New Mexico lawmakers aim to attract hydrogen investments - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico state lawmakers will consider public incentives aimed at attracting investments in hydrogen production and distribution as a potential new source of industrial employment and an alternative for vehicles and factories that rely on climate-warming fossil fuels, as the legislature convenes next week.
Democratic state Rep. Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup, the lead House budget negotiator, said Wednesday she will introduce a bill in coming weeks aimed at setting aside money for public-private partnerships for hydrogen projects.
New Mexico has teamed up with Wyoming, Utah and Colorado to vie for a slice of federal funds set aside to support regional hydrogen hubs that would step up hydrogen production and distribution. State cabinet secretaries provided an update to a legislative panel Wednesday at the state Capitol.
Lundstrom says her initiative is aimed at giving New Mexico a competitive edge in its bid to attract federal and private investments.
"State government would put money into a pot that can be used in conjunction with private sector projects for buildout," Lundstrom said. "We see (hydrogen) as a bridge fuel to meet our renewable energy standards."
A similar proposal from Lundstrom last year stalled amid withering criticism from environmentalists who are wary of the impacts of producing hydrogen from natural gas, a process that creates greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. They say hydrogen production can prolong dependence on fossil fuels and worry about plans to store carbon pollution underground.
Democratic state State Rep. Nathan Small of Las Cruces and state environmental regulators emphasized that recent federal legislation gives preference to cleaner methods of hydrogen projects. He said federal hydrogen production incentives will vastly overshadow anything New Mexico can contribute.
Climate legislation signed last year by President Joe Biden offers a tax credit intended to make clean hydrogen more competitive. The 2021 federal infrastructure law included $8 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy to fund the regional hubs.
Legislators are desperately searching for new sources of employment as New Mexico reels from the recent retirement of coal-fired power plants, amid efforts to fight climate change by requiring more carbon-free sources of electricity.
Hydrogen could theoretically reduce greenhouse emissions and air pollution, depending on how it's obtained.
Most commercially produced hydrogen in the U.S. comes from natural gas, which emits greenhouse pollutants carbon dioxide and methane.
Hydrogen also can be derived using electric currents from wind, solar or other means that produce few if any emissions contributing to global warming. Such "clean hydrogen" releases only water as a byproduct when used in a fuel cell.
New Mexico lawmakers seek preschool expansion with oil money — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
Leading New Mexico legislators recommended a billion-dollar increase Thursday in annual state spending to expand preschool access and increase mandatory classroom instruction time at K-12 public schools.
The budget proposal would increase general fund spending by 12%, or just over $1 billion, to $9.4 billion for the fiscal year that runs from July 2023 to June 2024.
That tally hews closely to a budget plan from Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham at the start of her second term in office. The Legislature convenes Tuesday to craft the state's annual budget during a 60-day legislative session.
The Legislature's proposal, announced at a news conference, suggests a slightly higher, 5% increase in public-sector salaries for state employees and educators. The governor is seeking 4% raises and wants to state to pay for individual health insurance premiums for teachers.
New Mexico's government expects a windfall in revenue tied closely to surging oil and natural gas production. Government economists anticipate the state will take in $12 billion during the coming fiscal year.
Annual spending on prekindergarten would increase by nearly $110 million, with an additional $8 million dedicated to home visits and counseling for parents of infants to improve early childhood well-being.
"We really recognize how important it is to invest in our children in New Mexico, especially in those early years when so much brain development occurs," said Democratic state Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill of Silver City. "That really sets the foundation for children for the rest of their lives and determines how successful they're going to be."
Lawmakers are wary of spending commitments that would turn into liabilities when energy prices falter. An industry downturn in 2016 prompted the Legislature to slash funding to state universities and increase entrance fees at public museums. State government income has nearly doubled since then, propelled by record-setting oil production.
New Mexico already is scheduled to set aside more than $3 billion in surplus oil- and gas-related income this fiscal year in a recently created trust to underwrite early childhood education. Legislators say they want to replicate that model — using investment earnings to underwrite state spending — for other government priorities related to public health, infrastructure and more.
"You're going to hear a lot of different funds," said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, a Santa Fe Democrat. "Park money, do a spinoff on an annual basis, and all of a sudden you've got something that's really sustainable."
At the same time, lawmakers are under pressure from voters and a court order to spend more on public education. The latest standardized test results showed just 26% of students in third through eighth grades were proficient in math and only 34% were proficient in reading.
Voters in November approved a constitutional amendment to increase annual withdrawals from a $26 billion state trust for public education that predates the early childhood education fund.
General fund spending on Medicaid would increase by $258 million — or nearly 22% — under the Legislature's budget outline, as the federal government phases out extra payments liked the COVID-19 pandemic.
Proposed spending increases on public safety include 18 new staff positions to bolster police training and oversight, including personnel for a new Law Enforcement Certification Board created under 2022 legislation.
Legislators also are suggesting at least $1 billion in tax relief through a combination of cash rebates and changes to tax rates and regulations.
Lujan Grisham is recommending $1 billion in tax rebates of up to $750 per individual and additional tax cuts through reductions in taxes on personal income and gross receipts taxes on sales and services.
US nuclear agency falls short on scheduling, cost estimates — Susan Montoya Brown, Associated Press
The U.S. agency in charge of jumpstarting the production of key components for the nation's nuclear arsenal is falling short when it comes to having a comprehensive schedule for the multibillion-dollar project.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday that plans by the National Nuclear Security Administration for reestablishing plutonium pit production do not follow best practices and run the risk of delays and cost overruns.
The federal government has not manufactured plutonium cores regularly in more than 30 years and faces a congressionally mandated deadline of turning out at least 80 per year by 2030.
The GAO describes the modernization effort as the agency's largest investment in weapons production infrastructure to date, noting that plutonium is a dangerous material and making the weapon cores is difficult and time consuming.
"NNSA lacks both a comprehensive cost estimate and a schedule outlining all activities it needs to achieve this capability," the reports states.
Nuclear watchdog groups have been voicing similar concerns since the federal government first announced plans in 2018 to restart production by splitting the work between Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
At stake are billions of dollars in funding for improving infrastructure at the two locations and thousands of jobs.
Democratic members of New Mexico's congressional delegation have fought to ensure Los Alamos — a once secret city that helped develop the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project — would be among the benefactors of the lucrative mission.
Using documents prepared by the nuclear agency for justifying its fiscal year 2023 budget, the GAO identified at least $18 billion to $24 billion in potential costs to build up production capacity.
However, the GAO, other independent analysts and officials in the U.S. Defense Department all have testified in recent years that NNSA would miss the 2030 deadline, no matter how much funding was funneled toward the project.
The NNSA said in a statement Thursday that it agreed with the GAO's recommendations and that some of the work to implement best practices was underway.
"Both the lifecycle cost estimate data and (integrated master schedule) will be updated as needed to reflect the most up-to-date information as the projects and program work progress," the agency said.
More specifically, the agency said in a letter to the GAO that it planned to complete the cost estimate for the overall project by September 2025 and that the schedule would "continue to mature over time."
Greg Mello, director of the watchdog Los Alamos Study Group, said Thursday that not having a comprehensive schedule or cost estimate means NNSA does not know what it's doing and has little likelihood of success.
"How can NNSA produce the required number of pits on schedule or on budget, when NNSA has no schedule or budget?" he asked. "These are elementary, normal components in any program or project. After more than two decades of preparation, NNSA doesn't have them."
Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, pointed to some of the price tags associated with the project having doubled over the last four years. He said production overall at the two sites could cost at least $60 billion over 30 years with radioactive waste disposal and other environmental and public health concerns adding to the bill.
Until Congress and the New Mexican delegation demand credible cost estimates and schedules, Coghlan said lawmakers "should stop rewarding the guilty with yet more money."
"That is simple good governance that could help slow our sleepwalk into the new and unpredictable nuclear arms race," he said.
Mello agreed, saying the mission needs to be widely debated in Congress, not just discussed behind closed doors or by those lawmakers who sit on defense committees.
In its report, the GAO outlined the process for making plutonium pits along with a history of how and where the work was done during the Cold War. The long-shuttered Rocky Flats Plant outside Denver was capable of producing more than 1,000 war reserve pits annually before work stopped in 1989 due to environmental and regulatory concerns.
With a long history of leaks, fires and other violations, Rocky Flats underwent a $7 billion cleanup that was finished in 2005.
During the Obama administration, a council made up of defense and energy officials told Congress the nation needed to produce between 50 and 80 pits per year. Congress included a legal mandate for production in a 2015 defense measure that was subsequently approved and signed by the president.
That mandate was later amended to call for the 80 pits in 2030. According to the GAO, some of the construction projects and upgrades needed for the work at Los Alamos won't be finished for several years.
Lujan Grisham appoints new secretary for veterans services — Albuquerque Journal/ KUNM News
The Governor appointed a retired army colonel today to head the state’s Department of Veteran Services.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Donnie Quintana served as deputy secretary, and has already ran the department since his predecessor, Sonya Smith, left the position late last year. He has also served the state in the Economic Development, and Finance and Administration departments.
During the war in Afghanistan, he served as a senior mentor to the Afghan National Army, and he spent time as brigade commander in the New Mexico national Guard.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said his extensive and varied experience, and his expertise as both a Native New Mexican and military veteran make him an excellent candidate.
Though he takes over job duties immediately, he does still have to run through state senate confirmation along with the governor’s other new appointees.
Possible deal to end Rio Grande SCOTUS case becomes public - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
A proposed agreement between Texas, New Mexico and Colorado was unsealed Monday, months after the states announced a deal to end nearly a decade-old Supreme Court case over Rio Grande water.
The deal would amend the 83-year old legal basis for how the three states split water from the river under the Rio Grande Compact. If allowed by the Supreme Court, the decree would end the lawsuit that’s called Original No. 141 Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado. The case has stretched over nine years and cost New Mexico and Texas taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
Among the changes, Texas’ share of Rio Grande water would be measured at a point on the state line at an El Paso Gage instead of NM’s current requirement to deliver Texas’ water 100-plus miles upstream at the Elephant Butte Reservoir.
The agreement offers a new set of calculations to determine what water is owed to southern New Mexico farmers and far west Texans, and incorporates groundwater pumping in the formulas.
Finally, it also offers conditions for New Mexico and Texas to handle disputes about over- or under-deliveries of Rio Grande water.
To provide water for those deliveries, the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer could shut down wells, or use other limits such as paying farmers to retire land from farming to save irrigation water, court documents show.
In sworn statements attached to the proposed agreement, top water officials from New Mexico and Texas urged the Supreme Court to accept the proposal.
Bobby Skov, the Rio Grande compact commissioner for Texas, called the deal “fair” and “consistent with the compact.”
State Engineer Mike Hamman, who is also New Mexico’s compact commissioner, said the agreement resolves the long-standing issues between the two states and offers clear directions for how to stay in compliance with the agreements.
“I anticipate the consent decree will help the states avoid future conflicts,” Hamman wrote.
A key change to the document includes transfers of water between New Mexico and Texas irrigation districts to balance out years when New Mexico pumping or diversions cause not enough Rio Grande water to reach the state line.
If the state fails to meet new delivery requirements for three consecutive years, then the agreement requires the state to send additional water from the New Mexico irrigation district to the Texas irrigation district.
In order to provide water to make up for any shortfalls, Hamman offered seven bullet points in his letter supporting the agreement.
Hamman said the N.M. Office of the State Engineer could curb groundwater pumping; monitor groundwater pumping, buy water rights to retire groundwater wells; fallow farmland temporarily; increase conservation in both municipal and agricultural use; or attempt to import water to the Lower Rio Grande.
Hamman warned the state office will enforce well shutdowns if voluntary or compensated measures aren’t working.
New Mexico is still embroiled in the lengthy court process that started in 1996 to determine the legal order of water rights between Caballo Reservoir and the state line for farmers, municipalities, businesses and the federal government.
As for next steps, a hearing on the proposed decree is tentatively scheduled for February 2023.
HOW WE GOT HERE
The Supreme Court case was sparked by decades of litigation over the Lower Rio Grande — the region between Caballo Reservoir and where the river often evaporates above Fort Quitman, about 90 miles along the Texas-Mexico border.
In 2014, Texas filed a complaint in the Supreme Court alleging New Mexico groundwater pumping below Elephant Butte illegally captured Rio Grande water promised to Texas.
The proposed agreement is the product of monthslong confidential negotiations between the parties in the case — New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and the federal government. The discussions included input from impacted organizations such as farming associations, the two regional irrigation districts, the cities of Las Cruces and El Paso, New Mexico State University, and water utilities in Albuquerque and El Paso.
In earlier filings, the federal government and El Paso’s major irrigation district asked the special master overseeing the case to throw out the proposed decree because it was the result of an incomplete settlement and makes concessions the states cannot enforce, according to legal filings.
Last week, Judge Michael Melloy overruled the federal government’s arguments that the proposed agreement must be kept secret, ordering most of the documents to be made public.
The United State’s objections to the proposed decree remain filed under seal, and are not public at this time.
APS Board encouraged to repurpose several schools - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
A committee at Albuquerque Public Schools has recommended the Board of Education repurpose several of the district’s schools, transferring their students elsewhere.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the advice intends to keep the state’s largest school district “academically and financially viable.”
Due to sagging enrollment, the Legislative Finance Committee told the district last year that it's reached a point where “right-sizing” is in their best interest.
The committee recommended five schools, mostly in the city’s North Valley, lose their student body and be used for different purposes. They include Polk and Taft middle schools, as well as Duranes, La Luz and Kirtland elementary schools.
The Journal reports the targeted schools were chosen based on criteria including enrollment numbers, academic performance and equity.
Some of the schools could become early childhood centers under the proposal, while plans for others remain undetermined. The committee proposes keeping the facility that houses Taft as a school, just a bilingual magnet middle school instead.
Taft students would be moved first under the proposal, as soon as next year. Students at other schools might stay put until 2025 or 2026.
Los Alamos superintendent resigns - Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
The Los Alamos school board has announced the resignation of Superintendent Jose Delfin just a year after he was hired.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Delfin has been on administrative leave for the last few weeks.
Jennifer Guy, who’s been serving as the Acting Superintendent during that time, will continue heading up the district. She says she intends to apply for the permanent position.
Guy declined to comment on why her predecessor left the position so quickly, telling the newspaper Delfin has a right to privacy.
When it approved Delfin’s leave of absence in early December, the school board announced it had come to an agreement with the Superintendent because it was “in the best interest” of both parties.
School board members could not be reached for further comment Wednesday.
US border authorities roll out updated pursuit policy - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
U.S. border authorities announced changes to their policy for pursuing smugglers and other crime suspects on Wednesday, following an extensive review and criticism by immigrant advocates who pointed to cases in which passengers died when drivers fled law enforcement.
Customs and Border Protection announced the changes Wednesday, just days after a crash in southern New Mexico that killed two people and injured eight others on Sunday. Another crash on Jan. 5. followed the shooting of a Border Patrol officer.
The agency said the updated directive provides a framework for weighing the risks of a pursuit against the law enforcement benefit or need. The agency said it reviewed more than two dozen vehicle pursuit policies from various enforcement agencies across the U.S. to come up with the new policy.
"As a professional law enforcement organization, CBP is continually updating policies to reflect best practices, public safety needs, and evolving public expectations," Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. "The safety of officers, agents, and the public are paramount as we carry out our mission."
Officials said the policy lays out factors to consider when deciding if a vehicle should be pursued and when a pursuit should be halted — similar to the reasonableness standards that most law enforcement officers consider when handling threats to themselves or the public. It also establishes reporting requirements aimed at improving transparency and accountability.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico had criticized Sunday's crash and called for the agency to prioritize best practices.
Rebecca Sheff, an attorney with the group, said Wednesday the changes mark an important step forward for border communities. She said preserving human life is paramount, and the policy makes that a central consideration by adopting many widely accepted best practices, such as banning certain techniques for stopping vehicles.
"This revised CBP vehicle pursuit policy is in many ways the result of tireless advocacy by people who have lost loved ones or been injured by reckless Border Patrol vehicle pursuits," she said.
According to Customs and Border Patrol, the driver in the most recent case sped away and lost control within seconds after an agent turned on his emergency lights.
Federal authorities confirmed Wednesday that an undocumented noncitizen from Mexico was facing charges in connection with Sunday's deadly rollover and that more arrests were pending.
In August, two brothers from Mexico were charged after fleeing from authorities and crashing their vehicle, killing two and injuring 10 others just miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. The brothers themselves had been smuggled into the U.S. and agreed to bring in more migrants to pay their debt, according to court documents.
Border authorities have said human smuggling has been on the rise in the area, which includes El Paso, Texas, and rural parts of New Mexico. Since October, authorities have located nearly 60 stash houses and more than 650 migrants as part of efforts to curb smuggling in the region.
Homeland Security's civil rights office informed Customs and Border Protection in February 2022 that it had received multiple complaints about possible civil rights violations stemming from vehicle pursuits over the previous year. The allegations claimed that personnel unnecessarily engage in pursuits at high rates of speeds that were unwarranted.
The CPB's review began in 2021 and looked at trends and outcomes associated with pursuits. The agency then wrote the new policy over the past year.
The policy will take effect later this year, following training, the agency said. A new branch within the CBP's Law Enforcement Safety and Compliance Directorate will oversee implementation and training.
NM train riders want to see investment in high-speed rail make it out of the station - By Megan Taros, Source New Mexico
Alix Bliss wants to live in New Mexico without owning a car. The newcomer to the state waited for the Rail Runner at the Santa Fe Depot Station on Monday afternoon with his bike, both of which have replaced driving for him.
Bliss is originally from Olympia, Washington, where he said the public transportation made commuting easier for him. He’s satisfied with the trips he’s taken on the Rail Runner but said that its route is limited, and he’s yet to find options that take him everywhere he wants to go.
“I don’t have (a car) now, and it’s fine to get around here. But if I want to go somewhere like Taos or up in the mountains, then I’d need one,” Bliss said.
Two bills pre-filed in the state Legislature ahead of the session that starts Tuesday may pave the way for expanded rail service in New Mexico.
Sen. William Soules (D-Las Cruces) introduced the proposals to bring a high-speed rail line through the entire state, and into Colorado to the north and Chihuahua, Mexico, to the south.
The bills would allocate $500,000 for a feasibility study and $1 billion for the rail project itself.
Soules introduced the same measures in the 2022 legislative session. Both died without being heard by all their assigned committees. Only the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee recommended passing the legislation to study what it will take to create a longer, high-speed rail line.
The economic boon would outweigh the billions in startup costs, Soules said.
“Everyone in New Mexico will benefit,” Soules said. “Moving people, goods and ideas is what economic development is all about. This would have a huge economic impact for years and years to come.”
Commuters at the Santa Fe Depot station said a high-speed rail system would improve their commutes and expressed support for such a project.
Their views are in line with many Americans.
A poll by the Rail Passengers Association last year found that 78% of people wanted more investments in passenger rail, and 66% of respondents said it was “important” to have a robust passenger rail system.
Robert Fowler, an accountant who lives in Albuquerque, has a 12-hour workday that includes commuting on the Rail Runner to his job in Santa Fe. He has to take a train at 6 a.m. to make it to work around 8 a.m. Fowler said he sees crowded trains every day, often with the same people riding, and would like having a transit option that is faster and travels later in the day.
“I was just talking to my wife about this and she said, ‘Gee, it takes you two hours to get home from work,’” Fowler said. “I think with (high-speed rail) I’d have some extra time. It would definitely cut that time down for everyone.”
Neighboring states such as Colorado and California have contended with constructing high-speed rail systems, though these efforts hit snags with funding and pulling bipartisan support.
A feasibility study from the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority found that construction of a high-speed rail line in Colorado was doable and foreshadowed a possible vote on a plan in 2020. That did not come to fruition. Colorado is still moving forward with the Front Range Rail Project — a 191-mile track that would connect the cities of Fort Collins and Pueblo — with slower and cheaper trains. But it’s years away from construction as the Southwest Chief & Front Range Passenger Rail Commission assembles a plan and finds funding.
California’s high-speed rail system is behind on construction and has spent billions on a proposed high-speed line between the northern and southern parts of the state without a single mile of track laid.
The Trump administration canceled nearly $1 billion in federal funding to California’s rail project in 2019, a stark contrast to his predecessor Barack Obama’s nationwide push for high-speed rail. The Obama-era project failed due to funding woes and a lack of support.
President Joe Biden has since restored California’s canceled high-speed rail funding, and called for a dramatic increase in passenger rail funding. The White House said in a statement last year that the $73 million in public transportation funding it received from Biden’s infrastructure bill would “expand healthy, sustainable transportation options in New Mexico, where non-white households are more likely to commute via public transportation.”
Despite several false starts, commuters still want more public transit options. A 2022 study from the University of California Berkeley’s Institute of Government Studies found that 56% of California voters still wanted the high-speed rail line despite more than a decade of roadblocks.
The project in New Mexico would be no easy feat, Soules said. It is likely that governors from other states, the federal government and even the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico may have to be involved in the decision-making if the train is built to its intended scope.
“This is not something that can only be done in Santa Fe,” Soules said. “In order to do it well and do it right, we would need international support. Governors would be involved and that’s way above my pay grade. But we have to start somewhere, and my role is to start a conversation about what could be accomplished.”
Some commuters want to see a clearer vision before throwing support at a high-speed rail plan. Susan Beltran, who works for the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, said she takes the Rail Runner every day for work and loves the experience, but she’s hesitant to support high-speed rail without a plan.
Beltran likes the idea of more public transportation. She said price, commute time and location stops are most important to her before buying a ticket.
For Fowler, the accountant from Albuquerque, a faster train with more destinations would allow him to travel more and even make his leisure commutes to Santa Fe easier, since he and his wife also have friends and family they visit in their free time.
“If we want to have a night out in Santa Fe, we have to arrive much earlier than when anything starts,” he said. “It’s good that the last train can take us back pretty late, but more scheduled times and faster trips would let us leave a little later and be more convenient.”
The New Mexico high-speed train would be subsidized by the public sector and not rely on ridership, so it wouldn’t need to depend on ticket sales in its tenuous early years, Soules said.
Other details would have to be worked out on a larger scale but would start to become clear if the feasibility study is approved, he said.
The project may be ambitious and costly. Soules said there’s evidence that high-speed rail is worth the investment.
“All I know is that everywhere in the world that has high-speed rail isn’t talking about taking them out,” he said. “They’re talking about expanding it.”
Albuquerque police report finding Bengal tiger in dog crate - Associated Press
Police officers responding to reports of a shooting in southeast Albuquerque say they found a young Bengal tiger in a dog crate, but it's not the same animal sought since least year.
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish officials said they took custody of the tiger and transferred it to the ABQ BioPark until an investigation is completed and a permanent home for the animal can be found.
The department sought the public's help to find a young tiger that had been whisked away last summer from an Albuquerque-area house where police reported finding drugs, guns, cash and a 3-foot alligator.
"The Department of Game and Fish suspects that the tiger confiscated Tuesday is not the same tiger sought during the August 2022 search," Field Operations Division Col. Tim Cimbal said.
Cimbal said the tiger from August is believed to be more than a year old and likely weighs 50-90 pounds by now while the tiger found this week is only a few months old and weighs 20 pounds.
Authorities served search warrants on two residences in Albuquerque's South Valley Tuesday afternoon in response to tips that a tiger was being illegally held at one of the residences.
Police said a man was found at a mobile home with a gunshot wound on one of his legs and may have been struck by a stray bullet.
Officers spotted a blood trail and followed it to an unlocked trailer and that's where the tiger was found inside the crate.
Laura Hagen, a director with the Humane Society of the United States, said in a statement that New Mexico already bans residents from keeping tigers as pets and federal law now prohibits private owners from keeping tigers as pets or for breeding purposes.
"Big cat cubs like the tiger found in Albuquerque are not pets. They are dangerous, wild animals and don't belong in homes or dog crates," Hagen said.