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A river wounded: Crisis on the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande existed long before humans. It may not outlive us. Through millions of years, the river is mapped in strata, in oral traditions. More recently, in computer models. All tell of rapidly receding waters. A shrunken Rio Grande remains for thirstier landscapes and wildlife drawn to its banks. For people, too. The river […]
Planners for southern N.M. reproductive health clinic gather in the capital to talk next steps
There’s no timeline for the future $10 million reproductive health center in Las Cruces, N.M., but advocates turned out at the capital, touting a vision beyond abortion care. About two dozen supporters of the health center — including advocacy nonprofits such as Forward Together, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and Bold Futures NM — […]
N.M. government tasked with responding to climate disasters and grappling with their cause
Advocacy groups praised the governor’s proposal for a boost in state environment programs, but activists also urged the state government to do more to fight climate change in a busy opening day of the 2023 legislative session. Record oil and gas revenues soaring to what lawmakers called “once-in-history” levels brought New Mexico a more than […]
Flood infrastructure and housing among the big legislative asks from southern New Mexicans
LAS CRUCES — About 40 people packed themselves into the offices of El Calvario Church Friday night, squeezing between high-backed quilted chairs and lining the edges of the room. For the next two hours, the air buzzed with requests, concerns and questions for state lawmakers about how to spend a record $3.6 billion budget surplus. […]
Possible deal to end Rio Grande SCOTUS case becomes public
A proposed agreement between Texas, New Mexico and Colorado was unsealed Monday, months after the states announced a deal to end nearly a decade-old Supreme Court case over Rio Grande water. The deal would amend the 83-year old legal basis for how the three states split water from the river under the Rio Grande Compact. […]
Settlement agreement could emerge from behind closed doors in fight over Rio Grande water
After the October bombshell of a draft agreement to end Texas and New Mexico’s fight over Rio Grande water dropped, much of the controversy in the Supreme Court lawsuit slipped behind sealed documents and hearings closed to the public. The lawsuit — officially called Original No. 141 Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado — dragged […]
Pueblos again seek inclusion in Rio Grande decision-making
Members of six New Mexico Pueblos are calling for a seat at the table from the body that oversees how the Rio Grande’s water is split, managed and used between states. A coalition representing Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Sandia and Isleta attended the annual Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting on May 6. […]
Lack of movement on extension of radiation compensation fund worries NM Downwinders
An extension for the fund to support people exposed to radiation will not be included in the omnibus spending bill Congress is working on to keep the government open. The 32-year old fund enacted in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) provides lump sums to people exposed to radiation — or their families — who […]
New Mexico Downwinders demand recognition, justice
The story of the Trinity Test Site is mapped onto the bodies of thousands of New Mexicans, slipped between stories of losing family member after family member to cancer. For Tina Cordova, bringing light to the legacy from the secretive testing of the first atomic bomb near thousands of people in the deserts of Southern […]
Lawmakers faced with dueling budgets for NM environment agencies
Initial budget proposals from the executive and legislative branches offer a view of the fault line to funding climate priorities at the top of the 30-day legislative session. Conservation advocates said they’re worried state agencies that regulate polluters and monitor the state’s air and water will be underfunded by lawmakers in the 2022 legislative session […]
EPA devotes some federal cleanup funds to two toxic sites in NM
Former battery sludge lagoons in Socorro and a dry-cleaning chemical spill in Roswell were chosen by federal officials as destinations for cleanup funding, decades after the areas were contaminated. Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker said the funding’s been a long time coming, as cancer-causing manufacturing chemicals were first found in city water in the late 1980s. […]
Trial starts in Rio Grande Supreme Court water lawsuit between New Mexico and Texas
Attorneys laid out their arguments Monday during the first day of a virtual trial in a lawsuit over Rio Grande water with Texas and the federal government alleging that New Mexico’s use of groundwater cut into Texas’ share of river water. The appointed special master, Michael Melloy, a senior judge for the U.S. 8th District […]