I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Starting today, anyone trying to lay claim to water deeper than 2,500 feet below the surface will come under state regulation.
Gov. Bill Richardson signed a bill into law Monday morning that gives the state authority to divvy up rights for water 2,500 feet below the surface and deeper. The state already has purview over ground water and H2O just below the ground surface.
Because of a quirk of state law, however, this deep groundwater has not fallen under the purview of state authority as has groundwater and water in rivers and lakes.
But population growth has caused some growing cities, such as Rio Rancho, to start searching for other sources of water beyond importing H2O in or relying on surface water. And that has led them to look deep below the surface to these aquifers for sources of H2O. Sandoval County, where Rio Rancho is located, has even partnered with a corporation to begin plans for a desalination plant to make the salty, mineral-laden water usable.
“We must ensure New Mexico’s deep water reserves are protected and managed correctly that is why I have signed HB 19 and closed a major loophole in the existing aquifer jurisdiction law,” Richardson said moments before he signed the legislation into law.
