New Mexico Environment Department

Jet fuel leaking from Kirtland Air Force base into the ground beneath Albuquerque was first discovered nearly 26 years ago in November 1999. So some residents may be surprised that the cleanup process has yet to begin in earnest. While some interim measures have been taken to stop the fuel from getting into the city’s drinking water, experts told lawmakers Tuesday that only the first phase of the process, the investigation, is finally nearing completion.

The timeline for a long-awaited rulemaking process for a proposed workplace heat protection rule has been extended by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED).

New Mexico’s biannual, 60-day lawmaking session ended after two breakneck final weeks with the Democratic-majority, volunteer legislators working right up to the noon deadline. In the end, it was another legislative session that confirmed business as usual for the state’s oil and gas industry.

New Mexico legislators have so far proposed 19 bills this session that could directly — and at times dramatically — change how the oil and gas industry operates in the state.

The New Mexico Department of Health issued a health advisory Monday to those who have captured or consumed wildlife from Holloman Lake in southern New Mexico. The warning follows a report on record levels of PFAS chemicals found in wildlife and plants in the area.

Officials sitting on the Radioactive & Hazardous Materials interim committee received an update Thursday on how the state plans to clean-up the decommissioned San Juan Generating Station.

With the EPA hamstrung by the Supreme Court and shaky state funding, New Mexico could face a future with reduced protections.

A state Environment Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspection of oil and gas facilities in New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin found more than half may be violating air quality rules. Environment Secretary James Kenney said the results are “cause for alarm.”

But a tax break for low-producing stripper wells gets slipped into a package with green energy breaks.

New Mexico’s state government is testing the wastewater in high schools for illegal substances. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham claims the approach will help the state narrow in on where to put resources. Critics say it’s a waste of state money that stigmatizes students.