Workplace safety officials slap Albuquerque, contractor with $1.1M fine for asbestos exposure - Associated Press
State regulators have identified willful workplace safety violations that exposed employees at an overnight shelter for women to hazardous asbestos during construction work over a nearly one-year period, the New Mexico Environment Department announced Friday.
The agency's occupational heath and safety bureau issued fines totaling about $1.1 million against the city of Albuquerque and a contractor related to asbestos exposure at the women's shelter, located within a campus of medical facilities in the southeastern part of the city.
Several of the individual fines were characterized as "willful-serious" after regulators concluded that the city and the contractor demonstrated plain indifference for the health and safety of employees.
The city said in a statement that asbestos remediation protocols were not correctly followed on a small portion of the construction, while "corrective action was taken and proper abatement has happened since."
The city also hired a specialist to inspect overnight beds, a detox area and a medical attention area for possible asbestos contamination and to remove any remaining asbestos. Since then, the Gateway Center has opened to serve clients experiencing homelessness.
"The city takes asbestos-related concerns seriously and is conducting a formal review of the firm responsible for construction and the city's processes to prevent any recurrence," said Kevin Sourisseau, chief operations officer for the city.
Breathing asbestos fibers can cause a buildup of scar-like tissue in the lungs, resulting in loss of lung function that can progress to disability and death.
The city and contractor have 15 business days challenge the citation or pay and show that violations have been remedied.
New Mexicans fight PNM’s proposed price hike, blaming utility for its prolonged fossil fuel usage - By Megan Gleason, Source New Mexico
A room that was empty a month ago was scattered with concerned New Mexicans on Thursday, joined by even more online, gathered to speak up against the possibility of more expensive utility bills next year.
The Public Service Company of New Mexico wants to hike up electricity costs in 2024. The utility in December 2022 asked the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to approve a 9.7% rate base increase, which the state officials will decide on in a few months.
Before that decision, the PRC invited New Mexicans to voice their opinions on the matter. This week, commissioners listened to dozens of people speak for an hour and a half against PNM’s requested price raise and the utility’s history of fossil fuel usage.
This was the second opportunity for New Mexicans to speak after few people attended the first public comment hearing.
Mark Fenton is the executive director of regulatory policy and case management at PNM. He said he was glad more people attended Thursday’s public comment hearing compared to the first one.
“We like to hear what the customers are saying and get the perspectives of the customers,” he said.
HOW MUCH MORE WOULD I BE PAYING?
New Mexican Daneon Riley had one question for the commissioners during public comment: What would the new rates actually be?
That’s something that’s still up in the air. Commissioner James Ellison said the PRC can’t answer that yet because it depends on the outcome of the case.
PNM officials say New Mexicans would only see a .75 cent increase in their bills with this rate change, arguing that it would be a less than 1% price hike taking into account renewable energy savings.
Not everyone agrees.
The full rate change requested is 9.7%. New Energy Economy, one of the environmental advocacy organizations fighting the price change, says that would amount to a billing increase of about $13 for at least seven years.
PNM spokesperson Raymond Sandoval also told Source NM last month the stipulation of immediate savings, making it a .75 cent increase, depends on the resolution of ongoing litigation regarding the closed San Juan Generating Station.
The utility didn’t respond to an inquiry on how much more a 9.7% increase would cost on people’s bills.
HIGHER PRICES TO GET AWAY FROM FOSSIL FUELS
PNM argues that it needs to bump prices up to cover costs sustained in its renewable energy transition. The utility has moved away from multiple fossil fuel plants, including the San Juan Generating Station, the Four Corners Generating Station and the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
But how long the utility stayed at some of those plants is a point of controversy for those fighting the price increase.
Many members of the public reiterated the arguments of environmental organizations that New Mexicans shouldn’t be held accountable for poor decisions the utility made in sticking with fossil fuel facilities longer than it should have.
“I understand the need for utilities to cover their costs, but not because of a bad business decision that wasn’t my responsibility,” Destiny Krupnick said.
Krupnick, like a few others in the public comment, said a price raise could perpetuate the cycle of poverty for New Mexicans and asked the PRC to consider the far-reaching consequences it would have on vulnerable communities.
Krupnick said she’s experienced financial hardships herself. A 20-year-old who’s been experiencing homelessness over the summer, she said her situation is already precarious and every dollar she has is carefully allocated toward necessities like food or health care.
“Any additional financial burden, especially higher utilities, is a blow that could push me back onto the streets,” she said. “It’s a reality that me and many others cannot bear.”
People also spoke up against PNM’s request to increase profits that shareholders can get. They again voiced similar arguments to environmental groups that this is a guaranteed investor profit PNM is making New Mexicans pay for, though the utility has denied that.
Ray Ellen Smith, president of the advocacy organization Indivisible Albuquerque, said she understands that there needs to be a profit margin but investment risks have gone down or are covered by other rate increases.
“A decrease should be put in place rather than an increase,” she said.
A few people didn’t comment on the price raise at all, instead focusing on the negative environmental impacts that PNM’s fossil fuel stations have caused.
Chili Yazzie, logged into Zoom from Shiprock, said waste from the Four Corners plant has contaminated irrigation water that Indigenous farmers depend on. He said the future generation’s welfare will suffer because of the environmental damage being done.
“Is it not clear the kind of future that we are leaving them?” he said. “They will suffer the brunt of our rapid and inconsiderate exploitation of the earth.”
He said he stands with New Energy Economy’s position, a sentiment reiterated by others at the hearing, and asked the PRC to do what it needs to do.
Eleanor Smith (Diné), also from Shiprock, spoke about the negative health consequences like cancer and asthma she’s seen her family and neighbors experience, something she believes is a result of the Four Corners plant.
She said the PRC needs to represent the public interest, which “should be to support truly clean, renewable and sustainable energy rather than perpetuating the deadly fossil fuel industry.”
It’s poor judgment and insensitive of PNM to try to increase prices when New Mexicans are already struggling to make ends meet, Smith said.
POTENTIAL TO SAVE $9 EVERY MONTH FOR A YEAR
The closure of the San Juan Generating Station ties closely into this rate base increase request.
PNM started shutting down the San Juan facility in 2017 and fully decommissioned it last year. Part of the shutdown plan included an agreement between the utility and the PRC that PNM would decrease customer rates and sell bonds to cover investments made in the station.
That didn’t happen. Instead, PNM announced in early 2022 that it would sell bonds in 2024.
Sandoval, the PNM spokesperson, said the utility always planned to sell bonds when its prices changed, which the pandemic delayed.
He said PNM was going to ask the PRC in 2020 for a price increase but waited until 2022 because of the financial hardships COVID-19 put on New Mexicans.
The state commissioners didn’t agree with this change in plans, so they ordered PNM to give New Mexicans credits for improperly charging them for the San Juan coal plant.
PNM appealed that with the New Mexico Supreme Court, and New Mexicans have continued to pay for the San Juan Generating Station.
A recent settlement filed could change that, where PNM agreed to issue $115 million in rate credits to New Mexicans. That would amount to monthly savings of about $9.28 — roughly 11% — on utility bills over the course of a year, according to the PNM.
That would add up to over $100 New Mexicans could keep in their bank accounts, based on the PNM estimates.
Ellison said the New Mexico Supreme Court has to decide whether to return the case to the PRC, which would give commissioners the ability to approve this settlement or not.
A few people on Thursday asked the commissioners to approve it if it does come their way.
New Mexico scores high in gender parity report - By Nicole Maxwell, New Mexico Political Report
An organization seeking gender equality in public office ranked New Mexico fourth in its 2023 Gender Parity Index.
RepresentWomen has published gender parity indices since 2013. In the last three indices, New Mexico has scored highly. Gender parity is when 50 percent or more public offices are held by women.
The gender parity scores measure women’s representation across state and local government from 0-100 with 0 meaning there are no women in public offices to 100 if women serve in every public office.
In 2023, New Mexico scored 46.7 points out of 100 which is down from 2022 when the state’s score was 49.2 points. In 2021 the state scored 49 points for gender parity. New Mexico was top ranked those two years.
Part of the drop comes from New Mexico’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives coming from an all-woman delegation to having one female representative, Yvette Herrell, losing her re-election bid to Rep. Gabe Vazquez, a Democrat from Las Cruces.
Herrell, a Republican from Alamogordo, announced her bid for re-election in April. She was the 2nd congressional district representative, a seat that has been a revolving door in the last few elections.
Herrell won the seat during the 2020 election from then-incumbent Xochitl Torres Small who is now serving as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.
Torres Small had served one term when Herrell won the seat in 2020. Herrell served one term before Vazquez won the seat in 2022.
Herrell, the Republican Party of New Mexico and others claim the recent decennial redistricting effort “gerrymandered” the second congressional district since it now includes part of Albuquerque when before it covered the southern half of New Mexico.
The gerrymandering case is set to have a bench trial beginning Sept. 27, according to court records.
The second congressional district is not the only factor in RepresetWomen’s findings.
New Mexico has elected a woman governor in the last three elections.
“For New Mexico to maintain its Parity Score, it will need to elect another woman governor after the current governor is termed out in 2026,” the index stated.
How a Louisiana appeals ruling could impact nuclear waste storage in New Mexico - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Last week, a federal appellate court in New Orleans ordered a review and reversed a federal license to operate a proposed spent-fuel facility in Andrews County, Texas, just miles across the border from Eunice, New Mexico.
In the Aug. 25 order, Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho wrote that federal law does not grant the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the authority to license private storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel away from reactors.
“The Commission has no statutory authority to issue the license,” Ho wrote. “The Atomic Energy Act doesn’t authorize the Commission to license a private, away-from-reactor storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. And issuing such a license contradicts Congressional policy expressed in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.”
This is just the latest in a decades-long debate on what to do with the growing amount of radioactive waste from former and current power plants across the country.
Recently, Texas and New Mexico legislatures passed laws banning storage of nuclear waste – despite previous administrations welcoming the industry – and setting up for a showdown with the federal government, who has authority over the nuclear industry.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license to Florida-based company Holtec International for a proposed storage site in southeast New Mexico between Hobbs and Carlsbad.
That license allows for a facility to store more than 8,680 metric tons of spent fuel, even as New Mexico passed a law banning the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the state just before the license was issued. The ban will not be lifted, according to the state law, until a national repository is built, and New Mexico officials give approval for a waste facility.
State officials said they would examine the decision further, said Matthew Maez, spokesperson for the New Mexico Environment Department.
“New Mexico is assessing the applicability of this decision to the NRC’s license to Holtec and evaluating additional avenues for ensuring that the well-being of our citizens and the environment are protected from this type of nuclear waste storage facility,” Maez said in a written statement.
Nuclear watchdogs and environmental groups said the timing of the Fifth Circuit opinion may have an impact on the appeal against the Holtec license going before the D.C. Circuit later this month. The deadline to file arguments is Friday.
Kevin Kamps, with nonprofit Beyond Nuclear, called the judgment “sweeping,” but said it’s complicated to determine how it might impact other cases.
“Sometimes circuits disagree, and they have disagreed here,” Kamps said. “It’s hard to say what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Department of Justice and even [Interim Storage Partners] ISP are going to do in response to the Fifth Circuit ruling.”
Previous court appeals over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license of the Andrew’s Texas Facility have been tossed, most recently by the D.C. Appeals Circuit in January this year.
Kamps said Beyond Nuclear is “more confident” about the Holtec challenge. The court has not currently scheduled oral arguments, but it’s possible they’d be set for early 2024.
There’s still a lot of uncertainty, said Don Hancock, the nuclear waste program director at Southwest Research and Information Center.
“It’s better for our point of view than it is for Holtec’s point of view. But it doesn’t, for sure, decide what’s going to happen with the D.C. Circuit on the Holtec license,” Hancock said.
Patrick O’Brien, a Holtec International spokesperson, said the company had “no comment on the ruling at this time.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
The facility, located in the Permian Basin, was supposed to be a private facility managed by nuclear technology company Interim Storage Partners, to hold 40,000 metric tons of used fuel rods.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license to operate the Andrews County, Texas facility in September 2021. The license designates the site as a “temporary facility” while a permanent place for nuclear waste is developed. Nuclear watchdog groups are concerned these interim facilities will become over time the permanent storage sites for high-level nuclear waste. The federal government abandoned the effort to build a permanent nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain, after years of opposition from officials and organizers in Nevada.
Days before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the license, Texas passed House Bill 7, which bans the storage of spent nuclear fuel, offsite from current or former nuclear power reactors.
Oil and gas companies and the state of Texas sued in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting a review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license, and for the court to vacate it. The panel of three judges sided with Texas’ arguments.
The federal agency is checking its options to appeal, said David McIntyre, a spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“We are reviewing the Fifth Circuit Court’s decision and consulting with the Department of Justice,” McIntyre said in a phone call with Source NM.
The commission has until Oct. 17 to determine if it will file an appeal, which could include going before the entire Fifth Circuit. The license currently remains in place, since the court has not yet issued a mandate, he said.
Institute of American Indian Arts raises $760K for scholarships — Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
More students will be able to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts debt-free thanks to a successful fundraiser at the Santa Fe Indian Market.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the school brought in over $760,000 and counting, as donations continue to come in. The funds will go toward student scholarships.
More than 8 in 10 IAIA students receive federal financial aid — but it’s often not enough. The Journal reports the Pell Grant pays for less than half of annual tuition and fees. More than 90% of the school’s students rely on scholarships to supplement that federal aid.
Attendees to the event held at Santa Fe’s La Fonda came from around the county. A live art auction brought in over $160,000 for the IAIA Foundation, and the school raised more from calls for donations and event sponsorships.
Powered by wind, this $10B transmission line will carry more energy than the Hoover Dam — Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
An energy infrastructure project bigger than the Hoover Dam is how Hunter Armistead describes the $10 billion venture his company will be overseeing during the next three years.
As the chief executive of one of the world's largest wind and solar development companies, Armistead said breaking ground on Pattern Energy's SunZia transmission line marks a major milestone as the United States looks to make good on promises to address climate change and bolster the nation's already overwhelmed power grids as demand increases and weather events become more extreme.
It is also a cautionary tale, he told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of Friday's ceremony on the open plains of north-central New Mexico.
The U.S. can't afford to take 12 years to "create this type of solution" given the growing need for more energy infrastructure, Armistead said.
He pointed to Europe and China, where billions of dollars are being invested in new high-voltage lines to connect power plants to cities where demand is high.
"They all recognize the need to build out bulk transmission, to create inter-regional transfer points in order to create greater reliability," he said. "It also creates diversity in resources and diversity in dealing with weather, which is now the new most important factor driving both our load and our generation."
The Biden administration has set a goal to eliminate carbon emissions from the power sector by 2035. The effort faces numerous challenges, including the lack of transmission.
The U.S. Department of Energy has cited independent estimates that indicate transmission systems need to expand by 60% by 2030 and may need to triple by 2050. The agency is working with two national laboratories on a transmission planning study, with findings and recommendations expected later this year.
The Biden administration is just the latest to promise speeding up the development and modernization of the nation's energy infrastructure through expedited federal permitting and regulatory reforms. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump also vowed to roll back bureaucracy.
More than a decade in the making, the SunZia project will stretch about 550 miles (885 kilometers) — funneling renewable energy from central New Mexico to more populated areas in Arizona and California. Developers say it will be capable of transporting more than 3,500 megawatts of new wind power to 3 million people in the West.
After an initial review over several years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management authorized a right-of-way grant on federal lands. That was revisited when developers in 2021 submitted a new application modifying the route after the U.S. Defense Department raised concerns about the effects of the high-voltage lines on radar systems and military training operations.
Environmentalists also were worried about impacts on wildlife habitat and migratory bird flight patterns in the Rio Grande Valley.
Final approval came in May, with U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland saying the latest application was reviewed in record time as the administration has tried to fast-track more projects.
In Arizona, there are still concerns about potential ecological damage from SunZia where it will cross the San Pedro River Valley. Critics plan to appeal a recent court decision affirming regulatory approval in that state.
"I disagree with those who believe that poorly planned projects like SunZia should now be used as the pretext for granting the federal government even greater authority to sidestep legitimate state and local concerns over federal powerline siting decisions," said Peter Else, chair of the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance.
Haaland said the Bureau of Land Management consistently sought collaboration to develop the best possible route for the line. She doubled down Friday on the administration's promise to permit at least 25 gigawatts of onshore renewable energy by 2025. She said New Mexico, her home state, stands to play a big role in production given its supply of sunshine and wind.
Other projects in the works include the Southern Spirit transmission line that would link Texas with other grids in the southeastern U.S., the proposed Greenlink West Transmission Project in Nevada, and a set of high-voltage lines that would span from central Utah to east-central Nevada.
Aside from addressing climate issues, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said such projects represent one of this generation's greatest economic opportunities. He and other officials have pointed to construction jobs and tax revenues for local governments and states.
The New Mexico Democrat earlier this year introduced legislation to improve the planning, permitting and financing of transmission infrastructure. The proposals include a 30% investment tax credit for large-scale projects as well as coordinated agency reviews and early stakeholder engagement. While Heinrich still is working to line up support in Congress, industry groups including the American Council on Renewable Energy have voiced support.
Armistead said developers historically have tried to avoid federal lands because of the bureaucracy involved. The irony is that the federal government actually wants developers to build more transmission lines, he said.
SunZia will cross varied terrain, from a riparian area along the Rio Grande to rugged canyons and cactus-dotted valleys.
While rerouting the line around sensitive areas in New Mexico took more time and money, Armistead said he believed it was the right thing to do.
"I believe that is a model for how it should be done in the future. And that's what I'm so proud of," he said. "I think this creates the credibility and the reality of what is possible, and we better keep building on from there."
Bill Richardson, a former governor and UN ambassador who worked to free detained Americans, dies — Eric Tucker, Associated Press
Bill Richardson, a two-term Democratic governor of New Mexico and an American ambassador to the United Nations who dedicated his post-political career to working to secure the release of Americans detained by foreign adversaries, has died. He was 75.
The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which he founded and led, said in a statement Saturday that he died in his sleep at his home in Chatham, Massachusetts.
"He lived his entire life in the service of others — including both his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad," said Mickey Bergman, the center's vice president. "There was no person that Gov. Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise of returning a person to freedom. The world has lost a champion for those held unjustly abroad and I have lost a mentor and a dear friend."
President Joe Biden said Richardson seized every chance he had to serve in government and lauded his efforts to free Americans being held elsewhere. "He'd meet with anyone, fly anywhere, do whatever it took. The multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations he received are a testament to his ceaseless pursuit of freedom for Americans," the president said in a statement. "So is the profound gratitude that countless families feel today for the former governor who helped reunite them with their loved ones."
Before his election in 2002 as governor, Richardson was U.S. envoy to the United Nations and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton and served 14 years as a congressman representing northern New Mexico.
But he also forged an identity as an unofficial diplomatic troubleshooter. He traveled the globe negotiating the release of hostages and American servicemen from North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan and bargained with a who's who of America's adversaries, including Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was a role Richardson relished, once describing himself as "the informal undersecretary for thugs."
"I believe that we have to engage our adversaries no matter how different our philosophies are," Richardson once said. "The way you deal with issues that divide nations is through humanitarian efforts before political differences. I think that is fundamental."
He helped secure the 2021 release of American journalist Danny Fenster from a Myanmar prison and this year negotiated the freedom of Taylor Dudley, who crossed the border from Poland into Russia. He met with Russian government officials in the months before the release last year of Marine veteran Trevor Reed in a prisoner swap and also worked on the cases of Brittney Griner, the WNBA star freed by Moscow last year, and Michael White, a Navy veteran released by Iran in 2020.
Roger Carstens, the U.S. government's chief hostage negotiator, described Richardson as "a friend and partner in bringing wrongfully detained Americans and hostages home." and said in a statement Saturday that he would "miss his wise counsel and friendship."
Armed with a golden resume and wealth of experience in foreign and domestic affairs, Richardson sought the 2008 Democratic nomination for president in hopes of becoming the nation's first Hispanic president. He dropped out of the race after lackluster finishes in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
Richardson was the nation's only Hispanic governor during his two terms, calling it "the best job I ever had."
"It's the most fun. You can get the most done. You set the agenda," Richardson said.
As governor, Richardson signed legislation in 2009 that repealed the death penalty. He called it the "most difficult decision in my political life" because he previously had supported capital punishment. Other accomplishments included $50,000-a-year minimum salaries for the most qualified teachers in New Mexico and an increase in the state minimum wage.
Some of his most prominent global work began in December 1994, when he was visiting North Korean nuclear sites and word came that an American helicopter pilot had been downed and his co-pilot killed.
The Clinton White House enlisted Richardson's help and, after days of tough negotiations, the then-congressman accompanied the remains of Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon while paving the way for Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Hall to return home.
The following year, and after a personal appeal from Richardson, Saddam Hussein freed two Americans who had been imprisoned for four months, charged with illegally crossing into Iraq from Kuwait.
Richardson continued his freelance diplomacy even while serving as governor. He had barely started his first term as governor when he met with two North Korean envoys in Santa Fe. He traveled to North Korea in 2007 to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.
In 2006, he persuaded Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to free Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Paul Salopek.
In an interview with The Associated Press in August, Richardson said he was proud of the work he had done to free dozens of people over the years and of his advocacy for the Navajo Nation.
Richardson and former Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah created a fund to offer supplies and equipment to the Navajo Nation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, providing personal protective equipment, food, water and hundreds of pairs of shoes to Navajo students in the state.
Richardson transformed the political landscape in New Mexico. He raised and spent record amounts on his campaigns, bringing Washington-style politics to an easygoing western state with a part-time Legislature.
Lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, complained Richardson threatened retribution against opponents. Former Democratic state Sen. Tim Jennings of Roswell once said Richardson was "beating people over the head" in his dealings with lobbyists on a health care issue. Richardson dismissed criticisms of his administrative style.
"Admittedly, I am aggressive. I use the bully pulpit of the governorship," Richardson said. "But I don't threaten retribution. They say I am a vindictive person. I just don't believe that."
Longtime friends and supporters attributed Richardson's success partly to his relentlessness. Bob Gallagher, who headed the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said if Richardson wanted something done then "expect him to have a shotgun at the end of the hallway. Or a ramrod."
In a statement, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, described Richardson as a visionary who saw New Mexico's potential before others did. "New Mexico, our country, and, frankly, the entire world lost a champion today. Bill Richardson was a titan among us, fighting for the little guy, world peace, and everything in between."
After dropping out of the 2008 presidential race, Richardson endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton despite Richardson's longstanding friendship with the Clintons.
Obama later nominated Richardson as secretary of commerce. Richardson withdrew in early 2009 because of a federal investigation into an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving his administration in New Mexico. The investigation ended without charges against Richardson and his former top aides.
Richardson had a troubled tenure as energy secretary because of a scandal over missing computer equipment with nuclear weapons secrets at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the government's investigation and prosecution of former nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee.
Richardson approved Lee's firing at Los Alamos in 1999. Lee spent nine months in solitary confinement, charged with 59 counts of mishandling sensitive information. He later pleaded guilty to one count of mishandling computer files and was released with the apology of a federal judge.
William Blaine Richardson was born in Pasadena, California, but grew up in Mexico City with a Mexican mother and an American father who was a U.S. bank executive.
He attended prep school in Massachusetts and was a star baseball player. He went to Tufts University and its graduate school in international relations, earning a master's degree in international affairs.
Richardson moved to New Mexico in 1978 after working as a Capitol Hill staffer. He wanted to run for political office and said New Mexico, with its Hispanic roots, seemed like a good place. He campaigned for Congress just two years later — his only losing race.
In 1982, he won a new congressional seat from northern New Mexico that the state picked up in reapportionment. He resigned from Congress in 1997 to join the Clinton administration as U.N. ambassador and became secretary of energy in 1998, holding the post until the end of the Clinton presidency.
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Former Associated Press writer Barry Massey contributed significant biographical material to this obituary. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix also contributed to this story.
Monument to Kit Carson in Santa Fe vandalized - Alice Fordham, KUNM news
On the night of Thursday Aug. 31, the Santa Fe Police Department responded to a 911 call that an obelisk honoring Kit Carson had been damaged. The obelisk is on federal property and police are working with federal law enforcement to investigate.
Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber condemned the act, saying in a statement that he was outraged and that there is no place for this kind of criminal conduct in the community.
In 2020, however, Mayor Webber said that he intended to call for the obelisk, located in front of the Santa Fe Courthouse, to come down.
His statement then came during protests that led to the removal of several monuments glorifying the Spanish conquest of the Indigenous people and the land that is now New Mexico.
Kit Carson was, among many other things, a federal Indian agent in New Mexico in the 1800s. During conflict between the US and tribes, he sent forces to burn Navajo crops, kill livestock and destroy homes. He played a key role in the Long Walk of the Navajo and Mescalero Apaches in the 1860s, to the desolate Bosque Redondo, where thousands died.
For years, his legacy has been debated. In 2014, there was an ultimately unsuccessful effort to rename a park named after him in Taos.
CORRECTION 9/1/23: This story has been corrected to reflect that the name of Kit Carson Park in Taos remains unchanged.
New Mexico reports man in Valencia County is first West Nile virus fatality of the year — Associated Press
New Mexico has seen its first fatal case of West Nile virus this year, health officials said Friday.
The state Department of Health reports a Valencia County man's recent death is related to the virus. Statewide, 36 people have been diagnosed in 2023 with West Nile virus, which typically spreads to humans through a bite from an infected mosquito.
Experts say it varies in how severe it can be. In some cases, infections can go unnoticed while others generate flu-like symptoms. Those can include West Nile fever, headache, muscle and joint aches, nausea and fatigue.
There have been cases where the virus affects the brain and nervous system and resulted in death. More intense symptoms can span tremors, convulsions or paralysis.
State data shows for the last five years, between one and six residents has died from it annually.
Residents can take extra precautions such as using insect repellent and not leaving out water-holding containers, which can attract mosquitos to lay eggs. Homeowners should also drain bird baths, wading pools and even saucers under potted plants.