New Mexico AG joins lawsuit against EPA over refusal to regulate greenhouse gases – Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Leaders in two dozen states, including New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, on Thursday sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for rescinding its longstanding position that greenhouse gases are harmful for public health.
Although the lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia simply asked the court to review the EPAs actions, in public statements the AGs have accused the federal environmental agency of acting illegally when it rolled back its regulatory oversight.
Since 2009, the EPA has relied on what’s known as the “Endangerment Finding” — which determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endangered public health and welfare — to regulate sources of pollution like cars and power plants. The Endangerment Finding stemmed from a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that determined the Clean Air Act authorized the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
“For nearly two decades, the Endangerment Finding has served as a cornerstone of our nation’s efforts to protect the environment and safeguard public health, grounded firmly in science and upheld by the courts,” Torrez said in a Friday statement. “The EPA’s attempt to rescind it is not only an attack on well-established science, but a direct violation of clear Supreme Court precedent and the agency’s legal obligations under the Clean Air Act.”
When the federal government relinquished that oversight power in February, the Trump administration hailed it as the “single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.”
“The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement at the time. “Referred to by some as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the ‘climate change religion,’ the Endangerment Finding is now eliminated. The Trump EPA is strictly following the letter of the law, returning commonsense to policy, delivering consumer choice to Americans and advancing the American Dream.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is leading the multi-state effort in court. In addition to Torrez, city attorneys in Albuquerque also signed onto the suit.
“Climate change is real, and it’s already affecting our residents and our economy,” Campbell said in a statement. “When the federal government abandons the law and the science, everyday people suffer the consequences. As a mom, I want my boys — and every child in our state — to grow up breathing clean air and playing safely outdoors.”
Torrez signed onto the lawsuit along with AGs from California, New York, Connecticut, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and the governor of Pennsylvania.
Access to much of Sandia Crest to be closed for 2 years - Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
Popular trails on the Sandia Crest and the upper section of the main access road — N.M. 536 — will close for nearly two years for wildfire risk mitigation and construction, according to a U.S. Forest Service news release.
As early as April 1, N.M. 536 will be closed to vehicle traffic past the 10K Trailhead parking lot. Hikers will be unable to access Ellis, Sandia Crest and Kiwanis Cabin trails.
Additionally, hikers looking to complete the 7-mile La Luz Trail will have to reroute to the 10K Trail near the summit.
While the Tram will be unaffected by the maintenance work, many of the popular trails to its north will be blocked off.
During the closure, crews will thin vegetation, rework walking paths, cut down dead trees and demolish the Crest House gift shop.
The closure is necessary, according to a post on the Forest Service website, because of “significant” fire risks to surrounding radio towers that are responsible for 911 and other emergency communication in Albuquerque. Those towers also provide cell service and broadcast radio.
This heightened fire risk was caused by bug infestations at the Crest that killed numerous trees, the post said.
Trails are tentatively planned to reopen in the winter of 2027.
NM Latina leaders seek change beyond street signs following Cesar Chavez sexual assault allegations - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
More than a dozen Latina elected officials gathered Friday in Albuquerque to express solidarity with Dolores Huerta, 95, the New Mexico-born labor leader who recently accused the late United Farm Workers co-founder Cesar Chavez of sexual assault.
The officials described Huerta as a friend and mentor during the news conference at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, which sits near Avenida Cesar Chavez in Albuquerque. They expressed awe at her courage and strength in coming forward. They also voiced outrage for Chavez and the misogynistic culture that enabled his alleged abuse.
Huerta “came forward at a time when she knew her voice would matter the most, just as she always has,” said New Mexico Rep. Diane Torres-Velásquez (D-Albuquerque). “She is someone we love. She’s like a mother to many of us.”
The New York Times this week published a detailed account of Chavez’s alleged sexual abuse, including of Huerta and others involved with the Chicano farmworkers’ movement. Huerta also issued a statement saying Chavez twice forced her into sex, resulting in two children she arranged to have raised by other families.
Klarissa Peña, the Albuquerque City Council president, said Friday she was convening a working group of local public officials tasked with identifying and renaming buildings or streets with Chavez’s name on them.
But Rep. Marianna Anaya (D-Albuquerque) said she hopes Huerta’s strength in coming forward inspires broader societal change.
“Our community must look at itself honestly, not to destroy what was built, but to build something that can finally hold the weight of everybody in it, something that doesn’t require women to choose between their bodies and their belonging,” she said. “That’s the culture change that we are calling for today — not a new street sign, a new culture.”
Anaya, who recently helped launch a legislative truth commission investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes in New Mexico, said questions remain about who else knew about Chavez’s alleged abuse, along with why they protected him.
“It’s not comfortable when we ask it of Epstein, and it’s surely not comfortable as we ask it today,” she said. “But that’s the only question that will lead to real change.”
Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Albuquerque) said Huerta trained her in the 1960s as she began work as a union organizer. Through tears, she said her “dear friend” deserves an outpouring of solidarity and love.
“Let us show her our love by keeping her and all the other brave women In our daily dedication and commitment to fight against a system that perpetuates and legitimizes sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, violence and racism,” she said. “And let us fight against the system that allows the Trumps, the Epsteins and all predators, whether dead or alive, to escape facing the consequences of their actions.”
NMDOJ says Otero County broke the law when it met to extend immigrant detention contract - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The Otero County Commission violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act when it held an emergency meeting March 13 to extend a contract allowing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to house detainees at its jail, the New Mexico Department of Justice said on Friday.
The NMDOJ review nullifies the unanimous decision commissioners made at the end of a 12-minute meeting to adopt a five-year contract extension with ICE, according to a New Mexico DOJ news release.
“The Open Meetings Act is not optional,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement. “It ensures that public business is conducted in the open, not rushed through under the guise of an emergency when no true emergency exists.”
Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols told commissioners on March 13 that holding an emergency meeting, which requires less public notice than regular meetings, was necessary because the county’s contract with ICE was expiring imminently.
The contract expiring would deprive the county of more than $5 million in revenue and render it unable to pay for debt service on bonds the county sold to build the Otero County Processing Center in 2007, he said.
However, the NMDOJ review found that the county had no sufficient basis to call an emergency meeting, saying it was the county’s failure to anticipate and plan for the impending contract expiration date. Emergency meetings, under OMA, can only be called due to “unforeseen circumstances,” according to the NMDOJ.
“A known contractual end date does not meet the definition of an ‘unforeseen circumstance,’” wrote Blaine Moffatt, director of the NMDOJ’s Government Counsel and Accountability Bureau, in a letter Friday to Otero County officials.
The commissioners voted to continue the contract despite a new state law, House Bill 9, that prohibits public entities like counties from contracting with federal agencies to detain immigrants. That law goes into effect May 20.
New Mexico Rep. Sarah Silva (D-Las Cruces) earlier this week asked the New Mexico Department of Justice to issue an opinion on the contract’s validity, saying she suspected it was “an attempt to circumvent HB9,” and to determine if commissioners’ lack of discussion on the contract violated state transparency laws.
Otero County Commission Chair Gerald Matherly did not immediately return SourceNM’s requests for comment Friday about the NMDOJ’s ruling or what the commission’s next steps are.
The NMDOJ earlier this year ruled that a separate county’s ICE contract extension was illegal under the Open Meetings Act. In that case, the Torrance County Commission was forced to hold a subsequent meeting, in which commissioners voted again to extend the contract.
New Mexico seeks federal release of delayed $293 million for broadband projects - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Following delays from federal officials, New Mexico’s agency to expand broadband is seeking the release of $293 million in promised funds to boost internet access.
Leadership at the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion said that funding allotted for 31 projects across the state remains in limbo after the Trump Administration failed to release guidelines for how to spend the money.
The money is part of a larger $675 million allocation to New Mexico from federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment funds. In January, federal officials signed off on New Mexico’s plans to spend $382 million on a mix of fiber, fixed wires and low-orbit satellite to grow internet access for more than 42,000 people across the state.
The $293 million remaining was set aside for support projects outside of directly connecting people to the internet, such as building up workforce programs, or replacing electricity poles, according to an OBAE March 17 news release. Spending for support projects was put on hold following a June 2025 notice by federal officials, which said further guidance would come in the spring.
The March 9 deadline set by the National Telecommunications Information Administration, which oversees the federal funding, came and went without the guidance and is now holding up $21 billion in funding across 50 states and six territories, OBAE Director Jeff Lopez told Source NM.
“In New Mexico, we have a critical need for this funding — full stop,” Lopez said. “And now we need guidance from the federal government on eligible uses so that we can start spending it down.”
He said the support programs are vital to ensure “connection infrastructure and workforce development programs” are in place for the state’s direct expansion of broadband access.
In December, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) wrote a letter to the NTIA urging the Trump administration to issue a decision on support projects — officially called “non-deployment spending” — signed by 12 other senators.
The NTIA did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment. In a March 12 response to the senators’ December letter, NTIA Assistant Secretary Arielle Roth did not specify a date when guidance would be released, but said the agency “is taking additional time to review the comments and finalize our approach.”