NMED releases final strategic water supply feasibility study - Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
More details are now available about a controversial plan to use treated produced and brackish water for industrial purposes. Produced water is a byproduct of oil and gas extraction.
The New Mexico Environment Department released its final feasibility study this week looking at the proposed strategic water supply. The department released the draft version in September.
The feasibility study anticipates that the treated water could be used in green hydrogen production, data centers, semiconductor manufacturing, solar panel manufacturing, electric vehicle manufacturing, pumped storage hydroelectric or cement and concrete production.
The final feasibility study comes about a year after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced plans to create a strategic water supply.
The feasibility study is a key step in the state’s 50-year water plan.
“Our 50-Year Water Action Plan protects our drinking water, diversifies our water supply, and strengthens our economy as we face ongoing water challenges,” Lujan Grisham said in a press release. “This study shows we can—and must—safeguard our freshwater supply while establishing new sources of water for our growing economy.”
While there are other states that use treated produced water or brackish water, New Mexico is the only state that has proposed having the government essentially working as an intermediary between those who are interested in purchasing the treated water and those who are treating it.
New Mexico is billing this as a way to further build upon the growth in the clean energy sector, including in clean energy manufacturing.
“To expand our economy and lower carbon emissions without protecting and saving our freshwater for communities would be a reckless effort,” NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said in a press release. “Instead, New Mexico is meeting the moment for the generations of New Mexican families who will find employment in the industries that both solve climate change and ensure water security.”
The plan quickly met backlash from environmental advocates who are concerned about the unintended consequences and potential impacts to the very limited freshwater resources that the strategic water supply is intended to protect.
The New Mexico legislature will need to provide the funding if the strategic water supply is to become reality.
Business licensing proposal moves through City Council committee without fee increases - Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
City councilors showed support for a proposal from Mayor Tim Keller’s office to shift from a business registration system to one that issues licenses during a committee meeting Monday night. But members of the Finance and Government Operations Committee cut a provision that would have increased registration and licensing fees.
The measure, if passed by the full council, would allow the city to issue licenses to businesses that could also be used as leverage to ensure those businesses comply with local and state laws. The mayor’s office argues that without business licenses that can be revoked from the city, “legitimate businesses” face “unfair competition by businesses that operate in violation of local, state and federal laws.”
Councilors originally discussed the legislation during a Nov. 18 meeting, read more about it here.
The current system requires business owners to pay a $35 registration fee. The original proposal aimed to set new license fees and increase them by 5% each year. Business owners would have had to pay a $50 annual license fee starting July 2025, $75 in 2026 and $100 in 2027.
Councilor Brook Bassan, who is sponsoring the measure at the request of the mayor’s office, said during the committee meeting that there are certain hotels “that are prostituting and selling drugs out of them,” but the city can’t close them down because of the current system. Bassan did not reference any specific businesses.
“I think that most of [the businesses] that I’ve spoken with are OK paying that increase in a business license for the effective nature of what they’re going to get as far as the enforcement and proper protocol to follow,” Bassan said.
City Council President Dan Lewis said while he supports establishing a licensing system, he is opposed to increased fees. He successfully amended the legislation to set the annual license fee at $35.
Planning Department Director Alan Varela defended the proposed increases to City Desk ABQ ahead of the meeting, arguing that $50 was a “very minimal increase in order for the city and good businesses to benefit from this program.”
While the yearly increased fees were removed, Varela told the committee Monday night keeping the fee at $35 would “still be helping the public a tremendous amount here in Albuquerque.”
“We’re very glad that we’ve found some common ground on the understanding that this bill will help us have a tool to punish and to prevent the businesses that are operating illegally,” Varela said.
The legislation is expected to be on the agenda for the full council’s Dec. 16 meeting.
New Mexico election results are official: 1 House recount, plus a huge jump in provisional ballots — Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The results of the 2024 general elections are now official, after a board made up of the New Mexico governor, secretary of state and chief Supreme Court justice signed off on the results Tuesday.
The trio met for what’s called the State Canvassing Board, certifying results for races up and down the ballot. The board affirmed that 928,290 voters cast ballots this election, which amounts to 67.13% of total registered voters.
Members also noted that more than 8,000 voters cast ballots provisionally this year, which is a huge increase from the 2020 election.
And board members ordered a recount for District 57 in the New Mexico House of Representatives. That seat in Rio Rancho was left vacant by Republican Rep. Jason Harper, who resigned earlier this year.
The race is currently split by a tiny margin: 130 votes of 16,618 cast.
Candidates Republican Catherine Jeanette Cullen and Democrat Michelle Eleanor Sandoval each have 50% of the vote.
Cullen has the slight lead. If she’s still ahead after the recount, Republicans will have 26 seats in the House, compared with 44 seats held by Democrats.
The results of the recount, which is required when candidates are separated by less than 1% of the total votes cast, will be finalized Dec. 16, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. A Los Alamos County Commission race with five candidates will also be subject to a recount.
“The 2024 General Election was run with efficiency and integrity by the state’s election administrators and every New Mexican should have the highest level of confidence in these official election results,” said Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver in a news release.
HUGE INCREASE IN PROVISIONAL BALLOTS AMID SAME-DAY REGISTRATION DELAYS
The number of election-day voters increased drastically from the last presidential election in 2020. So did the number of people who voted provisionally.
Across the state on Nov. 5, voters faced delays if they tried to register and vote on the same day, which state officials have attributed to technical difficulties and high demand.
If those seeking same-day registration faced long wait times, county clerks told them to cast provisional ballots. Those ballots can then be counted later once elections officials confirm a voter is eligible.
Some voters, including students at the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University, waited three hours or longer to register and cast ballots. Polling places elsewhere were forced to stay open past the statewide 7 p.m. closing time to deal with the backlog.
This year, 8,091 voters cast provisional ballots, or about .9% of voters. In 2020, just 687 voters cast ballots provisionally, or about 0.1% of voters who cast ballots that year, according to a report from the United States Election Assistance Commission.
The secretary of state’s office said the high demand for same-day registration caused a brief “outage” early in the morning, and then the state devoted additional servers to try to efficiently process the registration forms. Still, county clerks and elections observers said they spent the rest of the day trying to catch up.
Elections observers with the Carter Center noted same-day voter registration delays in 14 counties. The group reported voters waited between 10 minutes and more than two hours. Some voters left without voting, according to a news release from the group.
Same-day registration has been legal in New Mexico since 2019 and was expanded in subsequent years. During local elections in 2023, about 4,900 voters used same-day voter registration. That was about 2% of all the voters who cast ballots that election.
New Mexico secretary of state’s office says she will not file police report over harassment — Austin Fischer, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s top election official has reversed course and says she will not pursue criminal charges over online threats toward her around this month’s election.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, told reporters on Nov. 12 that she was preparing to file a police report tied to harassment she faced on social media that were “egged on” by a Republican state representative who has made unverified claims of voter fraud in state elections.
But Alex Curtas, a spokesperson for Toulouse Oliver, said in an email Monday that plans have changed.
“We have not filed a report on this matter and are unlikely to as the most incendiary of the online messages were deleted before we could compile them for review and potential referral,” Curtas said.
Had she filed a report, Toulouse Oliver would have gone to state police or the state Department of Justice alleging violations of a 2023 state law making it a felony to intimidate election officials during their official duties.
Gateway Center’s medical sobering unit to open next month — Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
Treatment, resources and a foothold toward sobriety: Those are the features expected to be on offer at the Gibson Gateway Center’s new medical sobering unit set to open in mid-December. The project is one that officials have long said will help fill an urgent need for those in the city experiencing homelessness who also need medically-supervised treatment for alcohol and substance use disorders.
The open layout is set up to accommodate up to 50 people at a time, with beds, recliners and private rooms for clients to decompress. The unit will operate around the clock and clients can stay for up to 24 hours, officials said.
While there, clients will have access to counseling, housing navigation and other support options. Albuquerque is now one of about 60 other similarly designed medical sobering centers located across the country, officials said. The center was funded in part from $4.35 million appropriated by Bernalillo County and $4.2 million in federal funds secured by New Mexico’s congressional delegation.
The new unit should be welcome news for area hospitals, as a number of those living on the streets end up in emergency rooms in order to sober up — placing an additional strain on hospital resources for non-emergency situations. Albuquerque Fire Rescue and Bernalillo County Fire Rescue staff are expected to refer clients to the new center.
“Far too many people are taken to hospitals for substance use issues, and that’s not always the appropriate place,” Health, Housing & Homelessness Director Gilbert Ramírez, said in a statement. “People will now have access to a safe space to gain sobriety with medical oversight while also being connected to case management and other vital resources.”
Albuquerque’s Listo Health was selected through the city’s request for proposals process to operate the center. Officials said peer support workers will also be on staff to share lived experiences and offer support to clients.
“If this medical sobering center was around when I was struggling … I believe it would have set me on a path to recovery much sooner,” Denise Thomas, a peer support worker with Albuquerque Community Safety, said in a statement. “It would have given me the space and support to get the help I needed, without judgment.”
Thomas works in ACS’s opioid education program.
Eventually, one of the options for those who are discharged from the center will be the forthcoming Recovery Gateway, for those battling drug and alcohol addiction. The city broke ground on that project in October — a micro-community pallet home campus near Pan American Freeway and Candelaria Road NE.
It is expected to house up to 50 people in 46 pallet homes — 42 single-occupancy units and four double-occupancy units for couples. Residents can stay up to 24 months or until they are connected to longer-term recovery housing.