News New Mexico

NM declines quick approval of WIPP expansion

The state of New Mexico has declined the Department of Energy's request for quick approval of a proposal to bring radioactive waste from Washington state's Hanford Nuclear Reservation to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad.

Instead, the New Mexico Environment Department says it will hold public hearings before any decisions are made.

Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn in a statement Monday evening said the decision will ensure that "the public's views are carefully considered" before the state acts on the Department of Energy's request to modify the WIPP permit to allow the waste to be brought from Washington state.

The DOE in March asked the department for a quick approval of a change in the WIPP permit so it can bring 3.1 million gallons from leaking waste tanks at Hanford.

USDA offers fire assistance to agricultural producers

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is accepting applications for financial assistance from agricultural producers in New Mexico impacted by wildfires of 2011, 2012 and 2013 under the new Burned Lands Initiative.

The financial assistance will help address resource concerns on private land through NRCS’ Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP).

Applications will be accepted through Friday, July 19, 2013 for producers impacted by wildfires such as the Jaroso Fire, Las Conchas Fire, Little Bear Fire, Silver Fire, Thompson Ridge Fire, Track Fire, Tres Lagunas Fire, Wallow Fire and Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire.

Rio Grande to run dry

With the flow between Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs ending on Monday, the shortest irrigation season in the history of the Rio Grande Project is quickly coming to an end.

Although a limited flow will continue between the two reservoirs for the next few days, there are no further releases scheduled for 2013. Flows from Caballo Reservoir for Rio Grande Project water delivery will end on July 14, which will mean the river channel between the two reservoirs and downstream of Elephant Butte will begin to dry.

Water levels at Elephant Butte Reservoir are at a historic 40-year low. The current level is 3.1 percent of total storage capacity. Irrigators on the Rio Grande Project received an initial allotment of just six percent of a full supply this year.

The irrigation season began on June 1.

Oil boom creating traffic problems in Eddy County

From KOB-TV.com - By: Lauren Hansard, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Eddy County in Southeast New Mexico isn't known for traffic problems until now. The oil industry is booming, add in normal truck traffic and you have a problem law enforcement is cruising to solve. The biggest challenge for drivers and law enforcement is rush hour.
"If you live in Eddy County you know between 5:00 in the evening and 7:00 in the morning it is hard to get anywhere," said Lieutenant James Page with the Eddy County Sheriff Department. Page says they have increased patrols to keep up. "I think we're doing a good job, just trying to keep pace to this ever expanding field.”
The Sheriff’s Department got a $20,000 grant just to manage traffic in the oil fields. "The increase in traffic is exponential from what it was 10 years ago," said Page. They’re putting more deputies on patrol in those areas especially during peak times. The department has logged 289 hours of overtime patrols this year with over 500 tickets issued during those hours.
"Some days it is nonstop from the time we come in to when go home at night, it can be crash after crash," said Page. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has also started an initiative to help make highways safer.
"We're working to see how we can reduce accidents in SE New Mexico," said Susan Scott, the Deputy Manager of Communications at WIPP. WIPP lost two employees last year in car accidents and have been holding meetings with the Sheriff Department all year to make roadways safer. Read more

Senator to save NMSU football by de-emphasizing

Will NMSU ever be playing in the New Mexico Bowl?

Commentary by Milan Simonich: They still play football at Cumberland University, a school that lost to Georgia Tech in 1916 by the record-breaking score of 222-0. Cumberland, with an enrollment of 1,400, has a schedule this fall that includes Faulkner University and Bluefield College. Playing mighty Georgia Tech is only a bad memory.
Cumberland administrators learned long ago that their school in central Tennessee could not be a football powerhouse so they scaled back the program. New Mexico State Sen. Howie Morales envisions a similar change on the border.
Morales, D-Silver City, says the New Mexico State Aggies can compete at the highest level in basketball but not in football. He says NMSU should maintain an intercollegiate football program, but scale it down to Division II or the Football Championship Subdivision.
"The reality of it is that you've got to be competitive if you're going to keep playing football," said Morales, who received his Ph.D. from New Mexico State.
His argument against NMSU remaining at the highest level in football will be clear to all by late summer. Read full column

Wherry Elem students dismissed due to power outage

NewsNM: Swickard - Wherry Elementary is my first public school almost 60 years ago. I smile as I go by it when I am in Albuquerque.
From KOB-TV.com - By: Elizabeth Reed, KOB.com - Due to a power outage, Wherry Elementary School is releasing students

in its K-5 summer school early on Monday.
According to Albuquerque Public Schools spokesman John Miller, a transformer failed and now PNM crews are waiting on a part to fix it.
Miller said parents are encouraged to pick their children up, but if they cannot, the school will hold them until their regular dismissal time of 3 p.m.
No word yet on whether or not school will be in session on Tuesday. More

Silver Fire moves closer to full containment

From KOB-TV.com - By: Jeffery Gordon, KOB.com - The Silver Fire burning in the Gila Wilderness is closer to complete containment. Crews have improved the fire's containment to 80 percent. Crews are also focusing on the burn scar to reduce flooding and erosion from the recent rains. The Silver Fire has burned more than 138,000 acres near the town of Kingston.

APD shooting: Life to death in 4 minutes

NewsNM: Swickard - perhaps we need Public Service Announcements to tell citizens that the police will shoot them dead if they do the wrong things. Both in Las Cruces and Albuquerque this last week the police were forced, yes, forced, to take a citizen's life because that citizen made bad choices. And in both cases mental illness may have played a part. While I have been critical of the police at times, they did exactly what must be done and I thank them for their service to our community.

From KRQE-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A fatal drama played out quickly in northeast Albuquerque Friday night after police responded to a report of a man armed with butcher knives threatening two kids near a movie theater. Albuquerque police were dispatched to the restaurant and entertainment district on San Mateo Boulevard NE north of Montgomery after a security guard called 911 saying two teens were approached by an older black man armed with two 10-inch butcher knives.

"As the call was being dispatched one of the officers, based on the description of the black male, thought she knew who he was and that he was a male she had dealt with prior who was suffering from mental health issues," APD Chief Ray Schultz said during an impromptu news conference outside the crime-scene tape late Friday night.
The call came in at 7:39 p.m., and Schultz said shots were fired at 7:43 p.m. In those four minutes officers arrived at the north side of the mall at Montgomery and San Mateo boulevards, talked to the security guard and found out the suspect was gone.
By then he'd moved north to the Circle K store on the northwest corner of San Mateo and McLeod Road. The first officer to arrive there met the suspect face-to-face. "We have witnesses who state that the male subject lunged at the officer, and the officer began to retreat from the man," Schultz said. "The man continued to advance to the officer, lunging at him with the knife.
"When the second officer arrived on scene as the suspect continued to aggressively go to the officer, that second officer, a female officer, discharged her firearm multiple times."
A third officer, part of the APD Crisis Intervention Team, arrived just as the shots were fired. The man was taken to UNM Hospital where he later died. At last report investigators were still trying to confirm his identity. Read more

Illegal firework hotline nets 750 calls, 8 citations

From KOB-TV.com - By: Elizabeth Reed, KOB.com - Bernalillo County fire officials said their illegal firework hotline was so busy, they couldn't keep up with the calls on the Fourth of July. The Albuquerque Fire Department handed out an estimated eight citations and fielded nearly 750 calls about illegal fireworks in the past two nights.
According to preliminary numbers from AFD, fire marshal inspectors issued one illegal firework citation on July 3 and seven on July 4. The city's illegal firework hotline received 666 calls on the Fourth of July alone. The number of calls slightly surpassed last year's by 18.
Bernalillo County fire spokesman Larry Gallegos said they sent extra patrols to the Bosque and the North Valley neighborhoods due to increased fire risk. "We are not only going in the bosque where we know it's dry, but in neighborhoods," he said. "We believe people really like to see the fire department out checking - checking for those illegal fireworks, but also for illegal burns."
AFD reminds the public that despite the rain, wildfires and structure fires can still occur with the improper use of both legal and illegal fireworks. Read more

Happy 4th of July

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