voters.
"The governor's role is just one aspect of the comprehensive process that seeks to ensure qualified professionals can be relied upon to work on these technical matters that affect every New Mexican," Sackett said.
Given that the nominating committee sent the governor more names than statutorily required, there was no indication Lujan Grisham would seek more candidates or ask the committee reconsider its list.
A few state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns similar to Richardson's, along with consumer advocacy groups and activists who work on behalf of Native American groups.
Krystal Curley, the executive director of Indigenous Lifeways and a plaintiff in a recent case over the issue that reached the New Mexico Supreme Court, said the new commission will not be a reflection of New Mexico's communities.
"Northwest New Mexico is majority Indigenous and we have been bearing the burden of New Mexico's fossil fuel addiction for far too long," she said in an email. "We now have no say in what the energy future holds for frontline communities."
Curley said the fight to hold government officials accountable for the health and well-being of Native American families will continue.
Jeff Peace was among 15 finalists before the nominating committee further whittled down the list. An engineer who used to work at the Four Corners Power Plant and now teaches at San Juan College, Peace said he has seen the impacts of regulation in his community of Kirtland. He talked about Navajo neighbors who have lost their jobs.
While he's disappointed he didn't get nominated, Peace said Wednesday that his main concern is ensuring someone will protect the interests of residents.
"We don't have that now. And if it's not me, then somebody else," he said. "But like I said, we just keep getting shortchanged up here."
Having qualified candidates who can represent the diverging demographics of rural and urban communities has been an issue for years. More than 20 years ago, state lawmakers on a transition committee carved out a commission district with a high Native American population to represent northwestern New Mexico.
Democratic Rep. Miguel P. Garcia of Albuquerque, a member of that early committee, said a Native American has represented that district since its creation and that person has traditionally been an advocate for consumers.
"Unfortunately, all that will cease to exist," he said, fearing that the newly appointed board will be out of touch with the majority of New Mexicans.
Ahtza Dawn Chavez, the executive director of the group Naeva, said a call by advocates for Native Americans to apply resulted in a few applications being submitted. Only one — attorney Joseph Little — is among the finalists.
She said a Native voice on the commission is a must, and she hopes the governor makes the right choice.
"It would be pretty disastrous for a regulation commission not to have an understanding of the communities that they are affecting," Chavez said. "These are marginalized, disenfranchised communities."
Court of Appeals rules that landlords must wait three full days before bringing eviction cases to court - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled recently that lower courts erred when they allowed the eviction of a Las Cruces tenant in 2018, a ruling advocates say will help renters across the state resolve issues with landlords before they go before a judge.
New Mexico Legal Aid represented the tenant in local court and in his appeal. A landlord alleged the tenant was behind $500 in rent, according to legal filings, and filed for eviction. He issued the tenant a Three Day Notice of Nonpayment of Rent on a Saturday in early August of 2018, then filed for eviction on a Tuesday.
The appeals court ruled that landlords must wait a full three days, not including the day of service, before they can file an eviction claim in court. The case should have been dismissed because the landlord didn’t wait until Wednesday to file the paperwork, the appellate court ruled.
Despite not giving the tenant the full three days to come up with the money, a magistrate court ruled in the landlord’s favor anyway, according to Legal Aid, and issued an eviction order for Aug. 24, 2018.
Advocates say the Appeals Court ruling is a way to give tenants as much time as legally allowable to come up with rent or a way to correct issues before they go to court, where judges can act quickly to order someone’s eviction.
“Eviction cases tend to move very fast once they’re filed,” said Riley Masse, managing attorney for New Mexico Legal Aid. “So it’s critical that courts not chip away at the little time tenants have to resolve issues before a case is filed.”
The Appeals Court issued its ruling Oct. 31, and the appeal window closed this week.
The ruling also applies to cases where a tenant receives a seven-day notice of eviction. Those are issued in cases where a tenant is accused of violating the lease for reasons other than lack of rent, said Tom Prettyman, a New Mexico Legal Aid lawyer who represented the tenant in 2018.
Lawmakers have tried for several years to change the amount of time tenants have to get rent money together after being served a notice of nonpayment. At the moment, a tenant has only three days to come up with rent after being notified that they are late to avoid grounds for eviction in court. That’s one of the shortest periods in the country, bill sponsors have said.
A bill that was proposed but failed during this year’s legislative session would have expanded that time to 11 days. The reforms were also geared generally toward giving tenants more time in court and before court to find the money or resolve landlord disputes and stay housed.
New Mexico governor wants free lunch for all students K-12 - Associated Press
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wants New Mexico to help provide school lunches without charge to all K-12 students across the state.
Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett confirmed Tuesday that the governor will pursue legislation when lawmakers meet in January 2023 to ensure that every student has access to free and nutritious school meals by covering the cost of breakfast and lunch for students that don't already qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
The newly reelected Democratic governor alluded to the proposal Tuesday during a speech in Philadelphia to a convention on public health policy.
"Starting right now, no one pays for a meal in school," Lujan Grisham said. "And this doesn't just mean pizza slices and chocolate pudding."
New Mexico distributed millions of meals to children free-of-charge during the outset of the coronavirus pandemic across the state's 89 school districts, in efforts underwritten by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The new initiative backed by the governor would build on efforts to combat hunger by offsetting co-payment charges for school meals.
Sackett said more details of proposed state spending on school meals will be released in early January within the governor's annual state spending recommendations to the Legislature. New Mexico is in the midst of a windfall in state government income linked to surging oil production, amid concern about climate impacts and gyrations in energy prices.
New Mexico has the highest rate of childhood poverty in the American West and passed a law in 2017 against so-called lunch shaming — practices that can single-out children in any way for unpaid meals at school.
The law directed schools to work directly with parents to address missed meal payments and requires that children get a healthy, balanced meal regardless of whether debts are paid on time.
New Mexico State hiring investigator to probe fatal shooting - Associated Press
New Mexico State University announced Tuesday that it will hire an external, third-party investigator to review the events surrounding last month's fatal shooting of a student from a rival school.
NMSU Athletic Director Mario Moccia said Monday night that Aggies power forward Mike Peake has been suspended indefinitely from the basketball team in connection with the Nov. 19 shooting. He added that neither he nor the school could comment on Peake's enrollment status as a student.
Peake, 21, has not been charged in the pre-dawn shooting on the University of New Mexico's campus in Albuquerque hours before the host Lobos were to play the Aggies. That game was canceled along with the Dec. 3 rematch in Las Cruces.
"Mike is suspended from our basketball team until the completion of the university's investigation and the investigation of the proper authorities," Moccia said. "When those investigations will be complete, I can't say."
NMSU officials said the review of the events surrounding the shooting will be separate from the legal investigation currently being led by New Mexico State Police and will also examine the university's response in the days following the shooting.
"We will be incredibly transparent during this process," NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu said in a statement. "We owe that to our community and to everyone associated with our university. The firm selected will be encouraged to review any public documents regarding this case and be fully empowered to speak with any NMSU employees, students or other individuals necessary to ensure we fully understand the facts."
State Police investigators have previously said 19-year-old Brandon Travis conspired with two other UNM students and a teenage girl to lure Peake onto campus.
The subsequent shootout left Travis dead at the scene and Peake hospitalized with a leg wound that has required several surgeries.
A brawl at an Oct. 15 UNM-NMSU football game in Las Cruces was a precursor to the shooting, police said.
First-year NMSU men's basketball coach Greg Heiar was not made available to talk to media until 10 days after the shooting.
He expressed his condolences for Travis and his family and said he took full responsibility for the actions of multiple players who sneaked out of the hotel on that morning of the game.
But until Monday, NMSU officials had not spoken publicly about any specific discipline for Peake related to the shooting.
"If there is criticism over this decision, I am in a position to take it on myself," Moccia said. "I've known this player for years, and I know what kind of person he is. I didn't feel a need to rush to judgment. I wanted to give the investigation time to play out before making any decisions."
Peake, a 6-foot-7 junior from Chicago, played one season at Georgia before transferring to Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. He joined New Mexico State in 2021 and averaged 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds last season, helping the Aggies reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.