NewMexicoMatters.com

EPA grants air quality permit for Desert Rock - New Mexico Business Weekly:

Link: EPA grants air quality permit for Desert Rock - New Mexico Business Weekly: .

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued an air permit for a 1,500-megawatt coal plant that Sithe Global Power LLC and the Navajo nation plan to build south of Farmington in northwest New Mexico.

Gov. Bill Richardson's administration said it plans to appeal the EPA decision.

Sithe and the Navajo-owned Diné Power Authority have been struggling for four years to get an air permit for the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant -- a $3 billion project that will supply electricity to neighboring states.

Sithe and Diné sued the EPA earlier this year to make a decision on the permit, which, according to federal regulations, should have been issued within one year after the companies filed their permit application in 2003. In June, the EPA issued a consent decree to reach a decision by July 31, at the latest.

Sithe and Navajo officials praised the EPA decision as a major milestone in moving the project forward.

"It's a huge step forward," said Frank Maisano, spokesman for Sithe Global's subsidiary, Desert Rock Energy Co. "The Navajo Nation has been waiting for this a long time. It's a matter of economic opportunity and tribal sovereignty for the Navajos."

Oil, gas officials voice concern on possible drilling halt - Farmington Daily Times

Link: Oil, gas officials voice concern on possible drilling halt - Farmington Daily Times.

Lines are drawn in a classic northern New Mexico land-use battle as Rio Arriba County Commissioners move to impose a six-month moratorium on new oil and gas drilling. Meanwhile, the Texas company poised to drill in the Tierra Amarilla region of the county is pleading ignorance of the county's environmental concerns.

Rio Arriba County is rooted deeply in land-use issues. It was in Tierra Amarilla that a group of Spanish land grant protesters seized control of the county courthouse June 3, 1967, to focus attention on land-use matters.

If county commissioners follow through with plans to slap a six-month countywide moratorium on oil and gas drilling later this month, oil and natural gas workers in San Juan County stand to take a significant hit, local industry officials claim.

That's because although both counties produce natural gas in the northwest part of New Mexico, only San Juan County is home to the workers whose jobs are in the San Juan Basin's oil and gas patch.

Uranium plant eyed for southern New Mexico

Uranium plant eyed for southern New Mexico: "CARLSBAD, N.M. - A French corporation is looking at U.S. locations for a uranium enrichment facility, including an area between Carlsbad and Hobbs."

(Via Stateline.org RSS - New Mexico.)

Court upholds water ruling

Free New Mexican:Court upholds water ruling

The state Court of Appeals last week unanimously confirmed a state Water Quality Control Commission's decision that all New Mexico's waters are subject to federal water quality standards.

The ruling is a victory for the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission, which in 2005 decided all streams, rivers and lakes in the state are subject to the federal Clean Water Act, regardless of how the federal government defined those waters. ``This landmark decision allows the state to define the scope of its surface water quality standards. We are no longer tied to federal rollbacks that leave our waters vulnerable,'' said state Environment Secretary Ron Curry on Monday.

It's also a victory for Amigos Bravos, the New Mexico Acequia Association, the Sierra Club and other groups who joined the state in its legal fight to keep the protections.

The commission's 2005 decision was appealed by the New Mexico Mining Association, New Mexico Home Builders Association, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, New Mexico Wool Growers Inc., Chino Mines Company and Phelps Dodge Tyrone, Inc.

The 1972 Clean Water Act set standards to protect rivers and other water bodies around the nation from various types of pollution.

Lyons: I did it for the kids

Land commissioner says he shouldn't have signed contract

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons said he made a mistake last year in signing a contract that allows a developer to master plan a state-owned parcel that is being considered for annexation into Las Cruces.

"We did jump the gun," Lyons said Friday. "We should have waited a month."

The state Land Office has been criticized in recent weeks for giving Solo Investments' Philip Philippou a sweetheart deal. The contract was signed Dec. 26, but the notice gave a deadline of Feb. 1 for proposals to be submitted.

Lyons has said he didn't wait until the deadline to see what other proposals might be submitted because Philippou's "was so good and above everybody else's."

He also said the proposal was attractive because it offered to master plan the adjacent plot at no cost.

"We did err, but I thought that if we were going to err, it should be on the side of public school kids in New Mexico," Lyons said Friday.

Walker River tribe pulls permission for Yucca Mountain rail line

Walker River tribe pulls permission for Yucca Mountain rail line

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ A federal proposal to ship nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain along a western Nevada rail corridor has been dealt a blow, after the Walker River Paiute Tribe withdrew its permission to use a route through its reservation.

The tribal council passed a resolution Tuesday removing the tribe from a federal environmental impact study that included a rail segment for shipments of spent nuclear fuel along the outskirts of tribal lands north of Walker Lake.

"After considering the information we had gathered to date and discussions with our membership, the tribal council made the decision not to continue with the Department of Energy's process," tribal Chairwoman Genia Williams said in a statement.

"The tribe will not allow nuclear waste to be transported on rail through our reservation," Williams said.

Technorati Tags: nuclearwaste

BLM sells 36 Oil & Gas Leases in NM

BLM sells leases for $7.88 million

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The U.S. Bureau of Land Management netted more than $7.88 million for 111 federal oil and gas leases in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.

Wednesday's BLM lease sale offered 113 parcels totaling 32,869 acres; it sold leases on all but 340 acres.

The highest per-acre bid came from Albuquerque-based Blanco Company, which paid $130,000 for 25 acres _ $5,200 per acre _ in Houston County, Texas. The highest per-parcel bid, $868,000, came from Chesapeake Exploration LP of Oklahoma City for 1,120 acres in eastern New Mexico's Eddy County.

Fifty-five parcels in Oklahoma, some 7,405 acres, brought in more than $1.83 million, while 20 parcels in Texas, spread across 4,636 acres, brought in nearly $1.8 million.

The government receives 12.5 percent royalties on production from the leases. Half the money goes to the U.S. Treasury and the other half to the state where the mineral lease is located.

Technorati Tags: Politics, BLM

Money for Votes Could Get Legislator 95 Years Jail Time

KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Anderson traded votes for money; could face up to 95 years jail time:

Anchorage, Alaska - State Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Anchorage, is accused of being a politician for hire and going to great lengths to hide it. He was arraigned on seven federal charges today, including bribery, extortion and money laundering.

The FBI arrested Anderson at his home late yesterday afternoon and he was indicted on what are essentially public corruption charges. He's accused of hatching a scheme to hide secret payments and then using his vote and influence as an elected official to return the favor.

Democrats Plan Oil Royalties Inquiry...Bingaman cautious

It was reported earlier this week that in response to incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to repeal the tax cuts for oil companies within the first 100 hours of Democratic rule in the house, Senator Bingaman has expressed opposition to such a measure in the Senate, where he will be chairing the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Interestingly, the ranking minority member of the committee will be New Mexico's aging Republican Senator, Pete Domenici, who has been a vigorous supporter of the tax cuts for big oil.

Democrats Plan Oil Royalties Inquiry - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — House Democratic leaders vowed Friday to pursue a broad overhaul of tax breaks and other subsidies to oil companies in January, saying that their first target would be an investigation of how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties on oil and gas produced on federal property.

GM Pledges to Make Plug-In Hybrid...When?

GM Pledges to Make Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle - washingtonpost.com:

General Motors yesterday became the first automaker to announce plans to build a plug-in hybrid vehicle, improving the chances that cars of the future will go much farther on a gallon of gas.

Plug-in gas-electric hybrids would significantly expand gas mileage through the use of advanced batteries that would provide greater range under electric power than current models. The cars would rely much less on conventional engines, reducing gasoline consumption and pollution.

The lease on my vehicle will be up in a couple of months and reluctantly, I've begun flipping through the car magazines again, this time looking for something that I know isn't there, a fuel efficient pick-up. I know this market system is supposed to drive innovation, but I get the feeling that in the auto industry we're seeing a scramble to bring to market technology that's been sitting on the shelf for a while.