Panel upholds Mount Taylor Mine active status decision By Kathy Helms, Special correspondent Gallup Independent May 18, 2018 SANTA FE — Mount Taylor Mine will remain in active status, the New Mexico Mining Commission ruled this week. The Commission handed Amigos...

Environmentalists seek to halt return of Mount Taylor mine Santa Fe New Mexican The Associated Press March 19, 2018 GRANTS - Environmentalists are seeking to keep an idle uranium mine in western New Mexico from becoming active again, saying the designation will allow...

The Law Center is not mentioned in this story, but the issue is central to our argument - which the Mining and Minerals Division and the Mining Commission refuse to allow us to make - that the Mt Taylor mine has no viable path to uranium production and should shut...

Last month, the Bernalillo County Commission approved Santolina’s Level B Master Plan - despite no support from constituents, no agreement from the Bernalillo County Water Authority and no evidence that the development will result in no-net expense to Bernalillo...

The County Planning Commission and county staff had recommended approval, although opponents of the project appealed the planning commission’s decision. That appeal was denied on the same 3-2 vote. Jaimie Park, an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, who argued on behalf of SouthWest Organizing Project and other Santolina opponents, said the developer […]

The NMELC is an advocate for all that makes New Mexico a wonderful place to live: healthy communities, a well-functioning environment, social and environmental justice…Our organization, the Augustin Plains Challenge, is determined to make sure that decision-makers know that a lot matters besides lining corporate investors’ pockets. This project jeopardizes the viability of a thriving […]

“Administrator Pruitt is committed to leading the EPA in a more effective, more focused, less costly way as we partner with states to fulfill the agency’s core mission,” an agency spokesman said. Pruitt has made it clear he wants to delegate more responsibilities to state and local governments for enforcement and cleanup. But Eric Jantz, […]

Now in its third iteration, the application is pending before the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, which administers the state’s water resources. In July, the state agency canceled a pre-hearing meeting. But last week, it released the application’s scheduling order, which includes information about the project and the process, as well as upcoming […]

In the end commission newcomer, Democrat Steven Michael Quezada sided with the county’s two Republican commissioners in favor of letting the development proceed without a water agreement in place. New Mexico Environmental Law Center attorney Jamie Park argued against letting the project go forward without a water agreement. “We were not surprised,” Park said. “We […]

Despite impassioned pleas from dozens of residents, Bernalillo County commissioners are giving Santolina developers more time to provide a water plan for the 21-square-mile development southwest of Interstate 40 and 118th Street… Jaimie Park, an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, who argued on behalf of SouthWest Organizing Project and the other Santolina […]

Despite impassioned pleas from dozens of residents, Bernalillo County commissioners are giving Santolina developers more time to provide a water plan for the 21-square-mile development southwest of Interstate 40 and 118th Street… Jaimie Park, an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, who argued on behalf of SouthWest Organizing Project and the other Santolina […]

The New Mexico State Engineer’s Office has denied the request twice before on the grounds that there was no buyer to put the water to beneficial use, but the ranch is back for a third try, this time before a new state engineer. The New Mexico Environmental Law Center is representing local ranchers and the […]

Like Hand, Douglas Meiklejohn, executive director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, worries what approval of the application could mean not just for local residents, but other rural New Mexicans. “The main thing to understand is that if this can happen to an area like the San Agustin Basin, then it can happen elsewhere […]

“We respectfully disagree with the judge’s analysis relating to the master plan,” said Douglas Meiklejohn, the executive director and an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. But he added that her ruling on the zone change decision is a “big victory for fairness and due process.”

Attorney Douglas Meiklejohn, who represented Santolina opponents in the case, said he disagreed with Franchini’s decision regarding the master plan, but was happy that she struck down the zoning change. “We respectfully disagree with the judge’s analysis as to the master plan, but we believe that the determination that our clients were denied fairness in […]