Oil-and-gas giant gives big to dark money group - Tripp Jennings, New Mexico In-Depth
Chevron Corporation gave the single largest contribution to a dark money group that attempted but failed to stop the growing influence of progressive lawmakers in the Legislature during this year’s primary election, campaign filings show.
The New Mexico Project, which for months fought divulging the source of its money and the details of its spending until the state’s ethics commission sued for the information, reported Chevron’s contribution of $50,000 on April 4, according to several months of the group’s campaign finance reports that were uploaded to the Secretary of State’s office website late Wednesday.
Chevron’s contribution dwarfs all other donations to the group, which formed in 2023 to defend moderate and conservative Democratic legislators against progressive challengers in the latest battle in an ongoing intra-family squabble within the state Democratic party. Despite the group’s spending, progressives strengthened their hold on the legislature.
In several campaign finance filings, the New Mexico Project reported collecting $143,000 in contributions in a flurry of giving from April 4 through May 28, just days before the June 4 primary election — far short of the $1 million goal the group’s president, Jeff Apodaca, set earlier this year.
In all, nine individuals, corporations and businesses gave the New Mexico Project $140,000 in direct contributions. The group also reported receiving $5,000 in an in-kind contribution from the Albuquerque law firm, Western Agriculture, Resource and Business Advocates, LLP (WARPA).
Chevron claiming the top spot among New Mexico Project’s contributors isn’t a surprise. The oil-and-gas giant has played a major role in New Mexico elections over the years.
In 2018, the company gave a $2.5 million donation to a political action committee. And in 2020, the company made a substantial donation to a political committee running a primary campaign, and also spread more than $700,000 to elected officials.
According to more recent campaign finance reports in 2023, a lobbyist for Chevron USA, contributed $479,000 on behalf of the company to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who was up for re-election in 2022, as well as several legislative political action committees and individual state lawmakers.
After Chevron the next largest donor to The New Mexico Project was Doug Campbell, listed as an Albuquerque interpreter, who gave the group $25,000, according to the group’s filings. That was followed by $15,000 from a political action committee for the New Mexico chapter of NAIOP, a commercial real estate association that serves developers, owners, investors, and commercial real estate professionals. Raymond Alderete, listed as self-employed in Albuquerque, gave $15,000 and Richard Herig of Albuquerque and an auto group, the Pitre Group, each gave $10,000.
Another contributor, Sam Donaldson, is listed as giving $5,000. It’s unclear whether it’s the same Sam Donaldson who retired from ABC News after decades as the network’s chief White House correspondent and anchoring such programs as World News Sunday. But the former journalist, who was born in El Paso, has a longtime connection to New Mexico.
The New Mexico Project (TNMP) reported expenses of $121,416.21, with roughly nearly $110,000 going to 47 LLC, an Albuquerque corporation that lists TNMP’s president, Jeff Apodaca, as its registered agent, according to the Secretary of State’s website. TNMP described 47 LLC’s work as producing campaign paraphernalia and paying for office expenses and travel.
The New Mexico Project, which incorporated as a nonprofit with the state just over a year ago, in mid September 2023, had hoped to raise upwards of $1 million to support its preferred primary candidates, according to Apodaca, who announced that figure on several radio shows earlier this year.
It is unclear whether The New Mexico Project will continue to raise money over the next month heading into the November election. But its campaign finance filings suggest perhaps not. The reports show no contributions going to the group from May 29 through September 2, the latest date contained in the filings uploaded to the Secretary of State’s campaign finance system.
Here are The New Mexico Project’s largest contributors:
· Chevron — $50,000
· Doug Campbell, Interpreter — $25,000
· NM NAIOP PAC, political action committee for a local chapter of an association serving developers, owners, investors, and commercial real estate professionals. — $15,000
· Raymond Alderete of Albuquerque, self employed — $15,000
· Richard Herig of Albuquerque, retail — $10,000
· Pitre Group, Albuquerque Auto Group — $10,000
· Sam Donaldson, Retired — $5,000
· Miguel Gallegos, Healthcare practitioner and technical worker — $5,000
· Retina Consultants of NM, LLC Retina, Healthcare practitioner and technical worker — $5,000
Supreme Court steps into a fight over plans to store nuclear waste in rural Texas and New Mexico — Mark Sherman, Associated Press
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to step into a fight over plans to store nuclear waste at sites in rural Texas and New Mexico.
The justices said they will review a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission exceeded its authority under federal law in granting a license to a private company to store spent nuclear fuel at a dump in West Texas for 40 years. The outcome of the case will affect plans for a similar facility in New Mexico.
Political leaders in both states oppose the facilities.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has said his state "will not become America's nuclear waste dumping ground."
The push for temporary storage sites is part of the complicated politics of the nation's so far futile quest for a permanent underground storage facility.
Roughly 100,000 tons (90,000 metric tons) of spent fuel, some of it dating from the 1980s, is piling up at current and former nuclear plant sites nationwide and growing by more than 2,000 tons a year. The waste was meant to be kept there temporarily before being deposited deep underground.
A plan to build a national storage facility northwest of Las Vegas at Yucca Mountain has been mothballed because of staunch opposition from most Nevada residents and officials.
The fight over storing nuclear waste is among 13 cases the justices added to their agenda for the term that begins Monday. Other notable cases include a plea by gun makers to end a lawsuit in which Mexico seeks to blame them for gun violence south of the border and an appeal from a death row inmate in Texas whose execution the high court halted at the last minute in July.
In the NRC case, there are two issues before the justices, which will be argued early next year.
The NRC contends that the states forfeited their right to object to the licensing decisions because they declined to join in the commission's proceedings.
Two other federal appeals courts, in Denver and Washington, that weighed the same issue ruled for the agency. Only the 5th Circuit allowed the cases to proceed.
The second issue is whether federal law allows the commission to license temporary storage sites. Texas and environmental groups, unlikely allies, both relied on a 2022 Supreme Court decision that held that Congress must act with specificity when it wants to give an agency the authority to regulate on an issue of major national significance.
In ruling for Texas, the 5th Circuit agreed that what to do with the nation's nuclear waste is the sort of "major question" that Congress must speak to directly.
The Biden administration told the court that the commission has long-standing authority reaching back to the 1954 Atomic Energy Act to deal with nuclear waste.
The NRC granted the Texas license to Interim Storage Partners LLC for a facility that could take up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants and 231 million tons of other radioactive waste. The facility would be built next to an existing dump site in Andrews County for low-level waste such as protective clothing and other material that has been exposed to radioactivity. The Andrews County site is about 350 miles (563.27 kilometers) west of Dallas, near the Texas-New Mexico state line.
New Mexico officials, led by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, are opposed to a license the commission granted to Holtec International for a similar temporary storage site in Lea County, in the southeastern part of the state near Carlsbad. The 5th Circuit also has blocked that license.
A decision is expected by the middle of next year.
The debate on new rules for Downtown continues — Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
A proposal to put more pressure on vacant property owners in Downtown Albuquerque and ban sleeping on sidewalks is back on the table for city councilors to debate Monday.
The proposed downtown vacant buildings and properties ordinance, sponsored by Councilor Joaquín Baca, is expected to lead the night.
The ordinance aims to tackle the vacant building issue and set new rules for sidewalks in Downtown by proposing increased registration fees for vacant property owners and prohibiting “sleeping, sitting, kneeling, crouching or lying down” and carrying banners or signs on sidewalks.
Read more about the ordinance here.
AI POLICY WORKING GROUP
Councilors will also discuss a proposal to put together a group of experts from city departments to develop an AI policy.
The resolution, sponsored by Councilors Tammy Fiebelkorn and Dan Champine, states that an AI policy would protect against the misuse of the technology.
Read more about the resolution here.
FIREFIGHTER RECRUITMENT GRANT
Another bill councilors are expected to vote on is a resolution to authorize a grant from the New Mexico Department of Public Safety for Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) for public safety recruitment and new firefighter and EMT training.
AFR would receive $738,450 for fiscal years 2025 through 2027.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
WHEN: 5 p.m. Oct. 7
WHERE: Vincent E. Griego Chambers in the Albuquerque Government Center, 1 Civic Plaza NW
VIRTUAL: GOV-TV or on the city’s YouTube channel
House Leader Jeffries stumps in ABQ — Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
The “D” in “Democrat” stands for “Deliver,” U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told local elected and religious leaders Friday morning.
The Democrats have, in the past couple of years delivered, lower prescription drug costs, more access to healthcare, new manufacturing jobs and lower poverty levels, he said.
Jeffries, who stands to become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives if his party takes a majority of seats in the November election, was in Albuquerque to discuss House Democrats’ efforts, accomplishments and plans for the next Congress — and to stump for Democratic candidates.
Jeffries’ host, U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, told those gathered at New Hope Full Gospel Baptist Church about how Democratic efforts have helped New Mexico.
“We are at a crossroads in so many ways, and the question that will be before the American people over the next few weeks is which direction will we choose now?” Jeffries said. “We’re committed to moving the country forward, thankful for the leadership of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Jeffries touted increasing the amount of the federal Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to as much as $3,600, which was paid out monthly rather than when citizens filed their tax returns in the early part of the year. Stansbury said the increase meant half of American children in poverty were lifted out.
Jeffries said one of his goals, should he become Speaker, will be to make the enhanced credit permanent. Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would have expanded access to the credit.
He also said Democrats and the Biden administration, through the Inflation Reduction Act, have brought prescription drug prices down, with insulin capped at $35 a month and out-of-pocket costs limited to $2,000 a year for Medicare patients.
Jeffries said the Inflation Reduction Act also includes provisions for combating climate change and boosting the country’s ability to meet demand for microchips.
“If you have any question about whether or not it’s impacting New Mexico and our community, just drive up to Rio Rancho,” Stansbury said. “They are building one of the largest fabrication plants for microchips in North America, right here in our district, which is creating thousands of jobs, because of the bill that we passed. Democrats did that.”
The pair also mentioned the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — commonly known as the bipartisan infrastructure law — and its investment of more than a trillion dollars into public works projects. Stansbury said that legislation is paying off with increased availability of running water on the Navajo Nation and broadband being expanded into the East Mountains.
“Democrats did that,” she said. “Hakeem Jeffries did that.”
Jeffries also met Thursday with Stansbury and U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández and Gabe Vasque to discuss Project 2025’s implications for New Mexico.
International fiesta fills New Mexico's sky with colorful hot air balloons - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
One of the most photographed events in the world is set to kick off Saturday with a mass ascension of color for the 52nd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
The nine-day gathering draws hundreds of thousands of spectators and pilots to New Mexico each fall for the rare opportunity to be within arm's reach as the giant balloons are unpacked and inflated. Propane burners roar and hundreds of the uniquely shaped balloons speckle the sky with vibrant colors.
Everyone usually bundles up in layers to protect against a morning chill that helps pilots stay in the air longer, but this year's fiesta could be the warmest on record, organizers say.
Morning lows and afternoon highs are expected to be above average for days in a city that on Monday recorded its hottest temperature this late in the year, at 93 degrees Fahrenheit (33.8 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service.
Globally, things have been trending hotter too. It's likely this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, the European climate service Copernicus reported in early September.
While past fiestas have had a warm day here or there, spokesman Tom Garrity said the prediction for prolonged heat is rare.
For pilots, it could mean less time aloft or carrying less weight in their baskets.
Typically, when the mornings are cool, less fuel is needed to get the balloons to rise. Fiesta veterans explain it's all about generating lift by heating the air inside the envelope to temperatures greater than what's on the outside.
"With cooler weather, pilots are able to fly for longer duration," Garrity said. "But when you have warmer temperatures, it just means that you pop up, you go up a little bit and you come back down. So just some shorter flights."
Still, ballooning happens year-round in many places, including in the Phoenix area, which has seen its share of record-breaking temperatures over recent months.
"These are really non-issues from a spectator's standpoint," said Troy Bradley, an accomplished balloon pilot who has been flying for decades. "I don't see any difference other than they won't be freezing in the pre-dawn hours."
Even the fiesta's official meteorologist has joked about the possibility of wearing shorts this year.
This year's fiesta also features 106 balloons in special shapes, 16 of which will be making their fiesta debut. That includes Mazu, modeled after the sea goddess of the same name who is deeply rooted in Taiwanese culture and traditions.
US nuclear weapon production sites violated environmental rules, federal judge decides - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
The National Nuclear Security Administration failed to properly evaluate its expansion of plutonium pit production at sites in South Carolina and New Mexico in violation of environmental regulations, a federal judge has ruled.
Plaintiffs challenged a plan consummated in 2018 for two pit production sites — at South Carolina's Savannah River and New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory — that they say relied on an outdated environmental impact study. They also say it didn't truly analyze simultaneous production, and undermined safety and accountability safeguards for a multibillion-dollar nuclear weapons program and related waste disposal.
"Defendants neglected to properly consider the combined effects of their two-site strategy and have failed to convince the court they gave thought to how those effects would affect the environment," Judge Mary Geiger Lewis said in her ruling.
The decision arrives as U.S. authorities this week certified with a "diamond stamp" the first new plutonium pit from Los Alamos for deployment as a key component to nuclear warheads under efforts to modernize the nation's weapons.
Hollow, globe-shaped plutonium pits are placed at the core of nuclear warheads. Plutonium is one of the two key ingredients used to manufacture nuclear weapons, along with highly enriched uranium.
The new ruling from South Carolina's federal court says nuclear weapons regulators violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to properly analyze alternatives to production of the nuclear warhead component at Savannah River and Los Alamos.
"These agencies think they can proceed with their most expensive and complex project ever without required public analyses and credible cost estimates," said Jay Coghlan, director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, which is a co-plaintiff to the lawsuit, in a statement Thursday that praised the ruling.
The court order gives litigants two weeks to "reach some sort of proposed compromise" in writing.
A spokesperson for the the National Nuclear Security Administration said the agency is reviewing the court's ruling and consulting with the Department of Justice.
"We will confer with the plaintiffs, as ordered," spokesperson Milli Mike said in an email. "At this point in the judicial process, work on the program continues."
The ruling rejected several additional claims, including concerns about the analysis of the disposal of radioactive materials from the pit-making process.
At the same time, the judge said nuclear weapons regulators at the Department of Energy "failed to conduct a proper study on the combined effects of their two-site strategy" and "they have neglected to present a good reason."
Plutonium pits were manufactured previously at Los Alamos until 2012, while the lab was dogged by a string of safety lapses and concerns about a lack of accountability.
Proposals to move production to South Carolina touched off a political battle in Washington, D.C., as New Mexico senators fought to retain a foothold for Los Alamos in the multibillion-dollar program. The Energy Department is now working to ramp up production at both Savannah River and Los Alamos to an eventual 80 pits per year, amid timeline extensions and rising cost estimates.
Plaintiffs to the plutonium pit lawsuit include environmental and nuclear-safety advocacy groups as well as a coalition of Gullah-Geechee communities of Black slave descendants along the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.
Outside Denver, the long-shuttered Rocky Flats Plant was capable of producing more than 1,000 war reserve pits annually before work stopped in 1989 due to environmental and regulatory concerns. In 1996, the Department of Energy provided for limited production capacity at Los Alamos, which produced its first war reserve pit in 2007. The lab stopped operations in 2012 after producing what was needed at the time.
City says it will break ground soon on pallet home project —Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
City officials said this week that a 50-unit pallet home project announced in the spring — a transitional recovery housing campus — would break ground in the next couple weeks and be completed in early 2025. The project site is located near Candelaria Road and Pan American Freeway NE.
The campus is intended to serve a growing population that’s in urgent need of help — those experiencing homelessness who also have significant addiction issues. About $5 million in city opioid settlement funds have been dedicated to the project so far. Bernalillo County officials have pledged an additional $800,000.
Health, Housing & Homelessness spokesperson Connor Woods said the funding was sufficient to cover infrastructure costs and two years of operations. He said the site is being prepped and that the pallet homes — 8-by-8-foot prefabricated units — have been purchased. It’s not yet known who will operate the campus.
“The process is still ongoing. Once an operator is selected and finalized, more details will be shared,” Woods said.
The project is a first for the city, and one that would work in tandem with a forthcoming $5.3 million, 50-bed medical sobering center at the Gateway Center. Those experiencing homelessness who are also intoxicated often end up at strained city shelters, emergency rooms and jails that don’t offer adequate addiction treatments. The Gateway Center beds would provide a space for clients to sober up, get treatment, and be offered access to recovery services, case management, and referrals to recovery housing like the pallet home campus.
The pallet home project was approved by the City Council in a 5-4 vote in April. Some of the dissension was due to the use of opioid settlement money before a city and county joint agreement on how to spend the funds was completed. The city and county had entered into a contract with global health organization Vital Strategies in February for its recommendations on the best use of the funds, which included a series of community meetings to get suggestions and feedback.
The city has received about $25 million in settlement money so far, while the county has received about $22.5 million.
Vital Strategies recently completed its community meetings and is scheduled to present a proposal to the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Government Commission on Oct. 24, Kathy Korte, chief of government affairs at Bernalillo County, said.
Meanwhile, officials said a formal contract that’s required to be in place for opioid treatment services at the pallet home campus before clients can move is in progress.
“We have been working diligently to identify a provider,” Woods said.
Taxpayers in 24 states will be able to file their returns directly with the IRS in 2025 - By Fatima Hussein, Associated Press
The IRS is expanding its program that allows people to file their taxes directly with the agency for free.
The federal tax collector's Direct File program, which allows taxpayers to calculate and submit their returns to the government directly without using commercial tax preparation software, will be open to more than 30 million people in 24 states in the 2025 filing season.
The program was rolled out as a pilot during the 2024 tax season in 12 states.
Now IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel says the program will be permanent and the IRS will expand eligibility opportunities for taxpayers.
"We're announcing significant expansions of Direct File that will make the service available to millions more taxpayers in 2025," Werfel said on a call Thursday with reporters. He said it is possible that additional states could still choose to join the program in 2025.
The pilot program in 2024 allowed people in certain states with very simple W-2s to calculate and submit their returns directly to the IRS. Those using the program claimed more than $90 million in refunds, the IRS said.
It was originally available to certain taxpayers in California, New York, Arizona, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming and Massachusetts.
States to be added in 2025 include: Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In addition, new eligibility standards will allow participation by taxpayers with 1099 income and credits including the Child and Dependent Care Credit, Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, and the deduction for Health Savings Accounts, among others.
"Other countries have been providing their citizens with the ability to do this type of thing for years," Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said on the call with reporters. Several nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, including Germany and Japan, have similar systems with prepopulated tax forms.
The direct file idea is not viewed favorably by the commercial tax prep software firms that have made billions of dollars from charging people to use their software.
Additionally, an IRS inspector general report released this week notes that the IRS has not maintained sufficient safeguards over data protection related to the IRS Free File Alliance. The alliance is a longstanding agreement between the IRS and some commercial tax preparation companies to provide free tax prep services to low and middle-income taxpayers.
The Free File Alliance is separate from the Direct File program.
The IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a "direct file" system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It gave the IRS nine months and $15 million to report on how such a program would work.