Journal Poll: Haaland maintains lead over Hull as New Mexico's race for governor nears homestretch
– Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
With Election Day approaching, Democrat Deb Haaland has been unable to pull away in New Mexico’s open race for governor, a new Journal Poll found.
On the other hand, her Republican opponent, Gregg Hull, has not been able to cut into Haaland’s lead in the contest since a previous poll was conducted in August.
The new Journal Poll found 49% of likely voters surveyed said they planned to vote for Haaland or had already done so, while 42% of voters said they intended to vote for Hull. The remaining 9% of voters said they had still not decided who they planned to vote for in the Nov. 3 election.
The largely static margin separating the two gubernatorial candidates — they were separated by a 49-43 split in the August poll — shows the structural challenges Hull is facing in a state in which registered Democrats outnumber Republicans.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
‘Quiet loud nature’: New Mexico opponents of Roadless Rule repeal describe fear of lost solitude
– Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Most of the roughly 600 New Mexico residents who weighed in on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to end the 2001 Roadless Rule said it should remain in place to protect watersheds and wildlife, as well as spare roughly 1.6 million acres of the state’s forestland from extractive industries.
But beyond the policy itself, dozens of them, via a public comment portal on Regulations.gov, offered personal reflections about profound experiences in untamed nature, which they see as at risk if the USDA moves forward with the rule’s repeal.
“We never saw nor heard another person, vehicle or anything else manmade,” one person wrote about a backpacking trip in the Gila National Forest, of which roughly one quarter is protected under the Roadless Rule. “Instead we saw skies so lit up with stars we almost didn’t need headlamps to cook. We were woken up at night by a large herd of elk thundering past.”
“Nature is actually quite loud when it’s not drowned out by humans and our trucks, cars, heavy machinery, utility infrastructure constantly buzzing,” the commenter continued. “I dream of the Gila and hope I have the privilege to trek through its quiet loud nature again.”
Another commenter, who described himself as elderly man, said his New Mexico wilderness experiences were the most meaningful of his life. He wrote that he hopes his sons have the same chances to “explore, love, and be restored by these wild places in the same way I have been.”
“Opportunities for solitude are a rare commodity in the modern world,” he said. “We must protect them like the precious treasures that they are.”
The department last week closed its public comment period soliciting feedback for its proposal to repeal the rule, which protects roughly 58 million acres of national forests nationwide from logging, road construction or other development.
The department received more than 370,000 comments from members of the public between Aug. 18 and Oct. 6 on its proposed repeal of the rule. A recent analysis from the Center for Western Priorities, an environmental advocacy group, used an AI large language model to analyze the comments and concluded that more than 99% of them urged the department to keep the rule in place.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins first announced her intention to repeal the rule while in Santa Fe in June 2025. The administration has justified repealing the rule as a way to return control to local administrators, reduce wildfires and support the logging industry.
Source NM reviewed comments submitted to Regulations.gov from those who say they’re New Mexico residents or who mention one of five national forests in the state. All but five of the 594 comments from New Mexico residents oppose the repeal. All 120 comments from those who mention the state’s national forests hope the rule stays in place.
Among those in opposition to the repeal were those who identified themselves as ranchers, hikers, hunters, fishermen, and business owners in communities surrounding the Gila National Forest.
Twenty-four comments mention “solitude”; 20 describe the protected areas as “sacred.” One comment came from a 6-year-old child who described enjoying climbing trees and rocks, as well as skiing in the Cibola National Forest.
“I think you should keep the Roadless Rule,” the child wrote.
In addition to those from individuals, several of the comments submitted by New Mexico environmental groups were on behalf of thousands of state residents.
New Mexico Wild, for example, submitted letters opposing the repeal signed by approximately 3,300 state residents. The organization held a series of “people’s public hearings” mobilizing opposition to the repeal after the USDA refused to hold its own public hearings on the matter.
Of the five people who supported repealing the rule, all but one did not provide their names, which was voluntary. Those commenters mentioned concern about wildfires and said the rule gets in the way of commonsense forest management in New Mexico.
Studies have shown that wildfires are less common in areas the Roadless Rule protects. Introducing roads to protected areas increases the risk of human-caused wildfires, advocacy groups contend.
The one signed letter from a Roadless Rule opponent came from John Paul Bradley, the general manager of the Sipapu Ski Resort in the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. He said that a roadless area sits adjacent to the ski resort, and he’s concerned the rule means the area “cannot be managed to improve forest health.”
“We believe in returning decisions to the local level and giving the Forest Service all the tools and support they need to actively manage these beautiful national forests across the West,” he wrote.
Bradley did not respond to Source NM’s requests for further comment last week.
Albuquerque firm to create detailed State Fairgrounds redevelopment plan
– Kylie Garcia, Albuquerque Journal
Redevelopment plans for the State Fairgrounds moved closer to fruition on Friday as the state selected a firm to create a new master plan.
The Governor’s Office announced in a news release that the state’s General Services Department tapped Albuquerque-based Hartman + Majewski Design Group to produce a detailed master plan for the site’s redevelopment. The contract is valued at more than $6.4 million, a department spokesperson said.
Stantec Consulting Services Inc. has already created a general master plan for the site. Hartman + Majewski’s detailed plan will provide more specific guidance on where to position the proposed stadium, park and housing.
“We’re making steady progress on the State Fairgrounds, and each step brings us closer to the day when families in the International District can take pride in a revitalized neighborhood that’s safer and provides more economic, recreational and cultural opportunities for all who call the area home,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
Oracle to consider delivering natural gas by truck to Project Jupiter
– Julia Gentin, Searchlight New Mexico
The main company behind Project Jupiter is considering delivering natural gas by truck as they wait for a pipeline to be approved — the same technique Oracle has used for over a year to fuel a data center in Salt Lake City — according to a Bloomberg report Thursday.
The controversial data center in Santa Teresa is intended to be powered by fuel cells from Bloom Energy Corp., but it continues to lack the natural gas supply for these fuel cells. The pipeline has been rejected twice by State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, prompting a reroute from Energy Transfer LP.
Originally, the pipeline was supposed to be online this summer, but its new projected service date is next year.
In the wake of Bloomberg’s report, Bloom Energy’s shares dropped 7.5% on Thursday. Some viewed it as a “Hail Mary by investors,” Mariel Nanasi, executive director of Santa Fe-based New Energy Economy, said Thursday.
“It seems to me that it would be actually horrendous for people in Sunland Park and Santa Teresa,” Nanasi said. “Not only truck traffic … but the emissions to bring in 400 million cubic feet of gas per day. … That sounds crazy.”
The Doña Ana County Commission unanimously voted to terminate County Manager Scott Andrews — who had signed nondisclosure agreements with developers behind the massive and controversial Project Jupiter data center — without cause on July 21.
When The New Mexican tried to find out more about his departure, the county closed a request for records after 30 days without producing any documents. This came despite multiple references by the interim county attorney and commissioners to a separation agreement.
After The New Mexican published a story on the matter Wednesday, the county reopened the request the same day, providing a signed separation agreement.
While Andrews came under fire, some people suggested to The New Mexican he wasn’t let go due to his handling of the data center — as many assumed — but because he was in search of another job and wanted to negotiate a better settlement for his departure. He was included on a list of candidates for city manager in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., on June 2.
Andrews in an Aug. 3 LinkedIn post insinuated his departure was due to how he and his family had been treated in the community: He had been egged, followed home and asked to leave a coffee shop, according to his post.
In the agreement, among other items:
- Andrews was granted a severance payment equivalent to six months’ salary.
- The county and Andrews pledged not to make any disparaging comments about each other.
- The county said it would provide a “neutral professional reference” for Andrews.
- Andrews released the county from any claims or liabilities due to the separation.
Trump administration 'national defense area' challenged in New Mexico
–Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
Volunteers who search for lost, missing or deceased migrants are stymied. Hunters and birdwatchers can’t readily enjoy their hobbies, and border advocacy groups have curtailed their work.
The Trump administration’s decision to turn at least 100,000 acres along the U.S.-New Mexico border into a restricted military zone has effectively increased potential penalties for those who cross illegally, but is also harming U.S. citizens, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on Thursday.
The plaintiffs, which include the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, are asking a federal judge to declare the government’s designation of the state’s so-called “national defense area” as unlawful.
“The goal here is to end the designation of the land at issue as a ‘national defense area’ and return it to the public for the uses it has long served,” said Albuquerque attorney Mark T. Baker, who represents three organizations that filed the case. “Our clients’ experiences provide just a few important examples of the problems the federal government created with this misadventure.”
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
UNM drops Alta Vista acquisition plan
–John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
The University of New Mexico hasn’t said whether its recently abandoned plan to purchase one of northern New Mexico’s key rural hospitals was tied to a proposed reproductive healthcare center, following the expiration of a preliminary agreement last month.
Alta Vista Regional Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Las Vegas, issued a news release Oct. 2 stating that “a preliminary letter of intent related to a potential transaction with the University of New Mexico” had expired Sept. 1.
The letter referred to the university’s proposed “acquisition” of the hospital, according to university spokesperson Christopher Ramirez, who said the deal would have leveraged legislative healthcare appropriations lawmakers earmarked over the last two years.
Ramirez referred to $15 million the Legislature set aside this year for UNM to fund a capital project in San Miguel County, where Alta Vista is located. But in the same response, he also cited $10 million the Legislature earmarked in 2025 — monies designated “to plan, design, construct, equip and furnish a reproductive healthcare clinic in northern New Mexico.”
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
