Watchdogs want US to address extreme plutonium contamination in Los Alamos' Acid Canyon - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Watchdogs are raising new concerns about legacy contamination in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home to a renewed effort to manufacture key components for nuclear weapons.
A Northern Arizona University professor emeritus who analyzed soil, water and vegetation samples taken along a popular hiking and biking trail in Acid Canyon said Thursday that there were more extreme concentrations of plutonium found there than at other publicly accessible sites he has researched in his decades-long career.
That includes land around the federal government's former weapons plant at Rocky Flats in Colorado.
While outdoor enthusiasts might not be in immediate danger while traveling through the pine tree-lined canyon, Michael Ketterer — who specializes in tracking the chemical fingerprints of radioactive materials — said state and local officials should be warning people to avoid coming in contact with water in Acid Canyon.
"This is an unrestricted area. I've never seen anything quite like it in the United States," the professor told reporters. "It's just an extreme example of very high concentrations of plutonium in soils and sediments. Really, you know, it's hiding in plain sight."
Ketterer teamed up with the group Nuclear Watch New Mexico to gather the samples in July, a rainy period that often results in isolated downpours and stormwater runoff coursing through canyons and otherwise dry arroyos. Water was flowing through Acid Canyon when the samples were taken.
The work followed mapping done by the group earlier this year that was based on a Los Alamos National Laboratory database including plutonium samples from throughout the area.
Jay Coghlan, director of Nuclear Watch, said the detection of high levels of plutonium in the heart of Los Alamos is a concern, particularly as the lab — under the direction of Congress, the U.S. Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration — gears up to begin producing the next generation of plutonium pits for the nation's nuclear arsenal.
He pointed to Acid Canyon as a place where more comprehensive cleanup should have happened decades ago.
"Cleanup at Los Alamos is long delayed," Coghlan said, adding that annual spending for the plutonium pit work has neared $2 billion in recent years while the cleanup budget for legacy waste is expected to decrease in the next fiscal year.
From 1943 to 1964, liquid wastes from nuclear research at the lab was piped into the canyon, which is among the tributaries that eventually pass through San Ildefonso Pueblo lands on their way to the Rio Grande.
The federal government began cleaning up Acid Canyon in the late 1960s and eventually transferred the land to Los Alamos County. Officials determined in the 1980s that conditions within the canyon met DOE standards and were protective of human health and the environment.
The Energy Department's Office of Environmental Management at Los Alamos said Thursday it was preparing a response to Ketterer's findings.
Ketterer and Coghlan said the concerns now are the continued downstream migration of plutonium, absorption by plants and the creation of contaminated ash following wildfires.
Ketterer described it as a problem that cannot be fixed but said residents and visitors would appreciate knowing that it's there.
"It really can't be undone," he said. "I suppose we could go into Acid Canyon and start scooping out a lot more contaminated stuff and keep doing that. It's kind of like trying to pick up salt that's been thrown into a shag carpet. It's crazy to think you're going to get it all."
New Mexico's red flag gun law being utilized more, but could be retooled - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
Four years ago, New Mexico approved a red flag gun law that allows firearms to temporarily be taken away from those deemed a danger to themselves or others.
For two years, it was used infrequently. But that is steadily changing as law enforcement officers have received training and grown more familiar with its workings.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that in 2020 the law was used to seek the seizure of a weapon only four times, but so far this year, there have been 51 petitions.
Almost all petitions have been granted by a judge.
According to a task force report presented to the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee Wednesday, more than half those petitions were in Bernalillo County.
The Albuquerque Police Department has a crisis intervention unit that’s used the law as a tool for removing guns from individuals with mental health issues who have made violent threats.
In one case, APD officers successfully used the law after a student at an Albuquerque school threatened another student and posted photos on social media of himself with a semi-automatic handgun.
The task force also identified several possible changes to the law. Those include allowing law enforcement officers to directly initiate a court petition — instead of waiting for someone else to contact them — and requiring firearms to be relinquished immediately upon a judge’s order, instead of within 48 hours.
Supreme Court resolves dispute over “zombie debt” from defaulted car loans - Alice Fordham, KUNM News
The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a four-year time limit on suing to recover a debt on a repossessed vehicle applies even if the borrower repays some of the debt in the meantime.
In a unanimous opinion on so-called "zombie debt", the Court rejected arguments by a debt-purchasing company called Autovest that a four-year statute of limitations restarts whenever a borrower pays any amount towards an outstanding balance.
The Court writes in an opinion by Chief Justice David K. Thomson that "reviving the limitation period would allow a debt collector to file a lawsuit regardless of how many years have passed since default".
The opinion continues, “This would sanction the eternal revival of claims such that the specter of zombie debt rising from the grave would forever haunt consumers. There would be no end to the underinformed debtor’s financial anguish.”
The justices affirmed a state Court of Appeals decision involving two cases that Autovest filed in district court in Doña Ana County against borrowers who defaulted on high-interest auto loan contracts.
A bank sold the repossessed cars at auctions but the proceeds failed to cover the balance of the loans. The lender sold its interest in the loan deficiencies to Autovest, who later sued the consumers for the remaining amount.
The Court of Appeals determined that the lawsuits were prohibited because they were filed more than four years after the borrowers first breached their loan contracts.
Passing a new competency law won’t be enough, NM Supreme Court justice says - Leah Romero, Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
State lawmakers were given a starting point this week to connect mental health treatment to more people accused of crimes, but who are unable to stand trial.
At a meeting of the Courts, Correction & Justice Committee on Tuesday, New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Brianna Zamora was part of an expert panel who presented a draft bill on criminal competency. She was joined by representatives from the Law Offices of the Public Defender, the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and the Administrative Office of the Courts.
The proposed law would allow courts to order people who are accused of felony-level crimes and are found incompetent to stand trial to participate in community competency restoration programs, without necessarily requiring them to be in a locked facility.
Zamora said the draft bill would give trial court judges alternatives besides incarceration, pretrial services and hospitalization at the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas.
Changing New Mexico’s criminal competency law to make it easier to find someone dangerous and put them in a locked facility for treatment was one of the proposals that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham brought for the recent special session; advocates said her bill could have led to unjust outcomes, while lawmakers in her own party declined to sponsor it during the gathering in July at the Roundhouse.
WHAT’S COMPETENCY?
Criminal competency is someone’s ability to effectively communicate with their attorney, assist in their own defense, or rationally and factually understand the charges against them, said Tess Williams, an Albuquerque public defender who handles almost exclusively mental health and competency cases.
Someone can have mental health issues or a formal diagnosis by a doctor and still be competent to stand trial, Williams said. Conversely, someone can have no known mental health issues or no diagnosis by a doctor and be incompetent, she said.
When someone’s competency is questioned, the case is paused while a mental health professional evaluates them. If they’re found competent, their case proceeds normally, sometimes to trial.
If they’re facing a misdemeanor charge and are found incompetent, their case is dismissed. If they’re found incompetent in a felony case, the court must determine whether they’re dangerous.
WHAT’S COMPETENCY RESTORATION?
If someone is found incompetent and dangerous in a felony case, they are sent to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas for competency restoration.
Competency restoration is the process of educating and training someone to a point where they are competent enough to aid their defense. It may or may not look like mental health treatment.
The person can return to court when they become competent, or they can stay confined in Las Vegas until the maximum sentence of their alleged crime.
The draft was a collaborative effort by the Supreme Court’s Commission on Mental Health & Competency, with members from all three branches of state government, police departments, local governments, and advocacy organizations.
Zamora is the non-voting liaison to the commission.
“The statute alone will not be sufficient,” Zamora said. “This will lay the groundwork to create programs.”
A new law alone won’t be enough because there is no statewide competency restoration program in New Mexico, said Jennifer Barela, an Albuquerque public defender. There are only a handful of evaluators in some jurisdictions in the state, she told the committee, resulting in a “wait in the proceedings.”
“One of the bigger issues is, we have to build some of these programs,” Barela said. “We don’t have outpatient competency, restorative competency in New Mexico. I think it’s something we should move toward.”
Competency evaluations are delayed due to an insufficient number of qualified and certified evaluators, according to a report in July by Legislative Finance Committee staff.
New Mexico has about 22 certified competency evaluators working under contracts, the report states.
“The state’s ability to fully reach and treat these individuals is hindered by a shortage of qualified behavioral health practitioners,” the LFC staff wrote.
On average, it can take one to three months for an incarcerated person to be seen by an evaluator, and six months to over a year if they are not incarcerated, the report states.
Legislative Finance Committee staff are recommending state lawmakers give money to the Administrative Office of the Courts for certified competency evaluators.
Out of all felony cases in New Mexico, only 2 percent are dismissed because of competency, according to the Legislative Finance Committee report.
Bill would create ‘off-ramps’ to treatment
The draft bill proposes adding “off ramps” to connect defendants to behavioral health treatment, Zamora said this week.
For people facing misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, judges would be able to divert them away from the criminal justice system and into mental health treatment and services, the Justice for New Mexico’s high court said in her testimony to lawmakers.
“It would also have a possibility of diverting them to assisted outpatient treatment, where we have it, and if they’re ordered to it,” Zamora said.
WHAT IS ASSISTED OUTPATIENT TREATMENT?
Assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) is court-ordered mental health treatment for adults with mental illness who are found to be dangerous.
AOT is done in the community and not in a locked facility. It can be started by a petition filed by family, mental health providers or guardians.
In cases where people are diverted to assisted outpatient treatment, they are no longer within the criminal system, but rather the civil side, Zamora said.
The proposal is a preliminary draft meant to give lawmakers a framework, and not an official proposal by the judicial branch, she said.
In the meantime, the Administrative Office of the Courts is setting up a pilot assisted outpatient treatment program in Santa Fe and pilot competency diversion programs in Las Cruces, Las Vegas, Santa Fe and Lincoln and Otero counties, Zamora said.
“I think after we implement four pilot sites we do a thorough evaluation and we refine them where they need to be. I would love to see similar programs all over the state,” Zamora said.
The $3 million appropriated to the Administrative Office of the Courts during the July special session is being used to implement these programs in 2024. Zamora said if they are effective, recurring funds from state lawmakers will be needed to continue.
“I don’t have a dollar amount, but certainly it would be pretty significant, although cheaper than incarceration and hospitalization,” she said.
Barelas Coffee House hosts Harris-Walz campaign event - Alice Fordham, KUNM News
Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has not yet visited New Mexico during her campaign, but the Barelas Coffee House hosted an event for the Harris-Walz ticket Wednesday.
Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury and Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives Javier Martínez were joined for breakfast in Albuquerque by Congressman Pete Aguilar, of California, who's chair of the House Democratic Caucus.
The officials met with members of the community, emphasizing what Speaker Martínez called a "groundswell of support" for the Harris-Walz ticket. Recent polling suggests Harris leads Republican nominee Donald Trump by seven points in New Mexico.
Congresswoman Stansbury echoed Vice-President Harris's framing of her platform as being a vision of freedom and the future, while saying former President Trump's campaign seeks to move the country backward.
Stansbury said everything is on the line this election, "from our democracy and voting rights to our right to make decisions about our own bodies"
Speaker Martínez said that mobilizing voters is now crucial. Despite an apparent uptick in support for the Democratic ticket, data from the Secretary of State's office shows far more New Mexicans registered as Republicans than Democrats last month.
Court pilot project in San Miguel County to help people with mental illness - Taylor Velazquez, KUNM News
The way the magistrate court in San Miguel County handles those charged with misdemeanors who may be experiencing mental health struggles is set to change. As of now, anyone charged with a misdemeanor who is found incompetent to stand trial is dismissed.
This week, the court will be launching the competency diversion pilot project that aims to steer people who face severe mental health challenges away from the justice system and connect them with long term services like housing assistance, food, medication, and employment opportunities.
Justice Briana H. Zamora, the Supreme Court’s Liaison to the Commission on Mental Health and Competency says, “The goal is to create a pathway to treatment to stabilize the lives of people with severe mental illness and promote public safety by reducing re-arrests”.
But according to New Mexico Political Report, Democratic Senate Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart says she’s worried about lack of professional capacity and the training that would go into this type of outpatient competency restoration.
The pilot program will provide early diversion but it is completely voluntary and once participants successfully complete the plan developed in collaboration with the court will have their criminal charges dismissed.
As Colorado River states await water cuts, they struggle to find agreement on longer-term plans - By Suman Naishadham, Associated Press
The federal government is expected to announce water cuts soon that would affect some of the 40 million people reliant on the Colorado River, the powerhouse of the U.S. West. The Interior Department announces water availability for the coming year months in advance so Western cities, farmers and others can plan.
Behind the scenes, however, more elusive plans are being hashed out: how the basin will share water from the diminishing 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river after 2026, when many current guidelines that govern it expire.
The Colorado River supplies water to seven Western states, more than two dozen Native American tribes, and two states in Mexico. It also irrigates millions of acres of farmland in the American West and generates hydropower used across the region. Years of overuse combined with rising temperatures and drought have meant less water flows in the Colorado today than in decades past.
That's made the fraught politics of water in the West particularly deadlocked at times. Here's what you need to know about the negotiations surrounding the river.
WHAT ARE STATES DISCUSSING?
Plans for how to distribute the Colorado River's water after 2026. A series of overlapping agreements, court decisions and contracts determine how the river is shared, some of which expire at the end of 2025.
In 2007, following years of drought, the seven U.S. states in the basin — Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — and the federal government adopted rules to better respond to lower water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Those are the river's two main reservoirs that transfer and store Colorado River water, produce hydropower and serve as barometers of its health.
The 2007 rules determine when some states face water cuts based on levels at Lake Mead. That's why states, Native American tribes, and others are drafting new plans, which anticipate even deeper water cuts after 2026 based on projections of the river's flow and climate modeling of future warming in the West.
"The ultimate problem is that watershed runoff is decreasing due to an ever-warming climate," said Jack Schmidt, professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University, and director of the Center for Colorado River studies. "The proximate problem is we've got to decrease our use."
HOW ARE THESE TALKS DIFFERENT FROM EXPECTED CUTS THIS MONTH?
Sometime this month, the federal government will announce water cuts for 2025 based on levels at Lake Mead. The cuts may simply maintain the restrictions already in place. Reclamation considers factors like precipitation, runoff, and water use to model what levels at the two reservoirs will look like over the following two years. If Lake Mead drops below a certain level, Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico are subject to cuts, though California has so far been spared because of its senior water rights.
In recent years, Arizona has faced the bulk of these cuts, while Mexico and Nevada also saw reductions. But these are short-term plans, and the guidelines surrounding them are being renegotiated for the future.
WHAT ARE STATES ALREADY DOING TO CONSERVE WATER?
Arizona, Nevada and Mexico faced federal water cuts from the river in 2022. Those deepened in 2023 and returned to 2022 levels this year. As the crisis on the river worsened, Arizona, California and Nevada last year agreed to conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water until 2026, with the U.S. government paying water districts and other users for much of that conservation.
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — the state's so-called Upper Basin — don't use their full 7.5 million acre-foot allocation from the river, and get a percentage of the water that's available each year.
An acre-foot is enough water to serve roughly two to three U.S. households in a year.
HAVE THESE EFFORTS WORKED?
Yes, for now. A wet 2023 plus conservation efforts by Lower Basin states improved the short-term outlook for both reservoirs. Lake Powell is at roughly 39% capacity while Mead is at about 33%.
Climate scientists and hydrologists say that higher temperatures driven by climate change will continue to reduce runoff to the Colorado River in coming years, and cause more water to be lost to evaporation, so future plans should prepare for less water in the system. Brad Udall, a senior water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, said predicting precipitation levels is harder to do.
The short-term recovery in the Colorado River basin should be viewed in the context of a more challenging future, he added.
"I would push back heartily against any idea that our rebound over the last couple of years here is some permanent shift," Udall said.
WHAT CAN'T STATES AGREE ON?
What to do after 2026. In March, Upper and Lower Basin states, tribes and environmental groups released plans for how the river and its reservoirs should be managed in the future.
Arizona, California and Nevada asked the federal government to take a more expansive view of the river management and factor water levels in seven reservoirs instead of just Lake Powell and Lake Mead to determine the extent of water cuts. If the whole system drops below 38% capacity, their plan said, deeper cuts should be shared evenly with the Upper Basin and Mexico.
"We are trying to find the right, equitable outcome in which the Upper Basin doesn't have to take all of the pain from the long-term reduction of the river, but we also can't be the only ones protecting Lake Powell," said Tom Buschatzke, director of Arizona's Department of Water Resources and the state's lead negotiator in the talks.
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming called for addressing shortages based on the combined capacity of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, as opposed to just Lake Mead. It proposed more aggressive cuts that would affect California, Arizona and Nevada sooner when the major reservoir levels fall. Their plan doesn't call for reductions in how much water is delivered to Upper Basin states.
Becky Mitchell, the lead negotiator for the state of Colorado, said the Upper Basin's plan focuses more on making policy with an eye on the river's supply, rather than the demands for its water.
"It's important we start acknowledging that there's not as much water available as folks would like," Mitchell said.
WHERE DOES IT GO FROM HERE?
The federal government is expected to issue draft regulations by December that factor in the different plans, and propose a way forward. Until then, states, tribes and other negotiators will continue talking and trying to reach agreement.
Head of Theodore Roosevelt National Park departs North Dakota job - By Jack Dura, Associated Press
The top official of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota has left her position, but details regarding her departure remain uncertain.
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven on Wednesday said he understands former Superintendent Angie Richman has a new position in New Mexico. The Associated Press emailed and left phone messages with Richman and Deputy Superintendent Maureen McGee-Ballinger.
An automatic email reply Tuesday from Richman said, "It has been a pleasure working with all of you and working for Theodore Roosevelt National Park." Her email also noted the new acting superintendent as of Monday. Richman appeared to be on the job as recently as July 31, when she answered AP email questions about triple-digit heat in the park.
Richman began as acting superintendent in December 2021, and took over the job permanently in May 2022, following her predecessor's departure for a new position, according to The Bismarck Tribune.
Earlier this year, park officials ended a planning process that drew strong opposition for contemplating removal of the park's popular wild horses, though it was unclear if Richman's departure was connected in any way. The planning process unfolded during her tenure.
Wild horse advocate Chris Kman, who has been critical of park officials, said she wishes Richman all the best and plans to reach out to Acting Superintendent Nancy Finley. Hoeven commended Finley for her background with horses.
In April, Hoeven announced he had clinched a commitment from the National Park Service to keep the horses in the park, and park officials announced they were terminating the controversial planning process. Hoeven said he has emphasized to park officials that transparency and public input are key regarding the horses' management going forward.
"I want a herd there that's healthy and there for the long term, and I want it managed in a way that the public feels really good about it," he said.
About 200 wild horses roam the park's southern unit in the scenic, rugged Badlands near Medora where the 26th president hunted and ranched as a young man in the 1880s.