by Julia Spencer
KFOX-14
September 16, 2024

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — People living in Sunland Park and Santa Teresa spoke to New Mexico state officials about the concerns they have over their drinking water. …

by Jessica Onsurez and Jason Groves
Las Cruces Sun-News
September 14, 2024

New Mexico’s Department of Health Secretary will be in Sunland Park Sept. 16 as part of town hall to discuss the quality of water available to area residents.

Sec. Patrick Allen will be joined by Sydney Lienemann, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department and water and environmental health experts, according to a news release from the Department of Health. …

Jessica Carranza Pino El Defensor Chieftain September 5, 2024 After a nearly two-decade long legal battle, Judge Roscoe Woods of the Seventh Judicial District Court filed a final order in the San Agustin Plains water court case. Augustin Plains Ranch, LLC (APR)opposed...

Jessica Carranza Pino El Defensor Chieftain September 5, 2024 After a nearly two-decade long legal battle, Judge Roscoe Woods of the Seventh Judicial District Court filed a final order in the San Agustin Plains water court case. Augustin Plains Ranch, LLC (APR)opposed...

Telemundo 48 El Paso
August 29, 2024
by Luisa Gonzalez

The New Mexico Auditor’s Office is officially investigating the Camino Real Water Company, or CRRUA, as they face allegations of violating environmental and consumer protection laws, waste, fraud, and abuse of state and federal funds. …

KTSM 9
August 28, 2024
by Luisa Barrios
 

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor (OSA) is officially investigating the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) for potential “fraud, waste and abuse,” the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) announced in a news release sent Wednesday, Aug. 28.  …

KFOX 14
August 19, 2024
by KFOX staff

DONA ANA COUNTY, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A legal group is working to hold a troubled Borderland water utility accountable for a slew of systemic failures that residents say stretch back years.

Residents in Sunland Park and Santa Teresa, New Mexico — with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) at the helm –are urging the Department of Justice and the State Auditor to investigate the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority, or CRRUA.  …

KFOX 14
August 15, 2024
by David Ibave

SUNLAND PARK, N. M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — The troubled utility company that services Sunland Park and Santa Teresa is in hot water as residents have asked the New Mexico Department of Justice to investigate it for alleged environmental violations.

On Friday, Aug. 2, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, acting on behalf of Sunland Park and Santa Teresa residents, submitted a request to the state’s DOJ and Office of the State Auditor to investigate the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) for several alleged violations.  …

Las Cruces Sun News
July 17, 2024
by Vivian Fuller, Daisy Maldonado, Mark Alonzo and Lia Rasberry

Residents of Sunland Park and Santa Teresa are deeply troubled by the ongoing issues with the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) water supply. Despite repeated assurances from CRRUA, community members continue to face problems with arsenic contamination, discolored water, health concerns and escalating water rates.

For years, many CRRUA customers have experienced yellow and brown water flowing from our taps, raising concerns about the safety of our drinking water. We have experienced persistent rashes, hair loss, and dry skin; our water is discolored and smells of sulfur. The presence of inorganic arsenic compounds in the water is particularly alarming, given their highly toxic nature and potential for causing both acute and long-term health issues, including cancer.  …

New Mexico Political Report
July 17, 2024
by Hannah Grover

For most of his life, Paul Pino believed his community had dodged the bullet when it came to nuclear fallout. It wasn’t until he’d retired from teaching high school history that he learned that his home, Carrizozo, had in fact experienced radiation fallout on a July morning in 1945.

Then the pieces started coming together. He’d seen family members die of illnesses that can be linked to radiation exposure.  …

 KUNM
July 11, 2024
by Jeanette DeDios

It’s been 45 years since the largest radioactive release in U.S. history occurred at Church Rock New Mexico. Members of the Navajo Nation will gather on Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the uranium spill.

On July 16th, 1979, a dam ruptured and released more than a thousand tons of radioactive waste and nearly 95 million gallons of toxic radioactive wastewater spilled into the nearby Rio Puerco and surrounding Navajo Nation lands. …

June 6, 2024
New Mexico Political Report
by Hannah Grover

Residents of the Mountain View neighborhood in the South Valley of Albuquerque have filed a complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding environmental justice and air pollution in minority and low-income communities. The South Valley of Albuquerque is in an unincorporated area of Bernalillo County, but abuts the city and is heavily impacted by city decisions.  …

Albuquerque Journal

June 2, 2024

By Teracita Keyanna and Edith Hood / Red Water Pond Road Community Association

Uranium waste is a problem with no easy solutions. A proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to remove uranium mine waste from our community, the Red Water Pond Road community 11 miles north of Church Rock, to the Red Rock landfill property 5 miles east of Thoreau, has generated some disagreements among members of the Navajo Nation. …

Navajo Times

By Edith Hood and Teracita Keyanna

May 16, 2024

Editor’s note: Teracita Keyanna and Edith Hood are members of the Red Water Pond Road Community Association. The community is 11 miles northeast of Churchrock, New Mexico.

A proposal to remove uranium mine waste from our community, the Red Water Pond Road community, 11 miles north of Churchrock in the Eastern Agency, to the Red Rock Landfill property five miles east of Thoreau, has generated some disagreements among members of the Navajo Nation. We are writing to give our community’s perspective and to help base the conversation on accurate information. We want to work together as one people to collaborate and figure out a plan to protect ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren….

By Lauro Silva

Albuquerque Journal

May 12, 2024

In April, the American Lung Association released its annual State of the Air report, grading metropolitan areas and counties across the country on their air quality.

Unsurprisingly to working class communities of color in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, Bernalillo County received failing grades for ozone and fine particulate matter. This most recent State of the Air report cemented the Albuquerque metropolitan area’s place as one of the most polluted medium-sized cities in the nation. …