In Colorado River talks, still no agreement about water cuts - By Ken Ritter And Suman Naishadham Associated Press
The Biden administration released an environmental analysis Tuesday of competing plans for how seven Western states and tribes reliant on the dwindling water supply from the Colorado River should cut their use but declined to publicly take a side on the best option.
On one side is California and some tribes along the river that want to protect their high-priority rights to the river's water, which they use for drinking and farming. On the other side are the other six states — Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico — who say it's time to come up with an approach that more fairly shares the river.
The Interior Department did not say how states should get to deeper water cuts, but defended its authority to make sure basic needs such as drinking water and hydropower generated from the river are met — even if it means setting aside the priority system.
"Failure is not an option," Interior Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau told The Associated Press.
The 1,450-mile powerhouse of the West serves 40 million people across seven states, which span tribal land, and Mexico, generates hydroelectric power for regional markets, and irrigates nearly 6 million acres of farmland.
A multidecade drought in the West intensified by climate change, rising demand and overuse has sent water levels at key reservoirs along the river to unprecedented lows. That's forced the federal government to cut some water allocations, and to offer up billions of dollars to pay farmers and cities to cut back.
Officials expect some relief this year from a series of powerful storms that blanketed California and the Western Rocky Mountains, the main source of the Colorado River's water. But it's not clear how that amount of precipitation is affecting negotiations. On Monday, Beaudreau denied that a sense of urgency had gone away after the winter storms, but gave no indication to how the seven states should reach agreement before August, when the agency typically announces water availability for the following year.
"The snow is great. It's a godsend. But we're in the midst of a 23-year drought," Beaudreau said. He said states, Native American tribes and other water users recognized that it would be in no one's interest to stall talks because of the winter's healthy snowpack — which stands at 160% of the median in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
In January, six of the seven U.S. states that rely on the Colorado River — Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado — outlined how they would conserve significantly more water, but California disagreed with the approach and released its own ideas a day later.
Both plans heeded a call last year from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the major dams in the river system, for states to propose how they would cut their water use by roughly 15% and 30% — in addition to existing water cuts agreed upon in recent years. Each achieve about 2 million acre-feet of cuts, which is at the low end of the requested cuts.
An acre-foot of water is roughly enough to serve 2 to 3 U.S. households annually.
The lengthy environmental analysis released by the Biden administration explores both options, as well as a third that includes taking no action. States, tribes and other water users now have until May 30 to comment before federal officials announce their formal decision.
Beaudreau gave no indication of whether the department prefers one approach over the other.
"Some of the commentary has depicted an us-versus-them dynamic in the basin," Beaudreau said. "I don't see that at all."
Arizona and California — on opposite sides of the divergent plans — are looking at how to develop "a true seven-state consensus in the coming months," said JB Hamby, who chairs the Colorado River Board of California. "Ideally in this next 45-day period, if at all possible."
Among the main differences between the two plans is whether states should account for the vast amount of water lost along the Colorado River basin to evaporation and leaky infrastructure as it flows through the region's behemoth dams and waterways.
Federal officials say more than 10% of river water evaporates, leaks, and spills — yet Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico have never accounted for that loss.
California disagreed with that approach. That's because the state has senior rights to Colorado River water and because of its location, would lose a significant amount of water if such losses were counted. The further south the river travels, more water evaporates — meaning that if evaporation losses were counted, California, Arizona, and Mexico would stand to lose more than states further north.
The Quechan tribe along the Arizona-California border also opposes that plan because of its priority water rights.
"We've got senior water rights and last we checked, we still live in a priority-based system," said Jay Weiner, the tribe's attorney.
The six states and California also disagree about when more water cuts should be triggered at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S. that serve as barometers of the river's health.
Arizona and Nevada have more junior water rights than California, and supported a plan that shared water cuts amid worsening drought on a pro-rata basis. California has offered to voluntarily cut its use by 400,000 acre-feet, but the state wants bigger cuts from Arizona and Nevada. California officials have indicated they'll pursue legal challenges if the federal government ignores its priority right to water.
Reclamation also didn't say how Mexico might contribute to the savings, but that discussions are ongoing. The country is entitled to 1.5 million acre feet of water each year under a treaty reached with the U.S. in 1944. In recent years, Mexico has participated in water savings plans with the U.S. amid worsening drought in both countries.
New Mexico marks 1st child death of the state's flu season - Associated Press
New Mexico health officials are reporting the first pediatric death during the state's current flu season.
The state Department of Health announced Tuesday that a 2-year-old Otero County girl died from a flu-related illness.
There have been over 230 pneumonia and flu-related deaths in New Mexico since last fall.
Officials are reminding the public that while there has been a drop in recent weeks in cases of flu, COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, they can still lead to hospitalizations and deaths year-round.
They also urge people 6 months and older to get vaccinated for the flu in the summer or fall every year.
People can also maintain safe practices like washing their hands or their children's hands frequently, covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or sleeve and maintaining a social distance.
US House speaker attends rally in New Mexico swing district - Associated Press
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy attended a rally in southern New Mexico on Monday for former U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell as the GOP tries to flip a congressional swing seat back to GOP control in 2024.
Herrell lost her 2022 reelection bid to Democratic Congressman Gabe Vasquez in the majority-Hispanic district along the U.S. border with Mexico.
The state's Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces was the backdrop for Herrell's announcement that she will seek the Republican nomination again, amid supportive appearances by state legislators.
Republicans have nominated Herrell on three previous occasions to seek the 2nd District seat. She lost an open race in 2016 and returned in 2018 to unseat former Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small.
Republicans are separately challenging the new outline of the 2nd District in proceedings before the New Mexico Supreme Court. Political boundaries were changed under a redistricting plan from Democratic lawmakers that divvied up a politically conservative oilfield region among three congressional districts.
Herrell last year embraced a conservative platform of strict border security and unfettered support for the oil industry. The district as recently redrawn stretches from the U.S. border with Mexico across desert oilfields and parts of Albuquerque.
Vasquez won the seat while highlighting his Latino heritage and an upbringing along the border in a working-class, immigrant family. He advocated for solutions to climate change and efforts to ensure access to abortion.
Within weeks of the November 2022 election, Herrell registered to run again with federal campaign finance regulators.
Española man opts to plead guilty in stepdaughter's death - Associated Press
An Española man has pleaded guilty in the beating death of his 5-year-old stepdaughter.
Local media outlets report Malcolm Torres entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder Monday in the killing of Renezmae Calzada.
In a statement from U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez, 29-year-old Torres was home in September 2019 with the girl and his 18-month-old son and was heavily intoxicated.
Her mother reported her missing. The girl's body was found three days later on Santa Clara Pueblo in the Rio Grande, a mile from the Española yard where she was last seen.
Torres faces a minimum of 30 years and up to life in prison, according to his plea agreement filed in federal court.
He initially rejected a plea agreement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque.
A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
Police dispel active shooter threat at New Mexico resort - Associated Press
A call to authorities about a possible active shooter on a pueblo north of Albuquerque on Monday that led to the evacuation of some guests at a hotel appears to be unfounded, according to an FBI agent.
There were no injuries or deaths and officers didn't find any weapons after law enforcement cleared the hotel rooms following the call, FBI special agent in charge Raul Bujanda said.
"There's still an ongoing investigation, but what I can tell you right now is there's no threat to the community or to the resort itself," he said.
Federal, state, local and tribal officers responded to the initial call, blocking off the narrow winding road to the remote hotel with police cruisers, their lights flashing.
The resort is tucked into the hills along the west side of the Rio Grande on tribal land north of Albuquerque.
"We take everything seriously because you don't know exactly what it is that you have until you actually go in and investigate," Bujanda said.
Federal and tribal officials said these kinds of threats have been happening across the country — some are connected, some are not. Authorities said they will know more about the origins of the threat called in Monday afternoon when their investigation is complete.
After the call came in, staff and guests were evacuated to the adjacent golf course, where authorities conducted interviews as rooms were cleared.
By Monday evening, the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort had lifted the lockdown and started allowing people to return.
Santa Ana Pueblo Gov. Nathan Garcia said he was thankful there was no truth to the call.
Pueblo emergency managers said it served as a training opportunity and that more training is being planned with multiple jurisdictions in the area.
"We have to have plans in place. Look at this district right here," Garcia said, as rush-hour traffic passed through a major intersection nearby. "It can happen anywhere but we have to be cohesive, together to make this work and keep our people safe."
No one answered at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort when The Associated Press called seeking information about the situation.
N.M. health boss concerned oversight of disabilities program - Associated Press
New Mexico's health secretary said he's concerned about the state's oversight of a program that uses private providers for home and community-based services for people with developmental disabilities but is being investigated on allegations of abuse, neglect and exploitation of program participants.
Department of Health Secretary Patrick Allen told The New Mexican that the majority of private providers in the program do a "marvelous job" and care deeply about their clients, but said a small number of providers aren't doing what's needed.
"I think I'm increasingly concerned that we've not been doing the job we need to do to make sure that all our clients have fabulous providers and are getting the services and care that they need," said Allen, who was appointed health secretary in January.
An investigation of alleged abuse and neglect involving a developmentally disabled person was launched after the case was brought to the state's attention on March 1. The state started to reexamine past incidents of suspected abuse and neglect of disabled clients, including three in which a client died and the state terminated contracts with four providers in the Albuquerque area. The allegations also prompted a review of the entire developmentally disabled waiver system, which is meant to offer an alternative to institutional care.
As of noon on Friday, state workers had conducted in-person wellness checks on 4,654 of the 6,815 in the program and identified 68 sites with possible concerns.
At 26 of those sites, the concerns dealt mostly with home repairs, damages or other environmental issues.
But at the remaining 42, the site visits resulted in reported allegations of potential abuse, neglect and exploitation of some of the most vulnerable — and sometimes voiceless — people in New Mexico.
Each of the 68 incidents of concern identified so far is being fully investigated, officials said.
"Our staff have reported to me visits they've been involved in where, like, a parent or guardian or someone has said, 'This is the first time anybody from the agency has ever visited,'" Allen said.
Details on the case of abuse that triggered the in-person wellness checks have not been made public, and Allen declined to provide an update on the disabled client who suffered severe and life-threatening injuries, or even say if the person is still alive or recovering.
"I'm afraid I just really can't right now at the advice of various investigators that are pursuing this," Allen told the newspaper.
Law to ban high-level nuclear waste storage facility effective June - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico A state ban on high-level nuclear waste will go into effect in June, blocking a private company’s ability to build a contentious storage facility in southern New Mexico.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 53 into law March 17. The bill did not have the votes for an emergency enaction, so it goes into effect June 15.
The new law has two provisions.
The first expands the scope and duties for a task force to consult state agencies on nuclear disposal and investigate its impacts on New Mexico.
The second bans storage of high-level nuclear waste. The ban is in effect until two conditions are met – the state agrees to open a facility to handle waste, and the federal government has adopted a permanent underground storage site for nuclear waste.
“We do need a permanent solution. But New Mexico can’t just be the convenient sacrifice zone for the country’s contamination,” said Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) in an interview.
High level radioactive waste is extremely toxic. Some types will remain highly radioactive for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years. Short doses of exposure can be fatal. If radioactive waste leaches into the groundwater or soils, it can move through the food chain.
The state ban would include regulations on Holtec International’s plans for an underground facility for spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power reactors and other high-level radioactive waste from across the country.
At its peak, Holtec projected the facility could hold 176,600 metric tons of waste aboveground on more than 1,000 acres between Hobbs and Carlsbad.
“This bill is another major obstacle that will prevent this site from ever receiving any nuclear waste,” said Don Hancock, Nuclear Waste Safety program director and administrator at the nonprofit Southwest Research and Information Center.
The region already hosts the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, an underground site that stores clothes, tools, rags and other items contaminated with radioactive waste. The new law does not impact WIPP.
In July 2021, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal agency that oversees nuclear operations, gave preliminary nod to the facility in an environmental impact statement, over the objections of people living there, the governor and members of the congressional delegation. Days after the law was signed, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission pushed back, issuing its final decision to license the facility. In a March 20 letter to Holtec, the agency wrote it will publish a final safety evaluation and determine if a license will be issued in May 2023.
Steinborn, who sponsored the bill in the past two legislative sessions, said the task force will now also report each year to the Radioactive and Hazardous Materials interim committee. The task force is made up of secretaries or appointees from seven state departments, now including the Indian Affairs Department and the State Land Office.
Kayleigh Warren, a member of Santa Clara Pueblo and a health and justice coordinator at the nonprofit Tewa Women United, called the four-page bill “an important first step.”
“It’s a way our state can start to communicate to the rest of our county that we’ve done our part,” Warren said. “We’re not interested in being a sacrifice zone for the country’s waste anymore.
Tewa Women United protests the impacts of toxins from Los Alamos National Laboratory on water and land in the Española valley and surrounding Pueblos. Looking forward, a key issue is how tribal governments will participate on the task force.
Native Americans are disproportionately vulnerable from uranium mining on the Navajo Nation or exposed at higher rates to radiation in water supplies.
“I want to see how our voices become part of these conversations moving forward,” Warren said.