Water in the Mid Rio Grande Area: A Tale of Two Cities

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(Excerpt from mid Rio Grande Times)

Many of us in the mid Rio Grande area take water for granted when we open the faucet or flush the toilet. We may not know anything about the processes for supplying potable water or its disposal after use. We probably notice that our water bills also contain a bill for wastewater disposal, and we may realize that our water disposal is related to our water use.  But we may know very little about the water management system.

In the larger metro area, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) manages drinking water and wastewater disposal. The Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) for which census data is regularly collected includes Albuquerque as well as towns such as Estancia, Moriarty, Edgewood, Cedar Crest, and surrounding areas.  Not all of the MSA is served by ABCWUA, though.  ABCWUA draws on the Middle Rio Grande Basin for groundwater, while the Estancia Basin is used by many non-urban water users in the area.

Households in non-urban settings have more direct involvement in their own water supply and disposal.  Non-urban households – outside of towns with municipal water supplies – get their water from groundwater wells and dispose of their wastewater through onsite (septic) treatment systems.

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Sister Joan Brown: For modern era, update oil and gas laws

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In an opinion piece published in The New Mexican (Santa Fe), Sister Joan Brown, executive director of Interfaith Power & Light- New Mexico and El Paso, called on the state of New Mexico to modernize laws covering the oil and gas industry.  Here an excerpt from the  piece.

For modern era, update oil and gas laws

Many things in the world have changed since 1935 when New Mexico’s laws for oil and gas were written. Since then, New Mexico has grown to be the second-largest oil-producing state, behind only Texas. Oil and gas development has exploded in our state, impacting our environment, climate, public health and front-line communities. But the oil and gas laws of 1935 have not kept pace with the world we live in today.

Businesses are run by people who have families and want to be ethical and moral. Making policy changes in oil and gas rules to include public health, communities, our children and our future would help everyone. How many of us live life as it was 90 years ago?

We all must care for the common good. Updating antiquated rules for the 21st century makes sense. One area is to ensure taxpayers aren’t left to clean up the mess when wells inevitably run dry and need to be plugged. Taxpayers are left to foot the bill to clean up these polluting wells — a burden now and a debt our children must bear.

As part of the 2021 infrastructure bill, Sen. Ben Ray Luján secured a $4.7 billion investment to plug orphan wells. Wells in New Mexico are orphaned when operators go under — often in an inevitable oil bust — and walk away without cleaning up their mess. These abandoned, unplugged wells can lower property value and land productivity, pollute groundwater and release known carcinogens into our air. Too often, states, tribes, the federal government and taxpayers are left to pay to plug wells. Communities are left with polluted lands.

We have never had enough money to plug these orphaned wells, and we now have nearly 2,400 orphan wells in New Mexico, with potentially thousands more that are at risk of becoming orphaned in the near future. The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament instructs us to be caretakers, not polluters or destroyers. Plugging wells is a way to caretake and be responsible.

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Carlsbad Current-Argus: Holtec Project Opposed, Yet Company Asserts Local Support

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Nuclear waste project in New Mexico opposed in recent poll, company asserts local support

New Mexicans in every region of the state allegedly opposed storing high-level nuclear waste in their state, according to a recent poll, as a New Jersey company hoped to build a facility to do so near Carlsbad.

The poll, commissioned by Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center in a partnership with the Center for Civic Policy surveyed 1,015 voters across the state from Dec. 7 to 14.

It found 60 percent of those surveyed were in opposition to the project, with 30 percent supporting and 10 percent undecided.

More:Legality of nuke waste storage at Texas, New Mexico border questioned during court hearing

Holtec International applied in 2017 for a license from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build and operate what it called a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in a remote area near the border of Eddy and Lea counties.

Last year, the NRC published its final environmental impact statement (EIS), contending the project would have little impact on the environment, and recommending the license be issued.

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