Solomon Peña faces new federal charges in shootings at officials’ homes – KUNM News, Associated Press
A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment against Solomon Peña alleging he solicited others to kill or attempt to kill a witness.
U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez announced the new charges also include being a felon in position of a firearm and ammunition. The original charges against Peña stem from shootings at the homes of four elected officials in December 2022 and January 2023.
Officials say Peña organized the shootings at the homes of two Bernalillo County Commissioners and two New Mexico state legislators, all Democrats. He ran unsuccessfully for the New Mexico House as a Republican and posted on social media that the November election was “rigged” and he would not concede his loss.
One of the shootings included a machine gun. They were carried out with the assistance of co-defendants Demetrio Trujillo and his son, Jose Trujillo. Both have pled guilty to charges that include conspiracy and interference with federal protected activities.
If convicted on the new charges, Peña faces up to life in prison.
Federal charges filed against Sheryl Williams Stapleton — KUNM News, The Santa Fe New Mexican
A former high ranking state lawmaker and Albuquerque Public Schools administrator is facing dozens of new federal charges related to fraud and money laundering.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Sheryl Williams Stapleton was already facing 26 felonies and two misdemeanors at the state level, including racketeering and money laundering, having been accused of routing public funds into businesses and charities with which she was involved.
She now faces 35 federal charges as well, including money laundering, mail fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
Federal prosecutors now allege Stapleton funneled more than $3 million — including $2.5 million of federal funds — into Robotics Management Learning Systems, a Washington D.C. based company she helped run.
The federal indictment states a paper trail shows money then made its way from that company to her charity organization and her Albuquerque restaurant, A Taste of the Caribbean, netting her more than $1 million in the alleged scheme.
Stapleton represented District 19 in Albuquerque from 1995 until she resigned in 2021 as House Majority Leader. She also worked at APS since 1984, eventually becoming director of Career and Technical Education, before being fired in August of 2021 amid the original allegations.
Interior Department rule aims to crack down on methane leaks from oil, gas drilling on public lands — Matthew Daly, Associated Press
The Biden administration issued a final rule Wednesday aimed at curbing methane leaks from oil and gas drilling on federal and tribal lands, its latest action to crack down on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming.
The rule issued by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management will tighten limits on gas flaring on federal lands and require that energy companies improve methods to detect methane leaks that add to planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution.
The action follows a more comprehensive methane-reduction plan announced by the Environmental Protection Agency in December. The plan, announced at a global climate conference in the United Arab Emirates, targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focusing only on new wells, as previous EPA regulations have done. It also regulates smaller wells that are now required to find and plug methane leaks.
Oil and gas production is the nation's largest industrial source of methane, the primary component of natural gas, and is a key target for Biden as his administration seeks to combat climate change.
The rule issued Wednesday updates regulations that are more than 40 years old and will hold oil and gas companies accountable by requiring measures to avoid wasteful practices and to find and fix leaks, administration officials said. At the same time, officials said they are moving to ensure that American taxpayers and tribal mineral owners are fairly compensated through higher royalty payments imposed last year.
The final rule will help "prevent waste, protect our environment and ensure a fair return to American taxpayers," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
"By leveraging modern technology and best practices to reduce natural gas waste, we are taking long-overdue steps that will increase accountability for oil and gas operators and benefit energy communities now and for generations to come," she said.
The rule is expected to prevent billions of cubic feet of natural gas from being wasted through venting, flaring and leaks, Haaland and other officials said.
Venting and flaring activity from oil and gas production on public lands has significantly increased in recent decades. Between 2010 and 2020, total volumes of natural gas lost to venting and flaring on federal and tribal lands averaged about 44.2 billion cubic feet per year — enough to serve roughly 675,000 homes, the Interior said. The figure represents a sharp increase from an annual average of 11 billion cubic feet lost to venting and flaring in the 1990s.
Environmental groups hailed the rule, calling methane a huge contributor to global warming.
"Strong Interior Department methane waste rules are integral for the United States to protect taxpayers from wasted energy resources," said Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund.
"Eliminating waste from routine venting and flaring of associated gas conserves domestic energy resources ... lessens oil and gas production's negative impact on the climate and protects the health of frontline communities," said Tannis Fox, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center, another environmental group.
The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, called the new rule an overreach that could hamper U.S. energy production.
"API supports a smart regulatory framework for reducing methane emissions, but overlapping regulations and lack of coordination between policymakers could hinder progress, create unnecessary barriers to development on federal lands and result in regulatory incoherence,'' said Holly Hopkins, an API vice president.
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called the rule a "much-needed step" to fight climate change and protect the health of communities near drilling sites throughout the West.
"Big Oil and Gas have been getting away with sloppy operations for too long, without an ounce of regard for the destruction it's causing,'' Grijalva said. "I'm grateful the Biden administration is taking the bold action we need to hold fossil fuel facilities to a higher standard.''
Interior had previously announced a rule to restrict methane emissions under former President Barack Obama. The plan was challenged in court and later weakened under former President Donald Trump. Competing court rulings blocked enforcement of the Trump and Obama-era rules, leading the agency to revert to rules developed more than 40 years ago.
The rule would impose monthly limits on flaring and charge fees for flaring that exceeds those limits.
Besides the EPA rule, a 2022 climate law approved by Congress is set to impose a fee on energy producers that exceed a certain level of methane emissions. The fee, initially set at $900 per metric ton of methane, will mark the first time the federal government has directly imposed a tax on greenhouse gas emissions.
The climate law includes $1.5 billion in grants and other spending to improve monitoring and data collection of methane emissions, intending to find and repair natural gas leaks.
The ‘clock is ticking’ on RECA; downwinders call on public to pressure House speaker - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
An effort to extend and expand compensation to people exposed to radiation from federal nuclear testing and uranium mining was not included in the $1.2 trillion funding package signed by President Joe Biden this week.
This happened despite continued bipartisan support and a late push by the White House to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) before it expires June 7, as the clock runs down on an extension by Congress from 2022.
RECA is a unique fund, paying out lump-sums to qualified people diagnosed with certain cancers and other diseases if they lived and worked in designated places at specific times.
The fund started in 1990 and remains limited. It has paid out $2.6 billion to more than 40,000 claims from uranium miners, millers, transporters, people on-site during nuclear weapons tests and people that lived in a handful of counties in Utah, Nevada and Arizona where fallout fell.
Earlier this March, the Senate passed a measure expanding RECA for more workers, extending it for six more years and granting eligibility to people who have never received recognition – including people and the descendants exposed to the first atomic blast at the Trinity Site.
But that measure was not in the latest federal government spending, which would have accelerated the bill’s passage.
Many of the people in the radius of U.S. nuclear testing, waste disposal and uranium and mining have been excluded from compensation. They fear their chances to seek justice will die if the fund lapses.
It’s a familiar feeling, said Tina Cordova, the founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, a longtime representative for the people and descendants exposed from the Trinity Test Site.
“We’re absolutely horrified they would leave us waiting like this, again, wondering about the June deadline,” Cordova said. “The clock is ticking.”
She said downwinder groups are encouraging the public to express their support to the Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), and ask to bring RECA for a vote.
“We’re just gonna keep the pressure on, and hope springs eternal, we have to remain hopeful,” Cordova said. “We’re so close.”
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-New Mexico), who has carried previous RECA bills in the House, called this recent exclusion from the spending package a “moral failure.”
“This obstruction of compensation for communities devastated by radiation poisoning is unconscionable,’ Leger Fernández said in a statement. “I will continue to explore every single opportunity available to pass this bill through Congress.”
A bipartisan group of 15 lawmakers, including all three New Mexico House members pushed for its inclusion in the spending bill.Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Arizona) told Cronkite News it was a matter of “fundamental fairness” in an interview last week.
“We’ve got to get it done for the people that suffered unknowingly because of actions of the federal government,” Stanton said. “We need to make sure that the RECA system, which is a good program … actually reaches all the people that have been touched by the nuclear testing.”
Johnson has potentially softened on bringing the measure forward in a separate vote, according to a statement announcing RECA would not be in the spending package.
He praised Missouri Republican lawmaker Rep. Ann Wagner, further saying “I understand her position and I look forward to working closely with Ann as we chart a path together for the House to move forward with evaluating and acting on a reauthorization measure,” he told reporters.
An emailed request for comment to Johnson’s office regarding his position on RECA was not returned Tuesday.
‘He had such an impact on this city’ - Elise Kaplan, City Desk ABQ
This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ
A well-known staffer for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico — who “distinguished himself as a fiery advocate for equity and justice, especially in the criminal legal system” — died in his sleep Friday night, the organization announced Tuesday.
Barron Jones, the investigation and research manager for ACLU NM, was 54. A cause of death has not been announced.
In an interview with City Desk ABQ, Deputy Director Leon Howard said Jones was an “advocate’s advocate” who was integral in getting several pieces of criminal justice legislation passed including the New Mexico Civil Rights Act. He also successfully pushed for limitations on the use of solitary confinement, requiring law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and “ban the box” in employment situations so those living with criminal convictions could have a foot in the door.
But he also always went above and beyond to make people feel comfortable and “worked tirelessly to amplify the voices of the most downtrodden among us,” Howard said.
“If somebody in the community — it didn’t matter who it was — needed him he would drop everything and be there,” he said. “Anytime there was food left over at gatherings he would pack it all up — it was just a habit of his — and go out and pass out food to unsheltered people.”
Paul Haidle was a criminal justice advocate at the ACLU who hired Jones in 2018. At that time, Haidle said, the organization was specifically looking to hire people with lived experiences in the criminal justice system and Jones really stood out.
“He liked to talk a lot about the sort of false distinction between incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and crime survivors and really highlight the fact that so many people, including himself, were victims of just tremendous crimes and for a variety of reasons wind up on the other side of the bars,” Haidle said.
Jones grew up in Detroit, Michigan but had lived in New Mexico for more than 20 years. He had served time in prison and worked as a reporter for the Rio Grande Sun in Española. In his bio for the ACLU, he described himself as a “proud papa of two rescue dogs, Holmes and MeToo.” His long-time partner did not respond to a message by publication time.
“I came to find out that Barron was the same guy his whole life — it didn’t matter if it was the last couple years at ACLU or when he was at the Rio Grande Sun or even in prison,” Haidle said.
Jones served time in the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas, his former “bunkie” Fermin Gonzales told City Desk ABQ. The two attended college in prison around 2007 and were in the same treatment facility, Gonzales said.
“He was all into his studies, just like I was,” Gonzales recalled. “We were talking about when we got out we’re not going back and we’re going to help people out.”
The two men were paroled around the same time and both went on to do advocacy work. More recently they served together on the Bernalillo County’s Detention Facility Advisory Board and advocated for criminal justice reform at the state Legislature.
“One thing I’m going to miss is going up to Santa Fe with him every February,” Gonzales said. “I remember us going up there to one of the lobby days and us looking at each other and talking. You know 16 years ago at this time we would be sitting down at a chow hall in prison and look at what we’re doing today.”
As news of Jones’s death began to circulate over the weekend, Howard said he’s heard from people “down on their luck” as well as from professors at the University of New Mexico, the Bernalillo County Sheriff and various lawmakers.
“He had such an impact on this city,” Howard said. “It’s only dawning on me now and it’s really, really hard.”
San Juan County scraps gerrymandered voting map - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
After more than two years in court, San Juan County officials agreed to adopt a new county commission voting map that supporters say gives Native American voters a bigger voice in who is elected to the local seats.
The settlement announced on Monday resolves a dispute between the county and the Navajo Nation Department of Justice, the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and five Navajo voters who sued and alleged a new map adopted in 2021 violated the federal Voting Rights Act.
“For decades, and despite being the majority, our people were only able to elect one Navajo Commissioner in San Juan County,” Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch said. “Now we have an opportunity to change that through more equal treatment of Navajo votes in the County redistricting process.”
Navajo voters make up 92% of Native American people in San Juan County. When the San Juan County Board of Commissioners redrew its maps for county seats, it packed Native American voters into one district, rather than equally distributing those people into the two districts where they make up the majority.
Under the new map, 74% of eligible voters in San Juan County Commission District 1 are Native American, and that voting bloc makes up 67% of voters in District 2.
Commissioners are responsible for determining issues that affect local residents’ lives such as setting aside money for roads and collecting taxes.
Navajo Nation interests were joined in the lawsuit by the UCLA Voting Rights Project, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the ACLU of New Mexico, and the global law firm DLA Piper.
“The suppression of the voting power of the Navajo residents has made it harder to achieve important policy priorities, such as providing and maintaining critical infrastructure on Navajo Nation land,” the UCLA Voting Rights Project said Monday.
While the settlement itself has not been made public, its terms and the new map were included in a Sept. 11, 2023 email from an ACLU paralegal to U.S. District Court Judge James Browning.
According to the email, which was included in court records, San Juan County agreed to the new map on Sept. 8, 2023 and formally adopted it four days later. The map will remain in effect until after the next census in 2030.
The map is technically in effect for the 2024 elections, however, the two county commission districts at issue will not open up until the next midterm elections in 2026.
COUNTY OPPOSITION TO SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
Attorneys for San County argued in March 2022 that the map didn’t dilute the power of Navajo voters, and denied any violation of the Voting Rights Act.
During a 22-minute conference call on Feb. 2, 2024, the county’s lawyers said a written settlement agreement wasn’t needed because they never agreed to sign one and had already done everything they agreed to in the Sept. 11 email, according to a court clerk’s minutes of the phone call.
Still, San Juan County and Navajo Nation officials signed the settlement agreement on Feb. 28, 2024. Judge Browning dismissed the case on March 22.
As part of the settlement, the county and Navajo Nation issued a joint news release saying they agreed to the new map “in the spirit of cooperation” and that it “addresses concerns raised by the Navajo Nation in providing more meaningful opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.”
“The Navajo Nation and San Juan County hope that this resolution will allow them to move forward in improving the lives of San Juan County residents and members of the Navajo Nation,” the joint statement reads.
Reached for further comment on Tuesday, San Juan County spokesperson Devin Neeley shared the joint statement.
WHAT DID THE OLD MAP DO?
Native Americans are the largest population group in San Juan county, accounting for 39.8% of the total population and 38.7% of eligible voters, according to the lawsuit.
White residents make up less than 40% of the county’s population and control four of the county’s five commissioner seats. The old maps essentially created a Native American seat, where historically Native voters had to elect their candidate of choice in District 1 only, the lawsuit alleged.
The gerrymandering also left three commission districts where Native people “are ineffective electoral minorities.”
“The Navajo people have endured centuries of discrimination in San Juan County, including through the discriminatory redistricting map dismantled by this historic settlement agreement,” said Ryan Snow, counsel with the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Minutes from a Dec. 7, 2021 San Juan County Commission meeting cited in the lawsuit show the commissioners tabled a voting map proposed by the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, and adopted the gerrymandered map.
The gerrymandered map “packed” Native American voters into District 1 to the point where a “grossly excessive” 83.3% of the eligible voters in the district were Native, the lawsuit said.
This left another district with too few Native American voters in District 2 to have “an equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.” The suit alleged the unlawful dilution harmed Native American voters in District 2, where two Navajo candidates had lost in 2014 and 2018.
“In both elections, widespread and systematic bloc voting by Non-Hispanic White voters defeated the Navajo candidates, resulting in the election of a Non-Hispanic White Commissioner from District 2,” the lawsuit said.
Bernadette Reyes, voting rights counsel with UCLA Voting Rights Project, said the settlement “reaffirms the principle that every voice deserves to be heard in our democracy.”
“By securing the equal opportunity to elect preferred candidates in two out of five seats on the County Commission, the Navajo people will finally have a substantial and long-overdue influence in shaping their county’s governance,” Reyes said. “This case underscores the vital importance of protecting voting rights and ensuring fair representation for all citizens.”
Snow said much work remains to be done to ensure equal access to democracy for the Navajo people.
“This is an important step we hope will lead to better decisions by the county in serving its Navajo community members for years to come,” Snow said.
Preston Sanchez, senior Indigenous justice staff attorney with ACLU-NM, said it’s imperative that New Mexico county leaders consult with tribal leadership to ensure that Native voters are adequately represented whenever voting maps are redrawn.
“Tribes have a right to determine what is best for their own communities,” Sanchez said. “We will continue fighting in collaboration with Tribes to ensure those rights are respected.”
New Mexico regulators worry about US plans to ship radioactive waste back from Texas - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Federal officials gathered Tuesday in southern New Mexico to mark the 25th anniversary of the nation's only underground repository for radioactive waste resulting from decades of nuclear research and bomb making.
Carved out of an ancient salt formation about half a mile (800 meters) deep, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant outside Carlsbad has taken in around 13,850 shipments from more than a dozen national laboratories and other sites since 1999.
The anniversary comes as New Mexico raises concerns about the federal government's plans for repackaging and shipping to WIPP a collection of drums filled with the same kind of materials that prompted a radiation release at the repository in 2014.
That mishap contaminated parts of the underground facility and forced an expensive, nearly three-year closure. It also delayed the federal government's multibillion-dollar cleanup program and prompted policy changes at labs and other sites across the U.S.
Meanwhile, dozens of boxes containing drums of nuclear waste that were packed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to be stored at WIPP were rerouted to Texas, where they've remained ever since at an above-ground holding site.
After years of pressure from Texas environmental regulators, the U.S. Department of Energy announced last year that it would begin looking at ways to treat the waste so it could be safely transported and disposed of at WIPP.
But the New Mexico Environment Department is demanding more safety information, raising numerous concerns in letters to federal officials and the contractor that operates the New Mexico repository.
"Parking it in the desert of West Texas for 10 years and shipping it back does not constitute treatment," New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney told The Associated Press in an interview. "So that's my most substantive issue — that time does not treat hazardous waste. Treatment treats hazardous waste."
The 2014 radiation release was caused by improper packaging of waste at Los Alamos. Investigators determined that a runaway chemical reaction inside one drum resulted from the mixing of nitrate salts with organic kitty litter that was meant to keep the interior of the drum dry.
Kenney said there was an understanding following the breach that drums containing the same materials had the potential to react. He questioned how that risk could have changed since the character and composition of the waste remains the same.
Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque were contracted by the DOE to study the issue. They published a report in November stating that the federal government's plan to repackage the waste with an insulating layer of air-filled glass micro-bubbles would offer "additional thermal protection."
The study also noted that ongoing monitoring suggests that the temperature of the drums is decreasing, indicating that the waste is becoming more stable.
DOE officials did not immediately answer questions about whether other methods were considered for changing the composition of the waste, or what guarantees the agency might offer for ensuring another thermal reaction doesn't happen inside one of the drums.
The timetable for moving the waste also wasn't immediately clear, as the plan would need approval from state and federal regulators.
Kenney said some of the state's concerns could have been addressed had the federal government consulted with New Mexico regulators before announcing its plans. The state in its letters pointed to requirements under the repository's permit and federal laws for handling radioactive and hazardous wastes.
Don Hancock, with the Albuquerque-based watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center, said shipments of the untreated waste also might not comply with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's certification for the containers that are used.
"This is a classic case of waste arriving somewhere and then being stranded — 10 years in the case of this waste," Hancock said. "That's a lesson for Texas, New Mexico, and any other state to be sure that waste is safe to ship before it's allowed to be shipped."
Soon-to-open Pallet shelter community aims to offer a path to stability — KUNM News, Santa Fe New Mexican
After less than two weeks of construction, A church in Santa Fe yesterday celebrated the grand opening of a new transitional housing program which should be move-in ready in about two weeks.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reportsChrist Lutheran Church is working with The Life Link, a non-profit organization, to run its new Pallet village. The project will have 10 Pallet shelters, or tiny homes, communal bathrooms, laundry facilities inside the church itself and 24/7 security.
The Life Link will be managing services and security as well as selecting residents.
The goal is to provide temporary transitional housing while residents secure a permanent place to live within six months of moving into the village.
Last year Santa Fe purchased 25 of the Pallet shelters and set aside $1 million of federal coronavirus pandemic relief funds for a “safe outdoor space” to provide such services.
The first 13 residents have already been selected and will be able to move in as soon as a gate is constructed and they receive approval on their new electric meter and coyote fencing.