NMELC in the News
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center is frequently in the news, both locally and nationally. If you see references that we've missed, please forward them on to us at: nmelc@nmelc.org. Thank you.
Judge Says State Commission Can’t Reconsider Pit Rule…Yet
Environmentalists appear to have won a round in continued sparring over New Mexico’s so-called pit rule. Listen to KUNM’s Sidsel Overgaard reporting.
Court Halts State Hearings on ‘Pit Rule’
The First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe has ordered oil-and-gas industry representatives to stop pursuing changes in New Mexico’s ‘pit rule’ at the state Oil Conservation Division until court processes are completed… Environmental Law Center Staff Attorney Eric Jantz said in a prepared statement that the writ “sends a signal” to Gov. Martinez’s administration and industry that they must play by the rules. New Mexico Business Weekly
Court Stalls Effort to Revamp NM Oil and Gas Rules
A state district judge has stalled administrative efforts by New Mexico regulators to revamp rules that govern how oil and gas developers handle drilling waste.
Judge Raymond Ortiz has granted a request by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center that the state Oil Conservation Commission be prohibited from reconsidering the pit rule until legal appeals have been resolved. Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
NM Officials Consider Request for Water Appropriation Involving Billions of Gallons
Draper, Frederick and about a dozen other attorneys on both sides of the case gathered at a courthouse in Socorro earlier this week to present their arguments. A hearing officer is now working on a recommendation for Verhines.
Critics dismiss the idea that denying the ranch’s application would somehow hamper efforts to create jobs and spur economic development in New Mexico. They contend that adhering to the appropriation doctrine — which calls for there to be a beneficial use for the water and that no other water rights holders be harmed — is more important to ensure sustainable management of the resource in the future.
“The prior appropriation doctrine got started in the Gold Rush days. Its purpose was to make sure everybody got as much water as they needed and no more. If you took more than you needed, they shot you,“ Frederick said. “Hopefully the doctrine still means something.“ The Republic
OSE Weighs Motion to Dismiss San Augustin Water Claim
New Mexico Environmental Law Center attorney Bruce Frederick, who represents about 80 area residents who oppose the application, said 17.5 billion gallons is about the amount of water the city of Albuquerque consumes in a year…
“The ranch’s desire to exploit a free public resource for private profit is nothing new. The courts have consistently held that speculation in public water harms the public and conflicts with the [state] law of prior appropriation” The Light of New Mexico
Water Proposal Contested in Socorro
The occasion was a state hearing on an application by Augustin Plains Ranch to install as many as 37 wells and pump an amount equivalent to Albuquerque’s entire annual water consumption. The application does not specify who among the Rio Grande Valley’s cities and farms might buy the water… Before the state even begins considering whether the pumping will cause harm to high country residents, it should dismiss the application because it is simply too vague to be considered, argued Bruce Frederick of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center.
The problem, Frederick said, is that the ranch’s water pumping application does not say where the water will go and who will use it. For a water transfer to be legal under New Mexico law, it must specify the “place and purpose of use” on the pipeline’s receiving end, he said. Albuquerque Journal
Read full story. (subscription)
OSE Examiner Hears Arguments
Attorneys on both sides made arguments on two motions to dismiss an application by Augustin Plains Ranch LLC to pump 54,000 acre-feet of groundwater per year from the San Agustin Basin. The hearing was held Tuesday before a Office of the State Engineer hearing examiner at the Socorro County Courthouse…
Bruce Frederick, an attorney for the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, representing about 80 of the more than 200 protestants, argued that the application should be thrown out on its face because it does not meet the requirement of stating a beneficial use. He characterized the application are speculative in that it tells little about how the water would be used, where and for what purpose. “The fact is, nobody, not even the Ranch, knows the answers to these questions,” he said. DChieftain.com
Opponents of Augustin Plains Water Application Await Decision
KUNM covered the hearing yesterday in Socorro, NM. Listen to the story here. Learn more about the case.
NM regulators repeal carbon cap and trade rules
(AP) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico’s participation in a regional cap and trade program aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions became more unlikely Monday with a unanimous vote by state regulators… “It’s obvious that anything that industry wants, they’re going to get from this board, whether it’s good for public health or the environment or not,“ said Bruce Frederick, a staff attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. CBSNews.com
EIB Repeals State Carbon Regulations
The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board repealed a statewide cap on carbon emissions at a hearing today. The regulations, originally approved by the EIB in fall 2010, were designed by the state Environment Department while former Gov. Bill Richardson was still in office… “The hearing initiated by the EIB and PNM et al was a very expensive formality,” Frederick said in a news release. “They essentially agreed to repeal the regulations long before the hearings began.” New Mexico Business Weekly
Hearing Set in San Augustin Plains Water Case
SOCORRO, N.M. (AP) - A hearing is scheduled next week in Socorro on a proposal to pump what would amount to billions of gallons of water from the San Augustin Plains in central New Mexico… More than 80 are represented by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center and staff attorney Bruce Frederick. He says the application doesn’t comply with state law because Augustin Plains Ranch has failed to identify exactly how and where it intends to use the water. NewsWest9.com
Pit Rule Public Hearing Delayed
A weeklong public hearing aimed at revamping rules that govern how oil and gas developers handle drilling waste has been put on hold by New Mexico regulators, parties in the case said Friday.
Jantz said earlier this week that the industry is taking advantage of a change in administration and that allowing the commission to settle the issue would result in “this endless cycle” of rulemakings and appeals.
Gwen Lachelt with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project said the rule is based on sound science and should be preserved. “It’s a model rule,“ she said. “Since it has been in effect, it has protected the land and water and the oil and gas industry has continued to make a profit in New Mexico.“ Alomogordo Daily News
KSFR: Judge Denies Further Court Action on Oil-Gas Drilling Rule
A state district judge has decided to allow New Mexico officials to proceed with hearings on whether to change a controversial rule set in place during the Richardson administration. Gov. Martinez has called for repealing the rule because it puts strict requirements on oil and gas developers on how they must install and use liners in the pits designed to catch wastes produced during the drilling process.
Eric Jantz of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center says his group lost their attempt to allow further court action on the measure.
Listen at KSFR.org.
Judge Approves Stay in NM Pit Rule Case, Oil and Gas Industry Wants Regulators to Revamp Rule
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A state district judge on Tuesday sided with New Mexico’s oil and gas industry, putting on hold legal appeals related to efforts by the industry to revamp rules for handling drilling and production wastes. The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association had asked for the appeals process to be halted so the state Oil Conservation Commission could tackle the so-called pit rule administratively.
Eric Jantz, an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, said he was disappointed the appellate process will not be able to unfold. Instead, he said the industry is taking advantage of a change in the political climate since the pit rule was first adopted by the commission.
“Groundwater and surface water is really the issue here and whether we want to sacrifice that for oil and gas profits,“ Jantz said. “If that’s the policy debate we have, then let’s have it.“ The Republic
URANIUM: Local Activists, Industry Officials Clash Over New Mining Process
“Aquifer exemptions or state equivalents for ISL operations were granted without consideration of the existence of impacts from past uranium mining and milling, whether the groundwater in the aquifer to be mined was potable, and the tribal and community need for groundwater resources,“ Eric Jantz, a New Mexico Environmental Law Center attorney, wrote in a letter to EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council earlier this year.
“As a result, hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—of gallons of potable water needed by tribes and tribal communities will be forever contaminated,“ Jantz added. He asked for more research and oversight into in situ uranium extraction. EeNews.net
Read full story. Learn more about the Hydro Resources, Inc. uranium mines case.