Western governors establish multi-state task force to update the region’s transmission lines - Alixel Cabrera, Utah News Dispatch
A bipartisan group of 11 Western governors signed a letter endorsing the establishment of a multi-state task force to develop a study and action plan to update the region’s energy grid.
The effort was announced Tuesday in Park City during the last days of Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox’s tenure as chair of the Western Governors Association in which he pushed an “energy superabundance” agenda.
Joining Cox, governors of Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico and Washington signed the letter endorsing the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition, or WestTEC.
“WestTEC is an industry-led effort that takes a new collaborative approach to one of our region’s most pressing infrastructure challenges, recognizing that this grid system is a team sport, we can’t just fix the grid in Utah. It won’t help everywhere else. We have to do it everywhere,” Cox said on Tuesday surrounded by a group of governors at the posh Deer Valley resort.
The study, according to the governors’ letter, must “promote open, competitive markets by reducing bottlenecks that restrict choice and limit access to lower-cost power,” provide a thorough assessment of transmission needs across the region, and offer a roadmap for expanding transmission infrastructure “that will improve reliability, reduce congestion and dispatch costs, strengthen the regional grid, and achieve energy superabundance.”
The hope is that a unified voice helps push permitting reform across the finish line, Cox said. While permits are being issued quicker under the second Trump administration, states can still coordinate better to expedite timelines.
“We cannot move enough electricity under the current national system,” New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said. “The West has already demonstrated that they can do transmission better and faster, and that demonstration means that we can alleviate some of the consternation about what is possible and what isn’t.”
Much of the West’s power system was built more than 60 years ago, Cox said. And transmission lines are aging or expanding too slowly to meet new energy demands.
“We often talk about energy and energy production, it’s of course paramount to everything that we need to do as a country moving forward,” Cox said. “But that energy production and generation really doesn’t matter if we can’t move those electrons across the grid.”
The governors also committed to establishing a group that would start taking the first steps to coordinate between states and the federal government to accelerate the development of new transmission lines.
“We’re going to cut through the red tape, we’re going to do this together, we’re going to get projects moving much more quickly, and we’re going to fix our grid. Modernizing our grid will show that we can continue to increase economic competition, ensure energy security, and mitigate environmental hazards,” Cox said.
This story was originally produced by Utah News Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Source New Mexico, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
New Mexico law streamlining in-home childcare among 20 new measures set to take effect - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico’s push to expand childcare options for families could get a boost Wednesday with the implementation of a new state law intended to make it easier to open in-home childcare centers.
The new law, one of roughly 20 set to take effect this week, is specifically intended to ensure home-based daycares are not blocked from opening by local zoning requirements.
It comes as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration has launched a first-of-its-kind universal childcare initiative that has generated both praise and criticism since being enacted last fall.
Sen. Heather Berghmans, D-Albuquerque, one of the sponsors of the law, cited stories of some aspiring daycare owners spending years trying to meet patchwork local zoning requirements.
At a glance:
Roughly 20 new state laws take effect Wednesday, which is also the start of the state’s new fiscal year. Here are some of the new laws:
- Rebrand the New Mexico Game and Fish Department as the New Mexico Department of Wildlife.
- Creation of new office of special education within in Public Education Department.
- Limit sharing of data collected by automatic license plate readers.
- Update state literacy curriculum and provide literacy assessments for all K-3 at public schools in New Mexico.
“We really just want to make it as easy as possible for people who want to open an in-home childcare center,” said Berghmans, who pointed out such centers will still have to go through a state vetting process.
However, Republican gubernatorial nominee Gregg Hull and other skeptics have questioned the wisdom of the state usurping the zoning authority of local governments around New Mexico.
“Instead of leaning on the local resources, the state took the approach of bypassing the local resources,” said Hull, the former mayor of Rio Rancho.
As part of its universal childcare push, the governor's administration has set a goal of building 55 more licensed childcare centers and registering 1,000 new in-home daycares to accommodate the influx of additional families.
Early Childhood Education and Care Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky has acknowledged it will take time to meet the statewide demand for state-subsidized childcare for working parents, especially in parts of New Mexico designated as childcare “deserts.”
But data provided Tuesday by the agency shows the number of licensed childcare homes around New Mexico has already increased from 287 as of September to 335 as of May.
In addition, the number of registered home daycares — a separate category of childcare center that are allowed up to four non-resident children — has jumped from 820 to 926 during the same time period, according to ECECD data.
That New Mexico trend comes as home-based childcare is declining in other parts of the country, Groginsky said. She also said the new law will ensure such daycare facilities avoid surprise fees, special permits and de facto bans by homeowners’ associations.
“This matters because local zoning is often the deciding factor in whether a provider can open, stay open, or grow to meet community need,” Groginsky said in a Tuesday statement.
“And the early signs are overwhelmingly positive: providers are opening and new homes are preparing to open, and participation in family childcare is rising,” she added.
Most of the new laws set to take effect this week were approved by lawmakers during this year’s 30-day legislative session, which ended in February.
While most newly approved state laws took effect in May, others are intentionally scheduled to hit the books in conjunction with the start of the state’s new budget year on July 1.
The start of the new fiscal year also means 1% salary increases for state workers and teachers around New Mexico. The raises were included in a $11.1 billion budget bill approved by lawmakers during the session’s final days.
Fentanyl drives spike in New Mexico overdose deaths - Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
Then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in May 2025 announced what she described as the largest fentanyl bust in U.S. history, including 2.7 million opioid pills seized in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Despite this and other large drug seizures, New Mexico in 2025 experienced the nation's largest increase in drug overdose deaths, largely driven by fentanyl, often in combination with other drugs.
In Sandoval County, for instance, overdose deaths increased 74% in 2025 from the prior year, according to the state Department of Health.
Drug overdose deaths nationwide declined 14.4% in the 12 months ending in January, but increased 22.7% in New Mexico in the same period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reasons often cited for New Mexico's outlier status include the state's 180-mile border with Mexico, which has made Albuquerque a distribution hub for Mexican cartels that move large quantities of fentanyl into the U.S.
But new reports have raised questions about the practices of federal investigators that may have contributed to high rates of overdose deaths.
Reports published last week by the Journal revealed that Albuquerque-based Drug Enforcement Administration agents chose not to seize large fentanyl shipments from 2023 to 2025 to allow investigators to build criminal cases into drug trafficking organizations.
The reports are based in part on a whistleblower complaint filed by David Howell, a 19-year DEA agent, who alleged that a DEA practice called fentanyl "walking" allowed at least 300,000 fentanyl pills to enter the New Mexico illegal drug market.
The allegations have evoked outrage by elected officials in New Mexico, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who on Monday said she will consider legal actions against the federal government and seek a meeting with the White House.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Friday committed to an “aggressive” inquiry into the allegations.
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller called the DEA practice an "immoral decision" and questioned whether the agency's practice contributed to New Mexico's high rate of fentanyl overdoses from 2023 to 2025.
"One pill can kill," Keller said at a June 24 news conference. "Statistically, if there are 300,000 extra pills, hundreds of people died because of this policy."
Fentanyl's effects
Keller and other city officials said that the arrival of fentanyl supercharged New Mexico's age-old substance abuse crisis.
"Fentanyl is the cheapest, most deadly, most available drug that's ever been invented," Keller said. Because of its low cost, fentanyl lowered the entry cost for opioid abuse and addiction, he said.
"You are either dead or addicted after one pill, but it only costs you $1," Keller said.
Raul Bujanda, the city's public safety director, said fentanyl "drastically" altered New Mexico's substance abuse problem "because its addictive nature is just horrific. Now you have a derivative of heroin that's super-cheap and even more addictive."
Calculating the public cost of the fentanyl crisis is difficult because it contributes to many social ills such as crime, homelessness and mental illness.
"Once you're addicted, you can't hold a job," said Bujanda, who retired as special agent in charge of the FBI's New Mexico office in May 2025. Many turn to panhandling or crimes to raise the small amounts of cash needed to buy fentanyl.
A June 18 Legislative Finance Committee report cites the recent spike in overdose deaths as a key reason for the state's costly investment in behavioral health.
New Mexico has spent more than $843 million since 2022 rebuilding its behavioral health system, in part to address the need for treatment among young people struggling with addiction, the report said.
Long history
A powerful, synthetic cousin of heroin, fentanyl began appearing in New Mexico's illegal drug market some 20 years ago and became the dominant street drug by 2018, an Albuquerque rehabilitation professional said.
"Long before anyone called it a fentanyl crisis, it was a crisis," said Jeff Holland, executive director of Endorphin Power Company, an Albuquerque nonprofit that serves people struggling with addiction.
Fentanyl in its raw, powdered form is up to 100 times more potent than morphine or heroin, making it easy to transport and smuggle. A small quantity of raw fentanyl can be made into thousands of pills that can be smoked or ingested.
"Most people are smoking it," Holland said. "It's way too powerful for most people to shoot up." People who shunned injection drugs like heroin may find fentanyl more attractive, he said.
Contributing to the lethality of fentanyl is the lack of expertise among illegal chemists who press powdered fentanyl into pills.
"There's no consistency," he said. Some pills contain more fentanyl than others. "Pressing the pills is just like bathtub gin to a certain degree."
A short-acting opioid, fentanyl causes a person to begin withdrawal more quickly than heroin, driving demand for pills that range in price from $1 to $5 each, Holland said.
Fentanyl "has a shorter half-life," he said. "It's more addictive in the sense that it doesn't keep you high as long. You start getting really sick much quicker."
Largest killer
Fentanyl is the largest contributor to fatal overdoses nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Drug overdose deaths in New Mexico have doubled in less than a decade, rising from 493 in 2017 to 989 in the 12 months ending in January, the CDC estimates. Drug overdose deaths have yet to surpass the record 1,052 in 2021, which was a sharp increase from 784 in 2020.
Overdose deaths in New Mexico declined slightly in 2024, then spiked to 989 deaths in the 12 months ending in January — a 22.7% increase over the preceding 12 months, the CDC reported.
No region of the state has been immune to the ravages of fentanyl. Hot spots move around the state from year to year.
The New Mexico Department of Health performs "spike actions" in locations that show a steep rise in overdose deaths, providing alerts to medical personnel and distributing naloxone, a drug that can counteract an opioid overdose.
In September, the agency issued an alert for Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Taos counties after year-over-year overdose deaths in 2025 increased 65% or more in those northern New Mexico counties.
"These events are primarily driven by opioids, with fentanyl use linked to most of the fatalities," the alert said. It warned that tests found unusually high concentrations of fentanyl in samples tested in those counties.
"While typical samples contain approximately 1% fentanyl, recently identified samples have contained up to 20% fentanyl," the alert said. "Providers across New Mexico should be aware that these trends could spread to other areas of the state."
Andrew Gans, the agency's communicable disease bureau chief, said the agency now is ramping up a spike action in Sandoval County, where the number of overdose deaths increased from 27 in 2024 to 47 in 2025. The agency's efforts are centered in Rio Rancho, the county's largest city.
A spike in overdose deaths can result from a new source of supply entering a community that contains higher levels of fentanyl or "adulterants" like medetomidine, a potent sedative, Gans said.
The CDC issued an alert in April warning that medetomidine has been found in the U.S. illegal drug supply, primarily in fentanyl products, and can cause severe withdrawal symptoms.
New Mexico residents say their names used without permission to support Project Jupiter data center - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Residents from three New Mexico cities say their names falsely appeared on letters urging state environment officials to approve air quality permits for the controversial Project Jupiter data center after they were approached by canvassers for the project.
Residents in Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in interviews said that canvassers in Project Jupiter T-shirts approached them while they were pumping gas or leaving the grocery store and asked for their opinions on the $165 billion data center development under development in southern New Mexico, which is expected to support Oracle’s and OpenAI’s operations.
All three recalled telling the canvassers either that they were skeptical or outright opposed to the development, citing concerns about its water use and environmental impact. None of them voiced support for the project, they said.
As each of them ended the conversations, they said the canvassers asked for their email addresses so they could provide more details about Project Jupiter.
All three told Source NM that soon afterward they received emails thanking them for making public comments on the New Mexico Environment Department’s online portal. The public comment period for project developer Yucca Growth Infrastructure’s air quality permit application ends July 6.
If approved, the air quality permit would allow developers to use fuel cell technology to power the data center campus. While the proposal is anticipated to emit fewer pollutants than the developers’ previous proposal to build natural gas plants, documents show it would still emit more greenhouse gases than Albuquerque and Las Cruces — New Mexico’s two largest cities — combined.
In each case, the residents’ names appeared at the bottom of identical form letters.
“I am writing to express my support for Project Jupiter, which I believe offers significant benefits for our community,” the letter reads, citing the development’s promised 4,000 construction jobs, 1,500 “project-supported” jobs and multimillion-dollar investments in local schools and drinking water systems. “I urge the New Mexico Environment Department to approve this important project.”
One such letter was signed by Las Cruces resident Johnny Acosta. However, Acosta recalled to Source NM that he told canvassers who approached him while he was pumping gas that he had deep reservations about the project.
“I gave her my email and the next day that’s when I saw that whole thing, like I had written it,” he said. “How do people do that?”
Acosta is not alone. Albuquerque resident Dawn Martinez told Source NM she had a similar experience leaving the grocery store last week. She said a man in a Project Jupiter T-shirt asked her for her opinions on the development, and she told him she opposed it on the grounds of water usage and environmental impact.
She said the man then asked her if she would rate their conversation positively and asked for her email address.
“I was assuming I was going to get a survey or something in my email,” she told Source NM. What she received instead was the same letter bearing Acosta’s name.
“It basically was like, ‘I’m Dawn Martinez, in support of Project Jupiter,’” she said.
Katie Yelin, a Rio Rancho resident who recently moved across the river from Albuquerque, recounted a nearly identical experience. There are several similar cases found in the Environment Department’s online public comment portal, where residents have written to clarify that supportive comments bearing their names were submitted without their knowledge or consent.
New Mexico Environment Department spokesperson Drew Goretzka in an email to Source NM said department officials were unaware of the allegedly falsified letters until Monday — when Source NM reached out to the department for comment.
NMED “does not condone these actions and is looking into the issue,” he wrote.
If people see public comments made under their names without their knowledge or consent, Goretzka urged them to immediately alert the department via Pamela.Jones@env.nm.gov.
Pushes to sway public opinion in favor of Project Jupiter have come under scrutiny in recent months.
The State Ethics Commission in April filed a lawsuit against an anonymous company behind a pro-Project Jupiter ad campaign and accused it of violating the state Lobbyist Regulation Act after Source NM revealed the mailers’ out-of-state origins.
Developers also converted a long-awaited town hall in Sunland Park into a career fair earlier in June, which prompted hours of irate public comment at a recent Doña Ana Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Also in June, Source NM revealed that the firm behind the state’s award-winning Medicaid re-enrollment social media campaign was recruiting Instagram influencers to promote Project Jupiter.
“What was so frustrating to me was for him to lie and to misrepresent ‘do you mind giving me your information?’” Martinez, the Albuquerque resident, said about her interaction with the canvasser. “You can’t trust anything these people say. Who knows how many of these comments they’ve submitted aren’t right?”
Several of the companies involved with Project Jupiter, including OpenAI, STACK Infrastructure, Bloom Energy, BorderPlex Digital Assets and Yucca Growth Infrastructure, did not respond to requests for comment.
An Oracle spokesperson in a statement acknowledged its use of canvassers in New Mexico, but denied any wrongdoing.
“Project Jupiter representatives are conducting community outreach to answer questions, provide information and encourage participation in the public permitting process. Our outreach teams are supervised, clearly identified as Project Jupiter representatives, and trained to ensure that any public comment is submitted only by residents who voluntarily choose to do so,” the spokesperson wrote. “We do not authorize or condone the submission of public comments without a resident’s knowledge and consent, and residents who are not ready to submit a comment are provided printed educational materials so they can review the information on their own.”
NM governor approves $500K for statewide wildfires, including McCauley Springs Fire in Jemez - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday issued an emergency order granting $500,000 to a state agency to help address a rash of wildfires across the state, including the McCauley Springs Fire near Jemez Springs.
According to the governor’s office, at least 16 wildfires are currently burning across the state. That includes the 700-acre McCauley Springs Fire in Sandoval County, which prompted evacuations and a partial forest closure, and the Beehive Fire near Tres Piedras, which had grown to more than 4,000 acres Tuesday after first being discovered Friday.
Moreover, “conditions for more are expected to increase,” Maj. Gen. Miguel Aguilar, interim cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said in a statement. “We are doing everything we can to support the responders and the residents who are facing these disasters.”
The flurry of large wildfire ignitions marks the end of a relative “reprieve” the Southwest region enjoyed throughout the beginning of wildfire season, Matt Hurteau, a professor at the University of New Mexico and director of the Center for Fire Resilient Ecosystems and Society, told Source NM.
While the state experienced an above-average number of ignitions in the first six months of the year, at least on state and private land, bursts of moisture have enabled crews to quickly contain them and minimize destruction, Hurteau said. But fires erupted across the region in recent days, sending crews scrambling to restrain them, he said.
“All of a sudden things have started picking up, and we just haven’t had any moisture in a while,” Hurteau said. “We’re starting to hit the dry-lightning part in the prelude to monsoons kicking off. Until we start getting some rains, everything’s really dry. And then just add ignitions.”
Over the weekend, state crews worked with local emergency managers and state agencies to help with the McCauley Springs Fire, according to the governor’s office, including clearing a roadway following a mudslide and installing sandbags. The governor’s order notes that the wildfire has placed “significant strain” on local resources. The blaze was 43% contained as of Tuesday morning.
The Beehive Fire burning 15 miles west of Tres Piedras had 0% containment as of Tuesday morning after igniting Friday, and its cause remained undetermined, according to Forest Service officials.
High winds Monday spurred the wildfire and contributed to its growth of more than 1,000 acres since Monday morning. While the fire does not threaten any structures, officials are urging hikers on the Continental Divide Trail to bypass the area and warning drivers that smoke could reduce visibility along nearby state Highways 64 and 285.
National Weather Service forecasters on Tuesday issued a Red Flag warning in northwest New Mexico, noting the high wildfire risk in that area, and said the rest of northern New Mexico could see scattered thunderstorms, which bring the potential for rains to limit wildfire spread but also the risk of lightning and unpredictable wind.
Hurteau told Source NM that New Mexico has an acute need for steady monsoon rains, both to address the ongoing rash of wildfires but also amid ongoing drought and following record-low snowpacks across the west.
“If it started raining consistently, starting tomorrow, that would be a wonderful thing for us in the Southwest,” he said.
Iran war oil prices driving $500 million in N.M. state revenue, LFC says - Santa Fe New Mexican
The State of New Mexico’s trust funds have received about half a billion dollars worth of unanticipated revenue as a result of higher oil prices resulting from the U.S. war on Iran.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that a Legislative Finance Committee economist shared that information with state lawmakers on Monday.
The roughly $500 million will go to permanent endowment funds, including the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund, the Medicaid Trust Fund, and the Behavioral Health Trust Fund.
For every $1 increase in the average New Mexico price of oil, the state receives an additional $57.3 million impact on state revenue.
Santa Fe City Council rejects appeal of proposed hotel at Cerrillos and St. Francis - Santa Fe New Mexican
A proposal to put a 150-room, four-story hotel near one of Santa Fe's busiest intersections appears to be moving forward.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the Santa Fe City Council voted 4-1 — with one abstention and two councilors absent — to deny an appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of the project.
The New Mexican reports the vote came at the end of a more than five-hour public hearing on the matter Thursday evening.
The appeal was filed by the Old Santa Fe Association.
This site is near the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive and is across the street from the New Mexico School for the Deaf.
Albuquerque-based Titan Development has proposed a four-story hotel at the location.