Photo by Mike Smith, Artesia Daily Press

Four term State Rep. Martin Zamora (R-63) plans to run for U.S. House District 3.

The Republican is the first announced challenger who would like to unseat current Democrat incumbent Teresa Leger Fernandez.

Tuesday night at the Artesia Country Club Zamora met with fellow Republicans in an event hosted by State Sen. Jim Townsend (R-34) and his wife Linda Townsend, Peyton and Linda Yates, Tommy and Donna Scroggin, Bob and Sandra Mayberry and Eddy County Republican Party chairperson Robin Morgan.

Zamora, a farmer, and rancher from the Clovis area, highlighted his six years of experience in the New Mexico Legislature and as a businessperson as a plus for the district that starts in northwest New Mexico near the Arizona and ends in southeast New Mexico at the Texas State line.

Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press

A 1,000-acre plot of land along the Eddy-Lea county line could still be home to a nuclear storage facility, local supporters say, after a plan for the project appeared to be shelved last week.

New Jersey-based Holtec International first applied in 2017 for a federal license to store spent nuclear fuel at the location after the company was recruited by a group of local officials known as the Eddy Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA).

The Alliance is composed of elected officials and other leaders from Eddy and Lea counties and the cities of Carlsbad and Hobbs. The group not only purchased the thousand acres sitting amid the booming oil and gas pumpjacks and drilling rigs of the Permian Basin and recruited Holtec but also supported the project during a nearly decade-long battle over its license to operate.

Holtec agreed to buy the property and operate a facility that would eventually store up to 100,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods used in nuclear power plants across the country.

But the project appeared to suffer a fatal blow on Wednesday, Oct. 8, when during a special meeting held by the Alliance, its members voted to accept a letter from Holtec terminating the agreement.

The company cited continued state opposition, specifically Senate Bill 53, which was passed by the Legislature in 2023 with the aim of preventing establishment of a nuclear fuel storage site in New Mexico.

The announcement left opponents of the project, including New Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, claiming victory. The governor previously referred to Holtec’s proposal as “economic malpractice” for the purported risk she said nuclear fuel storage could pose to the nearby oil and gas and agricultural industries.

“I’m glad that Holtec heard our strenuous objections and decided that fighting to put more nuclear waste in New Mexico was a losing proposition,” Lujan Grisham said in a Wednesday statement. “We stand firm in our resolve to protect our state from becoming a nuclear dumping ground.”

Holtec spokesperson Patrick O’Brien said terminating the company’s agreement with the Alliance did not mean the end of the project. He said the move allowed the Alliance “flexibility” to negotiate with other companies while Holtec itself could pursue projects supported by the federal government in other states.

“To be clear, Holtec has not abandoned our commitment to ELEA or to the HI-STORE project. In fact, should the Department of Energy issue an Expression of Interest (EOI) for consolidated spent fuel storage, Holtec commits to support ELEA’s efforts to respond – should ELEA choose to do so,” O’Brien said Friday.

Nuclear still targeted by Alliance

John Heaton, a former New Mexico state representative from Carlsbad who chairs the Alliance’s board and led advocacy for the Holtec project since its inception, said he was hopeful a nuclear facility would still be brought to the region with the Alliance’s support.

He argued such a facility would help diversify the area’s oil-and-gas-dependent economy and take advantage of an existing nuclear-oriented workforce both at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad and a uranium enrichment facility operated by URENCO in Eunice.

Other Alliance projects could include nuclear fuel reprocessing, Heaton said, or additional uranium development.

“There may be other good ideas that can create jobs and improve the status of our citizens in our two counties,” Heaton said. “There are a number of possibilities in the nuclear industry, which has experienced a renaissance right now.”

Before such opportunities can come to fruition, Heaton said, New Mexico must be “more business friendly.” Heaton blamed what he characterized as the state’s unfounded aversion to nuclear projects for stymieing economic progress.

“Holtec or any other business that is bringing jobs and capital investment into the state seems to be unwelcome in New Mexico,” Heaton said. “If New Mexico is to overcome being last in every main criteria and its high poverty rate, it must be welcoming to business.”

Lujan Grisham’s remarks buoyed the environmental community in New Mexico, which also frequently opposed the Holtec project, contending New Mexico could become the permanent resting place for the waste even though Holtec’s facility was designed to hold the rods temporarily.

A permanent repository does not exist in the U.S., after a proposal at Yucca Mountain, Utah, faced state opposition and was blocked during the administration of former President Barack Obama.

President Donald Trump signaled he would restart the Yucca Mountain Project, but so far it remains inactive.

Meanwhile, Holtec’s idea was to move the refuse away from power plants where they are typically stored in cooling pools alongside reactors, usually in high population areas or near large bodies of water.

Camilla Feibelman, director of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, said such benefits were not worth the disproportionate risk the nuclear industry already brings to New Mexico.

She said instead of developing more nuclear energy and creating more spent fuel, the U.S. should focus on other new sources of energy that produce less waste, such as wind and solar power.

“Nuclear energy has an intractable problem – no one wants the waste,” Feibelman said. “Holtec wanted to ship this radioactive material through your communities and ours with no promise of a permanent storage facility.”

Jack Volpato, another Carlsbad-based supporter who chairs the city’s Nuclear Task Force, said the “acrimonious environment” in Santa Fe presented some challenges for the project but vowed that a nuclear facility would be brought to the 1,000 acres.

“We’ll regroup and come out with something else,” he said. “There will be a nuclear facility on that land.”

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Patrick Lohmann
Source New Mexico

New Mexico lobbyists have continued spending at the highest level in at least five years, according to the latest state filings, shelling out more than $230,000 to wine and dine lawmakers, along with other expenditures, over the last few months.

In total, 140 lobbyists reported $234,000 in expenditures between May and October, including paying for mailers, catering legislative meetings or holding events.

Lobbyists were required Oct. 8 to report their last few months of expenditures and political contributions.

The recent expenditures bring the total spent so far this year to a little over $1.26 million, which is already the most spent since at least 2021, even with two months left in the year. Lobbyists have spent, on average, about $750,000 annually the last four years.

The biggest spender in the latest reporting period, University of New Mexico lobbyist Mike Puelle, reported spending about $38,000 between May and October, including approximately $20,000 alone for a single event: the late September “1st Annual Rivalry Weekend” football game between UNM and New Mexico State University.

According to Puelle’s filings, he invited state lawmakers, along with the other local and state officials and staff from both universities.

Most of his other expenditures covered catering meetings of interim legislative committees, including ones discussing radioactive and hazardous materials, health care, economic development and more.

Puelle did not respond to Source New Mexico’s request for comment Thursday about his spending on behalf of the state’s biggest university. He is one of seven UNM lobbyists, according to Secretary of State filings.

While state law requires lobbyists to periodically report their spending, it does not require them to tell the public which bills they’re lobbying for or against.

The Legislature earlier this year passed House Bill 143, which would have required lobbyists to specify the legislation they hoped to influence, as well as their employers’ positions on specific bills. But Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed it, saying that while she supported the bill’s intent, it would impose “an onerous requirement” on lobbyists and their employers and that some of its provisions were unclear.

Recent ProPublica reporting tied the New Mexico governor’s veto to nationwide rollbacks of state-level transparency and ethics legislation.

While state law does not require lobbyists to specify bill numbers, the second-biggest spender in the most recent reporting period did so voluntarily.

Sarah Hetemi, reported more than $32,000 in spending as a lobbyist for Americans For Prosperity, a conservative think tank founded by the billionaire Koch brothers.

All Hetemi’s spending, according to her filings, related to House Bill 11, the Paid Family and Medical Leave bill. She reported spending money on mailers thanking lawmakers for opposing the bill or criticizing those who supported it. The bill did not pass the Senate.

The biggest spender this year so far is Missi Currier, CEO of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. According to her latest spending report, she’s reported more than $360,000 in various expenditures.

Lobbyists this week were also required to report their political contributions to candidates or political action committees between May and October.

The biggest contributions came from lobbyists for oil and gas companies, including $155,750 that Chevron lobbyist Patrick Killen reported spending in the last few months. His filings report a $50,000 donation to the Our Values PAC, a conservative political action committee based in Roswell, as well as $31,000 to the Speaker Fund, the New Mexico House Democrats’ PAC.

He also reported 12 donations of $6,200 each — the maximum allowable under state law — to elected Democratic and Republican state lawmakers.

Patrick Lohmann

Source New Mexico

The state agency that administers New Mexico’s food stamps program says as many as 32,000 residents’ eligibility could be impacted next month by new federal rules.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” President Donald Trump signed July 4 contains many changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, but most don’t go into effect until next year or later.

But Nov. 1, the bill will change how energy assistance payments are applied to SNAP eligibility determinations, according to an announcement Wednesday from the state Health Care Authority.

Before the bill, states like New Mexico would automatically lower a household’s calculated income by a standard amount if the household received assistance from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP.

The deduction is important because it affects how much SNAP benefits a household receives. According to the federal Agriculture Department the standard deduction in New Mexico’s, known as the Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowance, is $408.

However, thanks to the law, that deduction is only automatic for households with members aged 60 or over or those with a disability.. SNAP recipients without those household members will have to jump through other hurdles, including showing utility bills, to receive the deduction.

HCA officials said the office will provide assistance to recipients with questions about the change.

“We’re reaching out early so families have time to prepare,”Niki Kozlowski, Income Support Division director at the HCA said in a statement. “If you’re unsure how this affects you, please contact us now, before your next renewal date, so we can walk you through what you may need to provide.”

The change goes into effect for new benefit applications or renewals beginning Nov. 1. The new requirements don’t affect current SNAP benefits before then, according to the news release.

El Rito Media News Services

ESPANOLA — Those hoping for the Oñate Bridge to reopen, to relieve traffic congestion, will have to wait longer.

The bridge will remain closed and a date for reopening has not been determined.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) completed a study of the bridge and will start a $500,000 project to slow erosion around the bridge’s pier and riverbed, State Sen. Leo Jaramillo said in a video posted on social media.

He said NMDOT is working on a second report to determine a long-term solution to prevent continued erosion, which will cost an estimated $5 to $20 million.

“It could involve work on the riverbank, the channel or even parts of the bridge itself,” Jaramillo said. “Now, once that’s ready and combined with the structural analysis, the community will be invited back to review all the options, including a full bridge replacement.”

For now, NMDOT will place A-Jacks, which are made of heavy interlocking pieces of concrete, and riprap, large angular rocks, under the bridge to slow further erosion.

An underwater inspection completed in 2019 showed erosion on the bridge’s pier, and a follow-up inspection completed in January of this year and hydraulic monitoring showed more deterioration.

Danielle Prokop

Source New Mexico

The federal government will seek to exempt itself from more than two dozen federal laws in an effort to build border barriers faster along more than 100 miles of New Mexico’s border with Mexico.

In a Wednesday announcement published in the Federal Register, Department of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem said the effort to build between Sunland Park to the eastern edge of the state’s bootheel, near Antelope Wells is in effect as of Oct. 8.

“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries,” the order stated.

The order further waives requirements for the construction to follow 27 federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act. This is similar to other waivers to speed up border wall construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico, including Mount Cristo Rey.

Noem recently visited the border at Santa Teresa to deliver news that the administration would paint the barriers black to burn people’s skin and deter crossing. At that event, officials noted that border crossings were down 98% from a high in 2023 of 2,400 people crossing the border to only an average of 39 people apprehended crossing the border region in 2025.

In a statement provided to Source NM, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) whose district encompasses the state’s southern border, called “securing our border” a top priority. However, he said, “as [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth acknowledged when I questioned him at a recent committee hearing, a wall simply doesn’t make sense or promote public safety in every case. In those areas, I support utilizing technology like towers, sensors, and aerial systems that are better for the natural environment, wildlife corridors, and public land access; are a better use of taxpayer dollars; and are better for our national security.”

Environmental groups said the order would devastate fragile ecosystems, fragment habitat and cut the public out from the process.

Laiken Jordahl, Southwest conservation advocate based in Tucson at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Source NM that for bighorn sheep, cougars and other animals living in the area the habitat fragmentation will be “devestating.”

“I mean, basically, they could show up tomorrow with bulldozers and break ground without consulting any wildlife experts, historical experts, or any of the tribes that have resources in these areas,’ he said. “The waiver gives them just an unbelievable amount of power to inflict as much damage as possible as zero accountability.”