New leasing rule clears path for geothermal development on state trust lands - Justin Horwath, Albuquerque Journal
State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said Wednesday that her office finalized a rule for the exploration and production of geothermal energy on state trust lands, a move she says positions New Mexico to become a leader because of its unique geological history.
The State Land Office rule, which will take effect in May, follows a 238-page report last year by Project InnerSpace, a Boston-based nonprofit that promotes geothermal energy, that says New Mexico has the potential to create 163 gigawatts of geothermal power, more than 15 times the power produced on the state’s electric grids.
The new rule also comes as there is at least one utility-scale geothermal energy project simmering in New Mexico. Early last year, geothermal developer XGS Energy announced a partnership with Meta to develop a 150-MW geothermal plant to support the Facebook owner’s Los Lunas data center.
New Mexico is one of seven states that has an active geothermal plant, named the Lightning Dock plant in Hidalgo County, the Project InnerSpace report noted.
New Mexico, the report said, “is on the cusp of a geothermal boom — one that could create environmental and economic benefits in cities and rural communities; leverage the state’s oil and gas industry know-how; and establish clean, secure, always-on power sources with the smallest footprint of any energy source across the Land of Enchantment.”
The new rule gives the land commissioner wide latitude in structuring the leases.
For instance, it allows the commissioner to determine the royalty rate on the revenue received from the sale of geothermal products based on their fair market value. It also allows the commissioner — whomever it is — to determine how much geothermal developers will have to post for the state in bonds meant to cover cleanup costs of geothermal wells at no less than $25,000.
The commissioner, under the new rule, can also determine what information is kept confidential when a lessee is awarded rights to develop on state land.
Garcia Richard said the state has a trifecta of political will, geothermal resources and a workforce of oil and gas employees who know a thing or two about drilling into the earth’s surface for energy resources.
“We have enough geothermal energy to power the needs of the state,” she said.
Garcia Richard — a Democrat who leaves office next year because she is unable to run for a third consecutive term — has made a point to promote renewable energy development on state lands. She has also fought the oil and gas industry over various rules and increased to 25% the royalty rate for premium oil and gas leases.
Garcia Richard said oil and gas are the only resources for which the structure of leases is set in statute.
“The reason we couldn’t set (oil and gas leases) at market value is, again, the oil and gas leases are in statute,” she said. “ … The land commissioner should be the one in charge of setting royalty rates for the market.”
Christine Barber, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said a part of the rule that allows geothermal developers to keep confidential information about the nature or extent of geothermal resources on state land raises transparency concerns.
The language now in the administrative code reminds Barber of the desire of operators of mines on state lands to keep secret their discoveries.
“If you have found your mine where all of your wealth is, you don’t want to tell anyone where it’s located,” she said. But, she added, the “public has a right to know how their public lands can be used and what’s going on with them.”
NM Project Jupiter data center developers rename company after Pueblo of Acoma criticism - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Following censure from the Pueblo of Acoma, the developers of data center Project Jupiter said they will stop using the name Acoma LLC, officials confirmed to Source NM.
Over the weekend, Pueblo of Acoma Gov. Charles Riley published a commentary in the Albuquerque Journal that castigated the data center developers for using the name Acoma LLC without permission. In addition, attorneys for the Pueblo of Acoma sent an April 20 letter to developers expressing “profound concern and disappointment” about the use of the name, and urged developers to change it.
Project Jupiter developers agreed and told Source NM on Monday the company will now use the name Yucca Growth Infrastructure, Acoma LLC’s parent company’s name, which has been registered with the state since August 2025, according to the Secretary of State’s online directory.
“We heard the Acoma Pueblo people and we listened,” Bryson Hull, a spokesperson for Yucca Growth Infrastructure, wrote in a statement. “No offense was intended and we apologize for any it caused. Out of respect, we will use a different name going forward.”
Riley told Source NM he was relieved the name will be changed.
“It’s good news for Acoma and our name. To be honest, what the company is trying to do does not reflect Acoma values,” Riley said. “We hold dear the land, try to take care of it and oppose all those things that hurt the environment, the land and hurt people.”
Riley said he has ongoing concerns about the data center’s impact including the estimated emissions impacts on the surrounding communities, which already have degraded air quality.
“We’re glad to hear that the company has changed course as far as our name, but it really doesn’t address the bigger issues affecting the water, land and the people impacted by the project,” Riley said.
US appeals court upholds public access to streams and rivers - Oliver Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
A federal appeals court in Denver on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit that sought to allow private landowners to use “no trespassing” signs, fencing and other barriers to bar the public from the Pecos River and other streams in New Mexico.
A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by five property owners in San Miguel and Rio Arriba counties that include streambeds of the Pecos River and Rio Tusas.
The lawsuit alleged that the New Mexico Department of Justice and other agencies illegally took property belonging to the landowners without providing "just compensation" as required by federal law.
"The ruling supports New Mexico’s longstanding constitutional protection of public waters, and (the state Department of Justice) will continue to closely guard the public’s right of access to these cherished waterways," the agency said Tuesday in a statement.
"Today's ruling rejected that appeal and recognized that federal courts will not interfere with the state’s constitutional right."
The ruling is the latest in a yearslong legal battle that began in 2022 when the New Mexico Supreme Court found that "the right to recreate and fish in public water also allows the public the right to touch the privately owned beds below those waters."
The ruling in Adobe Whitewater Club of New Mexico against the New Mexico State Game Commission found that the public had a right to access New Mexico streams and rivers.
Armed with the Adobe Whitewater ruling, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez clamped down on property owners who barred access to the state's streams and rivers.
Torrez asked a San Miguel County judge in 2023 to order 10 property owners to remove signs and physical barriers that denied public access to the Pecos River.
Torrez's lawsuit singled out property owner Erik Briones, who allegedly put up 6-foot fences topped with barbed and concertina wire to bar access to the Pecos River. Briones later entered a consent decree in which he agreed to remove barriers to the river.
Reached by phone Tuesday, Briones said he had not seen the ruling and declined to comment.
Briones and other land owners then filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque alleging that state officials violated longstanding state law recognizing their right to exclude the public. They argued that the government took their property without paying just compensation as required by the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. District Court Judge Kea Riggs dismissed the suit in January 2025 and property owners appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
"The law had been in the past that streambed owners could exclude the public from walking and wading on their streambeds," Christopher Kieser, an attorney for the property owners, said Tuesday in a phone interview.
New Mexico officials approved regulations certifying streambeds as private property and even issued Briones “no trespassing” signs recognizing his right to exclude the public, said Kieser, a California attorney who specializes in property-rights cases.
For decades, "the entire government has been operating on the premise that the streambeds were private," Kieser said. "So we pleaded a straightforward takings claim."
Two of the appellate judges signed a majority opinion saying that property owners never had the right to bar the public from streams and rivers. A third judge said the case should be sent back to the New Mexico court for further consideration.
The majority opinion found that the landowners failed to show that they indeed had a legal right before 2022 to bar the public from their streambeds.
"The landowners bear the burden of demonstrating that their rights were sufficiently established before Adobe Whitewater such that this decision amounted to a judicial taking," the judges wrote.
The landowners’ suit "does not plausibly allege that Adobe Whitewater changed established law as opposed to clarifying of the scope of the public’s easement to use public water," it said.
The New Mexico Wildlife Federation cheered the court's action Tuesday.
“The AG’s work on stream access in New Mexico has required years of investment in both time and energy," said Jesse Deubel, executive director of the NMWF. "That investment is paying off for our residents today and will continue to provide opportunity for future generations of New Mexicans.”
Santa Fe County and Edgewood strike new fire and EMS deal - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
Santa Fe County and Edgewood have reached an agreement that will continue fire and emergency medical services to the town, less than two weeks after Edgewood commissioners announced they would terminate a longstanding contract.
Starting July 1, the Santa Fe County Fire Department (SFCFD) will provide emergency services to Edgewood under a new joint powers agreement that will preserve the original payment structure that caused commissioners to rethink their 20-year partnership.
As part of the agreement, Edgewood will pay monthly $10,000 payments for technical support, donations of surplus fire materials and machinery and capital for continued operations for 18½ years, totaling about $2.3 million.
Services to the town will continue until then under the previous agreement.
In late March, Edgewood commissioners announced the town would stop receiving EMS and fire services from SFCFD come June 30 following a legal battle over purported delinquent payments that caused commissioners to question if the agreement was fair.
“All of this could have been avoided if the county had actually just talked to us to begin with instead of going through it this way,” said Edgewood Commissioner Ken Brennan. “But all of that is water under the bridge now.”
Portions of both governing bodies met Monday evening for a closed meeting to discuss a new arrangement that would clarify language in the contract and settle the dispute.
“It was devastating to the firefighters in that area when they were told they would be moving and that they would no longer be serving that community,” said Stephanie Stancil, spokesperson for Santa Fe County. “I’m really pleased that there’s been a resolution.”
Though an initial draft has been made, Brennan said he feels that Edgewood was forced into an agreement under pressure to provide services to the town or risk not having emergency coverage.
“I’ll be quite honest, I’m not totally thrilled with it,” Brennan said. “We were pretty much forced to take what the county was putting before us. But the town is in such a position that to not accept it would put the town at risk for not having fire and EMS coverage. We had a gun to our head and we gave up the wallet and now we’re still alive.”
The new agreement mimics the previous agreement that has been in place since 2005, including the previous 0.25% county fire excise tax and any impact fees collected on development in unincorporated areas of the county, according to a Monday news release.
The new agreement includes an initial $50,000 down payment on services, a five-year notice if either party were to terminate the agreement and a commitment from Santa Fe to give Edgewood the first bid on any fire equipment the county chooses to donate or get rid of.
“Now we’re requiring a five-year notice and a large part of that is because of the panic that came out of this most recent termination notice,” Stancil said.
“Additionally, there is this technical consultation fee so Santa Fe County will continue to provide fire and EMS services, but we’re also going to work with the town and help them create their own service model,” she added.
Though it may not happen anytime soon, Edgewood is considering creating its own volunteer fire department over the next decade, primarily to cover one portion of town that was previously annexed.
That segment will be covered by SFCFD, but Edgewood will be expected to bear 100% of the costs associated with emergency services.
“Nobody lives up there, but the big fear is a sudden wildfire,” Brennan said. “But we do still need to have some equipment and personnel staffing to go ahead and be able to respond to that.”
Both Santa Fe County and Edgewood will have to vote on the agreement to put it in place and both parties agreed that they would not vote until the agreement had been available for the public to review for one week.
“I would hope that the message to residents is a positive one and that now they hopefully don’t have any anxiety or concerns,” Stancil said. “We got you. We have a plan. We’re going to get this ironed out, and folks don’t need to be alarmed.”