New Mexico court upholds decision keeping utility from transferring shares of coal-fired power plant - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed a decision by utility regulators who rejected a proposal by the state's largest electric provider to transfer shares in a coal-fired power plant to a Navajo energy company.
The court also upheld the Public Regulation Commission's decision to deny a request by the Public Service Co. of New Mexico for a financing order that would authorize the utility to issue bonds to recoup the costs of abandoning the Four Corners Power Plant in northwestern New Mexico.
Navajo Transitional Energy Co. had sought to take over PNM's shares, saying that preventing an early closure of the power plant would help soften the economic blow to communities that have long relied on tax revenue and jobs tied to coal-fired generation.
Environmentalists have protested the transfer over concerns that the plant — which serves customers in Arizona and New Mexico — would be allowed to operate longer.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case earlier this year. In its order, it ruled that the decision by regulators was reasonable and consistent with the state's Energy Transition Act.
In rejecting PNM's plan in 2021, the commission said the utility failed to specify how it would provide replacement power for electricity it would no longer produce at the Four Corners plant.
Commissioners had raised concerns, given that the utility has yet to complete solar and battery storage facilities meant to replace another coal-fired plant — the San Juan Generating Station that closed last September.
The Supreme Court pointed out that PNM's director of resource planning, Nicholas Phillips, had testified about the limitations of the utility's modeling. PNM had relied on prior bids for San Juan replacements rather than identifying new resources to replace the Four Corners plant.
Phillips also acknowledged that PNM had encountered unexpected delays in replacing the lost capacity from San Juan's closure.
Given those delays and the generic information provided by PNM, the court said it agreed that "a reasonable mind could conclude that Phillips' testimony and PNM's modeling, on its own, was inadequate" to meet the utility's burden under the Energy Transition Act.
PNM officials said they were disappointed with the ruling.
Utility spokesman Raymond Sandoval said the commission's order delays PNM's exit from the power plant from 2024 until possibly 2031 and thus postpones reductions in emissions.
"Our commitment to serving our customers with zero carbon electricity doesn't end," he said, "and while an early exit from the Four Corners coal plant would propel us forward, we remain strong in our transition to affordable carbon-free electricity."
Located on the Navajo Nation, the Four Corners plant is operated by Arizona Public Service Co. That utility owns a majority of shares in the plant's two remaining units.
PNM had initially proposed the arrangement with the Navajo company as a way to remove coal from its portfolio. One of the conditions of a proposed multibillion-dollar merger with a subsidiary of global energy giant Iberdrola had required the New Mexico utility to show that it was taking steps to do so.
The court also noted that PNM was aware that commission staff had concerns about its modeling with regard to replacement resources.
Sandoval confirmed Thursday that the utility is still working to bring replacement resources online for the San Juan plant as well as replacements for the power that will be lost when leases expire at the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona.
PNM does not have dates for when any of the projects will begin commercial operations. However, Sandoval said a 150 megawatt battery installation is being tested and can provide electricity to customers during the current heat wave.
The utility said it doesn't anticipate any rolling outages during these hot days since it purchased power in anticipation of peak summer demands.
US senators seek expanded compensation for those exposed to nuclear fallout -By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
U.S. senators from New Mexico and Idaho are making another push to expand the federal government's compensation program for people exposed to radiation following uranium mining and nuclear testing carried out during the Cold War.
Downwinders who live near the New Mexico site where the world's first atomic bomb was tested in 1945 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project in World War II also would be among those added to the list.
The legislation would amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include eligible residents in areas affected by fallout in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and the territory of Guam.
Democrat Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico and Republican Mike Crapo of Idaho announced Thursday that they were reintroducing the bill in the Senate after previous attempts to expand the program stalled.
The measure also has been introduced in the U.S. House, with supporters saying the clock is ticking as more people are diagnosed with cancers that they say are connected to exposure.
Lawmakers are hoping that momentum gained last year following bipartisan approval of legislation that prevented the compensation program from expiring can be tapped to expand the program and ensure that it doesn't expire as scheduled next summer.
The challenge will be getting more Republicans to support the legislation, said Tina Cordova, a cancer survivor and co-founder of the New Mexico-based advocacy group Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. She said many people who would benefit from expanded coverage are in states represented by GOP lawmakers.
Cordova said radiation exposure continues to affect the latest generation of families who were exposed to fallout from nuclear weapons testing. She pointed to her niece, a 23-year-old college student who recently was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and the 2-year-old granddaughter of a Tularosa family who had an eye removed due to cancer.
"New Mexico has been asked to do so much," said Cordova, noting the state's role in development of the nation's nuclear arsenal and in the disposal of the resulting waste. "We bear the brunt of this and they still won't recognize that we were the first people to be exposed to radiation from an atomic bomb and no one has looked back."
Advocates have been trying for years to bring awareness to the lingering effects of nuclear fallout surrounding the Trinity Site in southern New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation, where millions of tons of uranium ore were extracted over decades to support U.S. nuclear activities.
Under the legislation, eligibility also would be expanded to include certain workers in the industry after 1971, such as miners.
The reintroduction of the legislation precedes the 78th anniversary of the Trinity Test in New Mexico on July 16 and comes as the federal government prepares to ramp up production of the plutonium pits used to trigger nuclear weapons.
Crapo said that while extending the compensation program for another two years is critical, more needs to be done to address the health effects of fallout from nuclear testing for his constituents in Idaho and elsewhere in the West.
For Luján, amending the compensation act has been a long battle. As a member of the U.S. House, he has introduced the legislation in each session since first being elected in 2008.
"Through no fault of their own," Luján said, "these workers and nearby communities were exposed to radiation as part of our national defense effort, impacting generations to come without providing the same relief available to other communities included under RECA."
Since the program began in 1992, more than 54,000 claims have been filed and about $2.6 billion has been awarded for approved claims. An estimated $80 million is needed for the compensation trust fund for the 2024 fiscal year that began July 1, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Federal appeals court overturns former New Mexico deputy’s qualified immunity – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
A former deputy in Chaves County who held a Roswell man at gunpoint is not entitled to qualified immunity according to a federal court ruling.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday in the case of David Bradshaw. He was off duty in 2018 and in an unmarked truck when he followed Mario Rosales home and blocked him in his driveway. Bradshaw had his child in his truck when he pointed a gun at Rosales.
Bradshaw was fired and charged with child abuse and aggravated assault. He was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to two years in prison.
Rosales sued in 2020 claiming the former deputy violated his right to be free from the use excessive and unnecessary force. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit finding Bradshaw had qualified immunity. That’s a doctrine that protects government officials from civil suits related to their duties unless they violate the law. The latest ruling reverses that decision.
Bradshaw’s attorney did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment.
Addiction medication scripts going unfilled in northern New Mexico - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Ronnie Flores feels more comfortable on the streets talking to people who are using drugs than he does talking to the people in the hospital who are treating substance use disorder.
As a peer support specialist at Presbyterian Española Hospital, Flores helps people suffering from substance use disorders relating to opioids, stimulants and alcohol.
Flores, who was born in the Española area and is in recovery himself, helps patients get started on medication-assisted treatment, schedule their follow-up appointments and ensure they actually get to those appointments.
But Flores and other addiction treatment workers say even if someone can get a prescription for medication that will help them manage their conditions, actually getting it filled in northern New Mexico is often so difficult that people give up on treatment altogether.
“We don’t have pharmacies that have enough buprenorphine,” Flores told U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and his staff during a meeting at the hospital on Wednesday.
Buprenorphine is an FDA-approved medication for opioid use disorder that can be prescribed without the patient having to go into a clinic, and can be sold at retail pharmacies. Both buprenorphine and methadone have been shown to reduce overdoses and opioid-related deaths.
Researchers last year found restrictive federal regulations on how pharmacies can dispense the drug have led to delayed or suspended shipments. It’s also caused buprenorphine prescriptions getting declined and not filled to people in need.
Another study published in May found that only 57.9% of pharmacies in the United States reported having buprenorphine or naloxone in stock; only 42 pharmacies in all of New Mexico carry the drugs.
The unmet need was fresh in the mind of Leslie Hayes, a primary care physician at El Centro Family Health, which is associated with the hospital. On Monday, four different patients called in saying they couldn’t get their prescriptions for buprenorphine filled because the pharmacies didn’t have them, she said.
Two of those patients had to visit three different pharmacies before they could finally get the medication, Hayes said.
Kelly Mytinger, who manages the harm reduction program at the Santa Fe Mountain Center, said the nurse there spends easily two to three hours per day on the phone on hold with pharmacies trying to sort out people’s prescriptions.
“It ends up being really disruptive during her workday and for our patients,” Mytinger said.
When a patient new to recovery doesn’t get their prescription, they often experience shame and are left thinking they’ve done something wrong, Hayes said.
“Even from my long-term patients in recovery, they feel very ashamed about it, but for the new patients, it’s often enough of a barrier that they don’t come back,” she said.
INCONSISTENT DEA MESSAGING
Vanessa Lucero, pharmacy director at the hospital, said prescription drug distributors are holding pharmacies to unforeseen, unwritten rules and regulations governing how to treat people with buprenorphine.
In December, when the hospital was nearing its limits for dispensing methadone, Lucero said she could only continue treatment by switching patients to tablets instead of liquid, and giving others more morphine.
In meetings with regulatory directors for two different prescription drug distributors, Lucero explained why she needed methadone and how she uses it with patients.
“My opinion about it is that they don’t want to be sued as well, so they’re limiting all of us what they can provide,” Lucero said.
Lucero asked the DEA to increase her maximum amount of methadone, but they never gave her an explicit limit.
After scores of pages of paperwork and a written interview with the agency, Lucero was only able to increase their stock by a single bottle, which she said is an insignificant amount for the number of patients at the hospital.
There is no uniform message from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration about limits on buprenorphine stocks at pharmacies, Hayes said.
“Our DEA officers have told us very specifically that there is no limit on the amount of buprenorphine the pharmacies can have,” Hayes said.
However, Hayes said addiction medicine physicians have told her that DEA officers said there are limits on how much pharmacies can carry.
Drug distributors and pharmacies do not have any clear directives, said Eric Ketcham, an emergency physician and addiction specialist at the hospital.
The problem stems from two issues, Ketcham said.
The first is with the Suspicious Order Reporting System, he said, which was created by a 2018 federal law that is up for renewal this summer.
The DEA mandates all prescription drug suppliers to track pharmacy orders of controlled substances through the centralized database, and suppliers must notify the DEA of pharmacy orders of opioids that are unusually large or considered suspicious.
The second underlying problem, Ketcham said, is that similar requirements were written into the federal opioid settlements.
“All they know is it’s gonna fall on them, or they’re gonna get in trouble with the DEA, so everybody’s being very conservative setting these limits, but it’s very nebulous,” he said.
After listening to the addiction workers speak, Heinrich said the problems they’re describing are unintended consequences from the change in the law, and a result of improper weighing of the risks versus the impact of people not getting treatment and returning to using fentanyl.
“We clearly don’t have that balance right, and we need to figure out how we lean more on therapy and less on bureaucracy,” Heinrich said.
Feds shoot down mining company’s ask to loosen cleanup standards at toxic uranium mine site - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
In early June, federal regulators rejected a mining company’s proposal to loosen current cleanup standards at a former uranium mining operation in Western New Mexico.
Beginning in 1958, The Homestake Mining Company operated a mine in Cibola County, just five miles outside the town of Milan. The consequences have carried 65 years into the future. In the early 2000s, one of the world’s largest mining companies, Barrick Gold, bought out Homestake.
The Environmental Protection Agency named it a Superfund site, meaning it’s one of the most toxic places in the U.S. and will take decades to clean up.
In 2022, the company submitted an application to waive the standards to clean up contaminants from the groundwater – which the company set themselves at an earlier point. Their request was reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees nuclear clean-up operations and manages the site along with the Environmental Protection Agency.
The decision by federal officials was “a bit of a shock” to local environment advocates, who said the federal regulatory commission often sides with industry in much of its decision-making.
“We’re thrilled that the NRC said no, this time around,” said Eric Jantz, a staff attorney at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. “Now, it’s not a ‘permanent no,’ or a ‘forever no’ it is a ‘no for now.’’’
The company has some limited routes to get approval to try and loosen their cleanup requirements. They have the ability to submit a new application to the NRC, Jantz said, or they can make a request under a similar process at the EPA and then go back to the nuclear regulatory commission and make the request again.
It’s an expensive and time-consuming process, but Homestake/Barrick Gold has deep pockets.
“We’re talking about a subsidiary of a corporation that has basically unlimited resources at its disposal, and corporations being legal fictions, they have infinite lives,” said Jantz. “So unlimited resources, combined with infinite time. Who knows what’ll happen?”
The pollution still poses risks to residents, said Susan Gordon with nonprofit Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, which represents groups including people that live in Milan and surrounding communities.
The pollution has seeped into two local aquifers forcing some ranchers and residents to abandon wells. The pollution poses risks to the San Andres-Glorieta aquifer, which is connected under the ground. It’s a vital source of drinking water for the surrounding area.
Gordon described how the cleanup process has slogged on for 40 years, despite repeated promises of faster cleanups from the company. Some of the tactics worsened the pollution.
“They flushed millions of gallons of water through these large tailings piles. The theory was that they were going to flush the uranium out,” Gordon said. “But it just made it worse because it continued to leak from underneath the unlined tailings piles.”
The current solution has been a “pump-and-treat” of the contaminated water, removing uranium and the other toxic metals through a reverse-osmosis process, pushing the water through a membrane and straining out the contaminants.
There’s a second treatment plant on site, called a Zeolite treatment plant, which also acts as a filter – although that has been used less, a 2021 EPA report found.
In that same report, federal environmental protection inspectors noted that Homestake was not running either treatment plant to its full capacity, writing that the company provided “unclear” reasons as to why it wasn’t cleaning as much water as it could. The report further reported that “despite the limited capacity” the treatments removed more than 100 pounds of uranium.
During the 20th century, the Western portion of New Mexico was a hotbed for uranium production and mining – and vulnerable to its far-reaching contamination. The San Mateo Basin has more than 80 legacy mines and four former uranium mills, including the Homestake mine, an EPAreview found. People in the region made a “death map,” tracking decades of sickness in family members and neighbors.
Emails from Source NM to Homestake’s closure manager seeking comment remain unanswered.Jantz said even with the uncertainty of the next steps, the ruling was a bright spot.
“This is a tension between sort of finance, corporate financial considerations, and basically, excess existential issues for entire communities,” Jantz said. “It’s encouraging that the NRC came down on the side of protecting those existential interests.”
US judge recommends settlement over management of the Rio Grande — Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
A federal judge has recommended that the U.S. Supreme Court approve a settlement among three Western states over the management of one of North America's longest rivers.
U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Melloy, the special master overseeing the case, outlined his recommendation in a report filed Monday. He called the proposal fair, reasonable and consistent with a decadeslong water-sharing agreement that spells out how Colorado, New Mexico and Texas must share the Rio Grande.
It was unclear when the Supreme Court will take up the recommendation. The court just wrapped up a busy term last week, issuing rulings on affirmative action, gay rights and President Joe Biden's $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debt.
The states reached the proposed settlement last year. The federal government objected for several reasons, including that the proposal did not mandate specific water capture or use limitations within New Mexico.
"The end result today may be a delay in final resolution of all of the United States' concerns. But as a matter of paramount importance to the compact, the Texas apportionment and the treaty water will be delivered," Melloy wrote in his report.
New Mexico officials have said implementing the settlement will require reducing the use of Rio Grande water through a combination of efforts that range from paying farmers to leave their fields barren to making infrastructure improvements.
Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, whose office was part of the negotiations, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was grateful the judge recommended approval.
Balderas, who finished his tenure in 2022, said the proposed settlement was "a historic victory for New Mexico's farmers and ranchers and will protect New Mexico's most precious resource for future generations."
Some New Mexico lawmakers voiced concerns during a recent legislative meeting, saying the settlement will create a battle between users in southern and northern New Mexico and that most farmers won't go for the prices being offered by the state through a fallowing program.
Farmers in southern New Mexico had to rely more heavily on groundwater wells over the last two decades as drought and climate change resulted in reduced flows and less water in reservoirs along the Rio Grande. That groundwater pumping is what prompted Texas to sue, claiming that the practice was cutting into the amount of water that was ultimately delivered as part of the interstate compact.
Melloy noted that the proposal recognizes the new use of a gauging station near El Paso, Texas, and several other measurements to ensure New Mexico delivers what's owed to Texas. New Mexico is agreeing to drop its challenges against Texas in exchange for clarifying how water will be accounted for as it flows downstream.
The proposal also places a duty on New Mexico to manage citizens' water use to meet delivery requirements at the new gauging station. Melloy pointed out that the proposal does not specify how New Mexico must accomplish its internal water management goals.
State Engineer Mike Hamman, New Mexico's top water manager, said Wednesday that his office is committed to complying with the settlement and the compact "through water rights administration, depletion management and supply augmentation strategies that will prevent the burden of compliance from falling on any single sector, particularly agriculture."
If New Mexico fails to send enough water to Texas, then the Elephant Butte Irrigation District — the largest in New Mexico — must temporarily transfer rights to an irrigation district in Texas. If Texas receives too much, there would be a similar transfer from the El Paso district to the Elephant Butte district.
Melloy said there's nothing in the proposal that protects New Mexico or users in the state against future claims from the federal Bureau of Reclamation or from other New Mexicans.
"Simply put, if usable water arrives in the reservoir, is released for use downstream, and reaches Texas and Mexico in the proper amounts," Melloy wrote, "fights over who in New Mexico is taking too much and paying too little (and whether New Mexico itself is doing enough to address and police the situation) can be resolved somewhere other than the Supreme Court."
New Mexico Supreme Court outlines guidance for handling gerrymandering lawsuit — Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
The New Mexico Supreme Court issued guidance Wednesday to a lower court on how to handle a challenge to the state's new congressional maps.
The high court also set a deadline of Oct. 1 for a district court in Roswell to resolve the case.
The state's Republican Party sued last year, claiming that newly redrawn maps of New Mexico's three congressional districts amounted to gerrymandering. Democrat defendants argued that the maps were a policy matter that fell under the purview of the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
The state Supreme Court, which is made up of Democrats, stated in its order that given the political nature of redistricting, a reasonable degree of partisan gerrymandering is permissible under the New Mexico Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment.
"At this stage in the proceedings, it is unnecessary to determine the precise degree that is permissible so long as the degree is not egregious in intent and effect," the order states.
Among the things the judge will have to consider is evidence comparing the district's voter registration data under the new maps and the data associated with the prior maps.
Republicans have argued that the congressional districts drawn by Democrats diluted GOP voting strength in violation of the equal protection clause of the New Mexico State Constitution. They cited public comments by top Democratic legislators as evidence of partisan bias in decisions about the district's boundaries.
Consultants to the Legislature have said the redrawn maps gave Democrats an advantage in all three districts to varying degrees, based on past voting behavior.
For example, the traditionally conservative-leaning 2nd District shifted to incorporate heavily Hispanic neighborhoods of Albuquerque and cede parts of an oil-producing region in southeastern New Mexico.
The outcome holds implications for the southern New Mexico district, where Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell was ousted by Democrat Gabe Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, in a close race during the 2022 midterm elections.
Herrell pointed to the redrawn map at the time, saying it was enough to give Democrats an advantage. She announced in April that she would be running for the seat again in 2024.
Las Cruces school board chooses a new superintendent after a national search — Associated Press
One of New Mexico' largest school districts has chosen an administrator from Nevada as its next leader.
The Las Cruces school board voted on Saturday to approve the selection of Ignacio Ruiz. His first day will be Aug. 1 and his annual salary will be set at $200,000 under the terms of the two-year contract.
Ruíz is an assistant superintendent for the Clark County School District in Nevada, the fifth largest school district in the nation. He previously led translation and language interpretation services for the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona.
Ruíz was among the finalists named following a national search that began in April after former Las Cruces Superintendent Ralph Ramos retired, after serving in the position for two years.
Ruíz attended Saturday's board meeting remotely, addressing the board in both English and Spanish.
"I'm glad for this opportunity, and I'm honored and humbled to be selected as the new superintendent," he said. "It was evident from the beginning that the board values what's best for kids, and I look forward to being part of the Las Cruces community."
Located just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, Las Cruces is home to about 91,000 people and the school district serves 25,000 students, most being Hispanic.