Welcome to the new way a developer tries to game the system

Santolina developers try to disconnect land use from water In the 1990s, Bernalillo County adopted an ordinance that lays out very specific requirements for developers seeking to build master-planned communities. Key among them are rules that developers must show that they have both “wet” water and water rights for their projects. It just makes sense […]

Taking on a Global Problem … right here in New Mexico

Water speculators meet stiff resistance from the Law Center Multinational corporations are working across the world to speculate in and privatize water supplies; despite strong laws and policies preventing speculation in New Mexico, water rights developers are eying our aquifers with a focus on profit. But they’re having a tough time succeeding with the Law […]

Residents Fight Water Speculation in East Mountains

Residents of the communities in the East Mountains of Albuquerque, NM, have asked a judge to throw out an appeal filed by Aquifer Science, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of water development company PICO Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PICO) that seeks to obtain water rights in the East Mountains.

Albuquerque Air Quality Board Upholds Polluting Permit

Yesterday, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Air Quality Board unanimously voted to deny an appeal of an air pollution permit issued to Honstein Oil & Distributing, LLC. The Honstein facility is located near homes in the San Jose neighborhood in the South Valley of Albuquerque and holds a 6,000 gallon gasoline storage tank. The facility is one of many polluting facilities found in the South Valley, a community recognized by the US EPA as an “Environmental Justice community”.

Sprawling Santolina, Chapter 2

With your support, Law Center Attorneys Jaimie Park and Doug Meiklejohn and our clients have begun a new fight in the case to protect water and taxpayer dollars from the proposed 90,000-person Santolina mega-development slated for the west side of Albuquerque....