EPA finalizes plan to move uranium mine waste to landfill near Thoreau - By Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
Uranium mine waste rock that has been sitting for decades near the Navajo Nation community of Churchrock will be moved to a landfill six miles east of the Village of Thoreau.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed an action memo Monday finalizing the plan to transport the low-level radioactive material to the Red Rock Landfill property.
“I feel as though our community finally has something of a win,” Teracita Keyanna, a member of the executive committee for Red Water Pond Road Community Association, said in a news release. “Removing the mine waste from our community will protect our health and finally put us back on a positive track to Hózhǫ (balance).”
The mine waste was left behind at three areas on the former Quivera Mine site, including near Navajo homes where residents are living with the health and environmental impacts.
“This decision will remove over 1 million cubic yards of waste that has haunted the Red Water Pond Road and Pipeline Road communities for too long,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in a separate news release. “These cleanup efforts will pave the way for these two Diné communities to fully — and safely — utilize this land.”
The Red Rock Landfill currently receives municipal solid waste from McKinley and Cibola counties as well as Navajo Nation communities, including Tuba City, Arizona. The landfill also has a potential site for a uranium disposal cell, which is located on a part of the 640-acre property that is separate from the existing municipal waste disposal area. This portion of the property is located next to the shuttered Escalante Generating Station.
The decision to move the waste to the landfill comes after decades of debate that, at one point, included potentially adding more radioactive waste on top of the existing tailings pile.
The landfill owner, Northwest New Mexico Regional Solid Waste Authority, must now begin the years-long process to apply for necessary permits from the New Mexico Environment Department. The Regional Solid Waste Authority must show that the disposal of uranium mine waste will not impact groundwater, air or soil in the decades to come and that Thoreau and other nearby communities will not be harmed.
Those permit applications will include opportunities for public input.
While the Red Water Pond Road and Pipeline Road communities are excited to see the mine waste removed, people living in the Thoreau area are concerned. Last year, nearly 100 Thoreau High School students wrote letters to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asking her to intervene and attempt to stop the mine waste from being moved to the Red Rocks Landfill.
The EPA’s decision comes following negotiations with the Navajo Nation and the EPA is continuing to work on solutions to address uranium mine waste on the reservation. Those solutions include a potential disposal location off of tribal lands or the possibility that the waste could be consolidated into a single location on the Navajo Nation.
There are no existing disposal facilities dedicated to accepting uranium mine waste within 350 miles of the Navajo Nation and there are hundreds of documented abandoned uranium mines dotting the reservation.
“This solution is a compromise that will get radioactive waste in this area off of the Navajo Nation as soon as possible,” Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said in a news release. “It’s not everything the three affected communities would wish for but it’s action in the right direction now rather than in the future. Most importantly, this will protect our people from harmful exposure. I greatly appreciate Administrator Guzman’s continued compassion and attention to the Navajo Nation after decades of having the legacy of uranium contamination ignored.”
New Mexico overdose deaths decrease for second straight year - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Fewer New Mexicans died from drug overdoses for the second straight year in a row, according to mortality data released Tuesday.
The highest rate, recorded in 2021, was 1,029 deaths—roughly three people per day, according to the New Mexico Department of Health. Since then, rates have decreased roughly 4% each year.
In 2022, New Mexico recorded 997 overdose deaths, which fell to 948 in 2023, the latest year on record.
Nonetheless, New Mexico death rates from substance use remain among the highest in the nation, a consistent pattern for more than 20 years.
Public health officials celebrated the decrease in a news release, but Gina DeBlassie, interim secretary for the state’s health department, said more work is needed.
“These decreases are welcome news, but there is still much more to do to reduce the problem of substance misuse in New Mexico,” DeBlassie said in a written statement. “Substance misuse is a multifaceted and complex public health issue, and we need to continue to aggressively attack this problem.”
Robert Nott, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Health, said the cause of the decline is unknown. He pointed to the increase in recent years to “enhance awareness and provide tools to keep New Mexicans who are at risk for an overdose, safer.”
More than half of the deaths were attributed to fentanyl overdose in 2023, while methamphetamine was involved in 51% of deaths. About 30% of the deaths involved both substances.
New Mexicans aged 25-64 accounted for 84% of the deaths, with fewer than 10 deaths occurring in people younger than 15 or older than 75 years of age. About 26% of the deaths were in the age range of 35-44 years.
Some New Mexico counties are experiencing higher rates of overdose deaths, according to the state’s health authority, including Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and San Miguel counties, which exceeded the statewide age-adjusted rate of 46.3 deaths per 100,000 people.
City of Albuquerque names crime and homelessness as top funding priorities - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
With the New Mexico legislative session set to begin in less than two weeks, the City of Albuquerque is outlining its state funding priorities. Initiatives to combat crime and ease homelessness top the list.
Mayor Tim Keller and other city leaders announced the priorities Wednesdsay. In a statement, the mayor said the city has momentum and is asking lawmakers to keep projects moving forward.
The funding priorities the city identifies as enhancing “public safety” are primarily directed to the police department. They include equipping officers with emergency vehicles, cameras, and other technology. Fire stations also stand to receive some of the capital funding.
The city is also eyeing expanding services for people living on its streets, including more overnight shelter beds, pallet homes and case management.
To address Albuquerque’s housing shortage, the city is prioritizing putting state funds towards building more affordable housing, purchasing land and converting hotels.
New Mexico’s new wildland firefighters say they’re making steady progress toward Hotshot status - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
After their first year of existence, two New Mexico wildland firefighting teams say they’re on track to become certified Hotshots, a designation that will increase the state’s capacity to fight wildfires, and mark its first foray creating elite wildfire teams.
The move follows state lawmakers’ 2023 approval of $1.3 million to the State Forestry Division for the Mimbres and Pecos River wildfire teams in northern and southern New Mexico in the aftermath of the devastating 2022 fire season. That season featured the two biggest wildfires in New Mexico history, the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire and the Black Fire.
Having Hotshot firefighters—who possess the highest level of certification—year-round in New Mexico would allow quicker and more effective responses to wildfires across the state,where blazes can erupt at any time, anywhere. At present, only Utah and Alaska have such teams.
“We would have better capabilities to help fight that fire,” squad boss Joshua Chavarria said. “We wouldn’t have to bring in more experienced people, because we would have a core here.”
With early winter underway, New Mexico’s fire season has already begun. On Jan. 4, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning, which signals high fire risk, for the Middle Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere due to low humidity, strong winds and an unstable atmosphere.
In 2024, Chavarria and other members of the Mimbres Crew, based in Socorro, fought four fires in New Mexico, including the Salt Fire near Ruidoso. They also responded to two fires in Oregon and helped with prescribed burns on federal land in the Carson and Gila national forests.
Their counterparts in northern New Mexico, the Pecos River team, fought fires in New Mexico, North Dakota and Oregon in 2024, according to state forestry spokesperson George Ducker.
But because both teams are at a lower level of certification, known as “type 2 initial attack” crews, that often meant arriving to fires and being delegated to supporting roles. The Salt Fire in mid-June, which drew firefighters and a command team from out of state, was one example, even though it erupted here in New Mexico. The Salt Fire and the nearby South Fork Fire burned more than 25,000 acres and were contained in mid-July.
“When we got there and checked in, we kind of had to explain what we were capable of and what kind of experience we had. And because we were a ‘type 2’ crew, they kind of said, ‘All right, well, you guys hang tight.’” Chavarria said. “And then there was some other crews that came in and they went right to work.”
The goal, Forestry leaders said at the time, was to hire two crews of between 20 and 22 people and create a cohesive fire-response unit that could eventually leap all the hurdles toward becoming elite Hotshots.
The Forestry Division is still hiring for both teams. The Mimbres crew expects to hire its 20th member by February, crew members said, but they still need an additional squad boss who is crew boss-qualified.
The Mimbres crew needs at least five members with that qualification before it can seek approval from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, which certifies Hotshots, among other roles. The Pecos River team has nine members, Ducker said.
They also need vehicles and a permanent space. The crew hopes to move into an office in Socorro in 2025. At the moment, they meet in an office on the campus of the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas.
More than staffing, the crews need more experience and cohesion, said Ducker. Members estimated it will take three to five years, at most, for them to check all the boxes and survive a field test by NWGC examiners.
Chase Smith, assistant superintendent of the Mimbres team, held up a booklet half-an-inch thick showing all the requirements the team will need to complete before they’d reach out to the NWGC for an on-site visit.
“They grade us on all this stuff,” he said, flipping through the booklet.
But until then, the Mimbres crew said they’re gearing up for another punishing wildfire season in New Mexico and elsewhere.
“I think we come in with a notion that it’s just gonna be a horrible season, and we’ll just see what goes on,” said Candice Kutrosky, the team’s superintendent. “You always expect the worst, right? You plan on that. And so if it’s not that bad, you’re like, ‘Oh, good.’”
Stargazers' delight: Efforts to cut unwanted light pollution win praise - Associated Press
Advocates for limits on indiscriminate outdoor lighting that are obscuring night skies worldwide are recognizing efforts by an oil and natural gas developer to reduce scattered light in New Mexico.
DarkSky International, an advocacy group for preserving views of starry skies, on Wednesday announced its first-ever certification of oil and natural gas sites that seek to reduce unwanted light pollution.
It recognized Denver-based Franklin Mountain Energy for lighting retrofits at two sites and one new location within a major oil production zone in southeastern New Mexico. The projects are expected to reduce skyglow at locations including Carlsbad Caverns National Park, a remote gathering point for astronomy buffs and night hiking.
Franklin Mountain Energy cofounder Audrey Robertson said the lighting changes will maintain safety for workers while also reducing electricity consumption.
The company said in a statement that it worked on the effort with an alliance of federal land and parks agencies, telescopic observatories and the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. Recommendations from the alliance include equipment that directs light downward onto work areas and limits light that is cast upward into the sky.
Stargazers worldwide are grappling with the encroachment of outdoor lighting at night.
A 2023 study that analyzed data from more than 50,000 amateur stargazers found that artificial lighting is making the night sky across the world about 10% brighter each year. As of 2016, more than 80% of the world lived under light-polluted skies.
New Mexico state lawmakers are drafting a proposed update to a 1999 law that regulates outdoor night lighting in the state's high-altitude mountains and desert. The initiative responds to a rapid increase in light pollution amid advances in energy-efficient LED technology that has spurred more outdoor night lighting that is often unshielded.
The National Park Service has set the protection of dark night skies as a priority at remote locations including the Chaco Culture National Historic Park, an area of New Mexico that Native Americans consider sacred. More than 99% of the park has no permanent outdoor lighting.
ABQ agrees to halt encampment clearing for annual homeless count amid ongoing sweeps — Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
About 40 volunteers gathered in a downtown Albuquerque conference room Tuesday, grappling with the final survey questions they’ll ask when they set out later this month in search of people living on the streets.
The annual point-in-time count is already a challenging – and imperfect – means of taking a census of the state’s homeless population. Volunteers across the state conduct surveys over a few days and nights, collecting basic demographic and other information from unhoused people, and sometimes adding a question or two about relevant local issues, like access to free and clean restrooms.
Leaders of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, which coordinates the annual count, said the undertaking is more fraught this year, amid steep increases in unsheltered people and following a Supreme Court ruling that makes it easier for cities to crack down on public camping.
“It’s more difficult, in general, when people are fearing being kicked out, to be sure that they’re going to be where you think they are when you go to survey them,” said William Bowen, a program officer for the coalition.
Making that effort a little easier this year, at least in Albuquerque, is an agreement by city officials to hold off on their regular clearing of homeless encampments for a few days later this month when volunteers fan out across the city to speak with people on the streets, Bowen said.
According to Bowen, the city has agreed to postpone sweeps in various “zones” throughout the city beginning Jan. 23, beginning with the International District and ending with Downtown.
A similar pause during the count last year was supposed to occur, Bowen said, but a “miscommunication” occurred. In its annual report last year, one that nonetheless reported a 26% increase in Albuquerque homelessness, authors said that the city’s “decommissioning” of encampments stymied their efforts.
“The city’s aggressive decommissioning policy leading up into the night of the count still caused surveyors to arrive in surveying zones, previously identified as having been heavily populated with unsheltered individuals, with no one to survey,” the authors wrote back then.
This year, Bowen said, the coalition and its volunteers have more assurances they’ll be able to do their work and find people in the usual spots.
In a statement, city spokesperson Alex Bukoski said that while officials will be “cleaning” during the point-in-time count, they will hold off on asking people to move except when they’re somewhere unsafe.
“The city will continue to offer outreach during the point-in-time count as we work with our partners to ensure we’re getting the most accurate data possible,” he said.
The federal Housing and Urban Development Department requires point-in-time counts for cities and states to receive millions of dollars in funding to address housing and homelessness. In 2022, for example, Albuquerque and the rest of the state received nearly $15 million from HUD’s Continuum of Care program.
It’s not clear exactly how much funding is tied to the result of the count, Bowen said, but he stressed that it is a HUD requirement. And he said all parties should agree, even if they have competing interests or views of the homelessness crisis, that a correct and comprehensive view of homelessness trends and issues in New Mexico is worthwhile.
“I think everyone would like a more-accurate count. Different sides of the political world have different reasons for that,” he said. “But you know, everyone wants it to be accurate.”
Assuming the volunteers can find unsheltered people on city streets, they discussed Tuesday what questions they should ask them, and how to do so.
A final questionnaire is still being developed, but Bowen suggested at the end of the meeting that volunteers would ask all the HUD-required questions and a few others specific to Albuquerque and New Mexico. Those other questions could be barriers the homeless face in finding housing, whether they’ve been threatened on account of being homelessness and, amid a rise in infectious diseases like norovirus, whether they had access to restrooms.
Toward the end of the meeting, coalition member Jazmin Moreno stood up and announced that she’d received word about another city sweep of a “mass encampment sweep” near Central Avenue and Tramway Boulevard. She urged those in the audience who work with that population to be aware and to offer help, as needed.
In his statement to Source New Mexico, Bukoski did not respond to questions about whether such a sweep had occurred Tuesday.
“City workers conduct daily outreach throughout Albuquerque and during that process individuals experiencing homelessness are offered resources and transportation to shelter and other services,” he said.
US will keep protecting more than 2,000 Rocky Mountain grizzly bears - By Matthew Brown Associated Press
The Biden administration will continue protecting about 2,000 grizzly bears in four Rocky Mountain states despite objections from Republican-led states, U.S. wildlife officials said Wednesday.
Federal officials also said they plan to reclassify the grizzly's status so ranchers would be able to shoot bears that attack livestock. Protections will be withdrawn in states where the animals are no longer found, including California, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon.
The changes announced Wednesday could be revisited under President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration.
The Associated Press obtained details of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision in advance of its public announcement.
Grizzlies are fearsome bruins that can reach 800 pounds (363 kilograms) and live more than 25 years. They've been protected as a threatened species across the lower 48 states since 1975. Officials during Trump's first term sought to eliminate those protections, but were reversed in court.
Republican officials in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service beginning in 2021 seeking to reclaim state management of the grizzly population. That would have opened the door to hunts, although state officials said those would be limited and not endanger the overall population.
Federal officials said they will work toward ending protections eventually, but declined to offer a timeline.
"This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting," Martha Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director, said in a statement.
Agency officials said they will take public comments on whether hunting could be used to relieve conflicts between people and bears. That would require an explicit exemption from provisions of the Endangered Species Act and would likely be challenged by environmentalists in court.
The public also can comment on whether it should be legal to shoot bears attacking livestock.
The agency's actions drew a sharp rebuke from Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who worked on a prior attempt to remove protections for bears in and around Yellowstone National Park when he led the U.S. Interior Department under Trump.
"There's no denying the Biden administration jammed this through with 12 days to go knowing it's a blatantly political play to appease radical environmentalists," Zinke said in a statement to AP. "Thankfully the political hands pulling the strings at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are about to be fired."
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and some members of Congress also criticized Wednesday's decision, while wildlife advocates welcomed it. "The Fish and Wildlife Service rightly followed the science," said Andrea Zaccardi with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.
Grizzlies greatly expanded their range over the past several decades, including in parts of western Washington state. That's led to more conflicts between humans and bears, including periodic attacks on livestock and, rarely, on people.
U.S. government scientists concluded years ago that the bear population in parts of the West — including around Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks — had biologically recovered. But there's been concern that state wildlife laws wouldn't be enough to protect the animals.
Former Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly recovery coordinator Chris Servheen said keeping protections in place will allow grizzlies to continue expanding into new areas. Without those safeguards, he added, the species would again be driven toward extinction because of habitat losses due to climate change and hostile state officials intent on reducing bear populations.
"We spent about $30 million and 45 years recovering grizzly bears to where they are now. If they are delisted, it would turn around and they would again be on the verge of extinction," Servheen said in an interview. He said he had not yet reviewed documents related to Wednesday's decision.
An estimated 50,000 grizzlies once roamed portions of 18 western states stretching from Texas to the Canadian border. They were wiped out in most areas by overhunting and trapping.
By 1975, only about 700 to 800 bears remained in the lower 48 states.
Following intensive recovery efforts led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are now more than 2,000 grizzlies in the lower 48 states and larger populations in Alaska, where hunting is allowed.
Even where hunting isn't allowed, people are the biggest threat to bears. Dozens die annually after being captured and euthanized by wildlife agents in response to livestock attacks, shot by hunters in self-defense or hit by vehicles and trains.
Prior attempts to lift protections — in 2007 and 2017 — were blocked in federal court. In 2021, federal scientists determined protections were still needed, in part because human-caused deaths. Authorities reconsidered over the past two years at the request of governors in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in 2023 that there was "substantial" evidence grizzlies have recovered from the threat of extinction in the regions surrounding Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.
After the species temporarily lost protection in the Yellowstone region in 2017, hunts were scheduled in Wyoming — where almost 1,500 people applied for 12 grizzly bear licenses, and Idaho, which issued just one license. The hunts were blocked by a court order just days before they were set to begin.
Federal officials previously raised concerns about laws from Republican-led states that could potentially harm grizzly populations. Among them was a Montana law allowing grizzlies to be killed if they attack livestock.
Certain states also have pursued aggressive policies against gray wolves, including loosened wolf trapping rules that some scientists fear could lead to grizzlies being inadvertently trapped and killed.
New Mexico environment officials say Cannon Air Force Base owes $67,000 for August PFAS spill - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico environment officials issued a nearly $68,000-dollar fine to the Cannon U.S. Air Force Base Tuesday, stating the military had failed to immediately report a 4,000-gallon spill of PFAS into the groundwater in August.
Per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances – aka PFAS – are a class of thousands of manmade chemicals used in waterproofing. They are in everyday items such as cookware or takeout containers and also in fire-fighting foams for aircraft. But the chemicals’ resistance to breaking down from exposure to water, heat and sunlight mean that they are accumulating in the soil and water and in the bodies of animals and people.
Health officials have linked PFAS to health risks such as decreased fertility, immune system damage, lower vaccine effectiveness and increased cancer risks.
In the 14-page document issued Tuesday, the New Mexico Environment Department said the military violated pollution limits and failed to tell authorities about a spill into surrounding groundwater.
Environment Secretary James Kenney said that basic maintenance could have prevented the spill.
“This reckless discharge is an example of Cannon [Air Force Base’s] willful disregard for public health and environmental safety in the exact community in which they operate,” Kenney said in a statement.
Kenney said the military’s repeated violations of handling toxic and hazardous waste pushed the agency to require justification for why the Air Force can keep state permits for disposal.
“The Air Force must now prove why the state should allow Cannon AFB to continue operating in Clovis if they cannot meet the basic conditions of their permit,” Kenney stated.
The documents laid out that Cannon Air Force Base personnel deposited 7,300 gallons of waste liquid with firefighting foam containing PFAS into a retention pond in July. On Aug. 14, personnel pumped all the liquid from the retention pond, but only recovered about half of the liquid – 3,600 gallons.
While the pond had passed previous inspections, the lining was damaged, with “approximately 13 tears in the material,” according to the order.
The spill is in addition to a 4-mile long PFAS plume that seeped into the groundwater over the decades from firefighting foams used on the base. That plume resulted in the euthanization of more than 3,500 dairy cows after they were found to be contaminated with PFAS.
Environmental officials said the U.S. Air Force violations included waiting nearly 16 days to notify state officials, instead of alerting NMED within 24 hours of discovering the spill. Further, NMED said Cannon failed to provide written explanation and did not maintain the pond’s integrity.
State officials assessed a civil fine of $67,300 for Cannon’s alleged violations of hazardous waste laws. Additionally, the news release said Cannon officials may need to pay a $98,780 fine to a hazardous waste emergency fund for the permit violations.
State officials ordered Cannon to submit documentation regarding the spill, submit a plan for cleanup, detail all PFAS-contaminated liquid waste at the base – past and present – and submit records of pond inspections in the next 30 days.
The U.S. Air Force has 30 days to either pay the fine or can request an administrative hearing to appeal.
Cannon Air Force base public affairs acknowledged emailed requests for comment Tuesday afternoon, but did not respond to Source NM questions regarding an appeal or the order prior to publication.
The state of New Mexico is embroiled in several lawsuits over PFAS releases from military bases and, according to state environment officials, has paid more than $12 million in legal costs.
Biden administration withdraws old-growth forest plan after getting pushback from industry and GOP - By Matthew Brown, Associated Press
The Biden administration on Tuesday abruptly dropped its nascent plan to protect old-growth forests after getting pushback from Republicans and the timber industry.
The move was announced by U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore in a letter to forest supervisors.
It brings a sudden end to a yearslong process to craft a nationwide plan that would better protect old trees that are increasingly threatened by climate change. The effort had been supported by some conservationists as one of the most significant forest preservation efforts in decades.
President Joe Biden launched the initiative with an executive order on Earth Day in April 2022. The proposal went through extensive public comment periods and internal analyses by government officials and was due to be finalized any day.
The plan would have limited logging in old-growth forests, with exceptions to allow logging in some old-growth areas to protect against wildfires.
But those exceptions were not enough for the timber industry and Republicans in Congress who bitterly opposed the administration's proposal. They said it wasn't needed since many forested areas already are protected. And they warned it could be devastating to logging companies that rely on access to cheap timber on public lands.
GOP lawmakers introduced legislation while the administration's plans were still in the works to block them from going into effect.
Moore said in his letter that much was learned from the first-of-its-kind effort to identify old-growth trees on public lands across the nation. He also acknowledged criticism from those who said the administration's approach to old-growth forests was flawed since they can vary greatly between different types of ecosystems.
"There is strong support for, and an expectation of us, to continue to conserve these forests based on the best available scientific information," Moore wrote. "There was also feedback that there are important place-based differences that we will need to understand in order to conserve old-growth forests."
Montana Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines in a statement called the withdrawal of the old-growth plan a "victory for commonsense local management of our forests."
Most old-growth stands fell to logging as the nation developed. Yet pockets of ancient trees remain, scattered across the U.S. including in California, the Pacific Northwest and areas of the Rocky Mountains. Larger expanses of old growth survive in Alaska, such as within the Tongass National Forest.
There's wide consensus on the importance of preserving them — both symbolically as marvels of nature, and more practically because their trunks and branches store large amounts of carbon that can be released when forests burn, adding to climate change.
Alex Craven, the forests campaign manager for the Sierra Club conservation group, said there was a "scientific necessity and public expectation" to protect old-growth and mature forests.
"Those two facts make formal old-growth protections a matter of when, not if," Craven wrote in an email.
Wildfires in recent years decimated blocks of old-growth forest in states throughout the U.S. West and killed thousands of giant sequoias.
Wildfires, insects and disease have been the main killers of old-growth trees since 2000, accounting for almost 1,400 square miles (3,600 square kilometers) of losses, according to government research. Logging on federal lands cut down about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) of old-growth forest — and timber industry representatives have said that figure shows further restrictions aren't needed.
Bill Imbergamo with the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, an industry group, called the administration's proposal "legally dubious and ecologically flawed."
"All this exercise showed was that older forests are widespread on the national forest system. Most of these are already off limits to timber harvest," Imbergamo said. "Old growth forests are succumbing to fire, insects, and disease, and they need management to make them healthier and more resilient."
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to telephone messages seeking comment.
The administration's plan faced a doubtful future if it had been finalized. During the first term of President-elect Donald Trump, federal officials sought to open up huge areas of West Coast forests to potential logging.
Federal wildlife officials under Biden reversed the move in 2021. They found that political appointees under Trump relied on faulty science to justify drastically shrinking areas of protected forest considered crucial habitats for the imperiled northern spotted owl. The owl has been in decline for decades as old-growth forests were cut in Oregon, Washington and California.
Governor works to replace 'tone-deaf' regents at Western New Mexico University - Associated Press
More members of the embattled board of regents at Western New Mexico University have resigned, a confirmation that came Tuesday during roll call at a meeting scheduled to address the departure of the university's president amid fallout from wasteful spending and lax financial oversight.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in a year-end letter to the regents had asked for their immediate resignations, saying new leadership was needed to ensure the Silver City-based university can regain its "equilibrium and once again serve its students first and foremost."
Only the student regent and university President Joseph Shepard were present for Tuesday's meeting, leaving too few board members to conduct business. The chairwoman of the five-member board resigned last week along with one other regent. The other two turned in their papers Tuesday.
Lujan Grisham on Tuesday called the board "tone-deaf" for approving a lucrative severance package for Shepard, suggesting that the dollar amount could have addressed food insecurity across the entire student body for a full year.
"We must ensure that generous payouts no longer reward poor performance while maintaining our ability to attract qualified leaders," she said, noting that she planned to work with state lawmakers to change how severance packages are structured at New Mexico's public institutions.
The shakeup on the board follows the announcement that Shepard would resign as university president after an investigation by the state auditor's office found more than $363,000 in wasteful spending and improper use of public funds. Top state officials have said that university officials and regents failed to uphold their fiduciary responsibilities.
The case also has the attention of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who on Monday filed an emergency motion in state district court seeking to put on hold a $1.9 million payout from Western New Mexico University to Shepard that is part of a severance package.
Shepard also is guaranteed a spot as a tenured faculty member, earning at least $200,000 annually for five years. He can serve remotely and was given an eight-month sabbatical with full pay.
The attorney general's motion states that the university agreed to pay Shepard more than three times what it would have been legally required to pay had it terminated his employment without cause.
The court filing pointed to the timing and lack of transparency in the board's negotiation of what Torrez has called an "unjustifiable golden parachute."
A more comprehensive forensic audit still is underway. That audit was requested in December 2023 by Shepard and the regents with approval by the state auditor.
Lawmakers started raising questions in 2023 about Shepard's spending on international travel and high-end furniture, along with wife Valerie Plame's use of a university credit card. Plame is a former CIA operations officer who ran unsuccessfully for New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District in the 2020 Democratic primary.
In selecting new regents for the university, Lujan Grisham said she wants to usher in a new era of accountability.
"All public universities in New Mexico must uphold their fundamental fiscal responsibility to the people of this state and the students they serve," she said.
Pre-filed bills seek to limit impacts of oil and gas emissions - By Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
New Mexico state Rep. Debra Sariñana, D-Albuquerque, once again filed legislation to limit new oil and gas production.
State lawmakers are currently able to pre-file bills for the upcoming legislative session that starts Jan. 21. The deadline to pre-file bills is Jan. 17.
Sariñana pre-filed bills that, if passed, could limit future oil and gas operations by requiring setbacks from schools and preventing new emissions in areas with high ozone levels. She previously filed similar school setback legislation for the 2024 30-day session, but it was deemed non-germane. Legislative sessions in even-numbered years are limited in scope, which means only budget-related bills or topics included in the governor’s call are allowed. All other bills are considered non-germane. Because this is an odd-numbered year, the session is longer and there are no limitations on bill topics.
PROTECTING CHILDREN
The Center for Biological Diversity is among the groups that worked on HB 35, the Children’s Health Protection Zones. This is the second year a version of this measure was filed .
Colin Cox, a senior attorney for the enter who is based in New Mexico, said last year’s version included a requirement that existing wells within one mile of a school be phased out. He said there wasn’t much support from lawmakers for that provision. This year’s version will only prevent new wells from being drilled within a mile of a school.
“Wells that are already producing can keep producing,” Cox said.
He said companies looking to extract oil from beneath a school can use horizontal drilling methods to reach it.
Cox said schools in both the Permian and San Juan basins have oil and gas wells within a mile and in at least one case, within a few hundred feet. This can have various health impacts. Cox said exposure to emissions from oil and gas has been linked to asthma, cancer and other health issues.
“This is a small ask,” Cox said. “This is going to have almost no effect on the state budget…It’s a small thing the state could do to protect kids when they’re in the state’s care.”
OZONE EMISSIONS
HB 33 would prohibit new emissions in counties with already high ozone levels. This could prevent new oil and gas operations or wells because the Permian and San Juan basins — where the majority of the oil and gas is produced in New Mexico — both have high levels of ozone.
Ozone is formed when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides interact in the presence of sunlight. This is often caused by the combustion of fossil fuels.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a limit of 70 parts per billion of ozone. At high levels, ozone can lead to respiratory problems.
A settlement agreement between the advocacy group WildEarth Guardians and oil and gas producer OXY USA Inc. recently provided the New Mexico Environment Department with $500,000 for a mobile air monitoring lab. In a news release announcing the funding, the Environment Department states the ozone levels have been rising in the Permian Basin, where 40% of the nation’s oil is produced.
The department adopted ozone precursor rules in 2022 that are intended to reduce the oil and gas industry’s impact on air quality.
Albuquerque City Council passes new vacant property bill - By Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
City Councilor Joaquín Baca said Monday night it’s time to change the story of Albuquerque as an extremely dangerous city.
That narrative, he said, frequently describes downtown as the worst part of the city.
“Somewhere along the way, it became OK for the most visible part of our city, on the iconic Route 66 to just sit there falling apart,” he said, as he encouraged his colleagues to support a new ordinance that will create a registry of vacant properties and impose fees on building owners who fail to put them to good use.
The ordinance passed on a 7-2 vote, with Councilors Dan Champine and Louie Sanchez opposing. Champine said he was concerned about provisions in the legislation that put a limit on asking prices for properties put up for sale or rent.
Baca, who represents the downtown area, said that language was included to ensure property owners are acting in good faith. He said the Gizmo Building, owned by the Church of Scientology, is an example of what he wishes to move away from.
“They had a ‘for sale’ sign up on that building for the last 25 years,” Baca said. “They turned down multiple offers above what it appraised for, both with private investors and the city. I can name six different people who tried to purchase it for years and years, and then they turned them all down.”
He said some downtown business owners have come to him with safety concerns surrounding vacant buildings.
“It’s literally been decades for some of these buildings,” Baca said. “Let’s raise the standard.”
Multiple members of the public spoke in favor of the ordinance.
“The situation downtown has become too dire and gone on for too long to keep waiting for voluntary [changes],” Carlos Michelen said. “The bill is not just about a few vacant buildings downtown. It’s about protecting the economic future of our city. Every empty building represents a missed opportunity for jobs, businesses and tax revenue.”
Jordan McConnell of Strong Towns ABQ said vacant, abandoned and underutilized properties are stifling downtown’s potential.
“These properties aren’t just empty spaces,” he said. “They drain public resources, undermine investment and shift financial burdens on all of us. Right now, landowners sitting on vacant or abandoned lots benefit from our city’s utilities, services and infrastructure, yet they give nothing back to my neighborhood. In fact, we subsidize their inaction while they wait for land values to rise or hold out for larger profits.”
The fees will be based on a multiplier of the time a building has been vacant and square footage.
Bassan takes the gavel as Albuquerque city council president - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
Albuquerque City Councilor Brook Bassan will take the gavel as the council’s next president.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Bassan’s fellow councilors unanimously elected the conservative to the top seat. As president, Bassan will preside over council meetings.
She succeeds fellow conservative Councilor Dan Lewis, one of the most outspoken critics of Mayor Tim Keller. However, it’s unclear what if anything will change with the shift in leadership, as the Journal reports Bassan has often voted in step with her predecessor.
Meanwhile, the council elected liberal Councilor Klarissa Peña as its next Vice President. Bassan herself had nominated Peña for the role.
Bassan faced close elections to both of her terms on the council. Her first election in 2019 went to a runoff after no candidate received a majority of votes in the general election. She then won reelection last year by a margin of less than 1.5%.