New Mexico

Legislation would add New Mexico to a growing list of states restricting PFAS – New Mexico Political Report

Published

1 year ago

January 31, 2025

Legislation would add New Mexico to a growing list of states restricting PFAS – New Mexico Political Report

By Hannah Grover

New Mexico could follow the lead of approximately a dozen other states and restrict the sale or manufacturing of various household products including carpets, feminine hygiene products, cookware and cosmetics made with PFAS chemicals.

“Intentionally added PFAS in consumer goods are showing up at our breakfast tables, our kitchen tables, in our breakfast burritos, in our pepitas,” New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney said.

He said until New Mexico “takes a stance with the 13 other states” that have already passed laws restricting PFAS in consumer goods, the federal government “is off the hook.”

“We think the federal government would be best at regulating PFAS in consumer products,” Kenney said. “But until that time, we want to join the other states to protect our consumers, protect our families, to protect our water, to protect our land, and this is the way we’re going about doing it.”

Three Democratic House members — Joanne Ferrary of Las Cruces, Debra Sariñana of Albuquerque and Kathleen Cates of Rio Rancho — introduced HB 212 this week.

The bill is similar to Amara’s Law in Minnesota, as well as legislation passed in other states to restrict PFAS.

Amara’s Law was named for a young woman who developed a rare type of liver cancer after living near a 3M facility, which manufactured products containing PFAS. Amara Strand spent the last months of her life pushing for the legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year.

PFAS — also known as forever chemicals — have been linked to various health impacts including cancer, pre-term births, increased risks of infection and some types of liver disease.

One way that New Mexico’s legislation differs from those in other states is that it allows manufacturers to set up producer responsibility organizations. These organizations would be tasked with ensuring products containing PFAS are properly disposed of. Kenney said producers will have the choice of either removing PFAS from their household products altogether or forming a producer responsibility organization to take responsibility for disposal of those household products.

HB 212 refers to these organizations as stewardship programs and states the Environmental Improvement Board can “create, enforce or terminate a [PFAS] stewardship program.”

While New Mexico doesn’t have someone like Strand to name its bill after, there are still plenty of stories around the state about how PFAS has impacted communities.

Many of those stories are from communities neighboring military bases. Officials are also addressing high levels of PFAS in drinking water wells near Santa Fe, though the source of that contamination has not yet been confirmed.

Kenney said PFAS chemicals have also been found at Ski Apache in Ruidoso due to the use of such substances in certain types of ski wax.

He said some communities are also experiencing high PFAS levels due to septic tanks.

“The more we look, the more we find, and our ability to look is limited by our own budget,” Kenney said.

The environment department has conducted blood testing in the Clovis area and has urged hunters who have consumed waterfowl from Holloman Lake to get their blood tested. The PFAS contamination in those areas is due to firefighting exercises at nearby military bases. The firefighting foam used in training contained PFAS.

Kenney said HB 212 will not restrict PFAS in firefighting foams because the bill is intended to target household products and, generally, New Mexicans will not be bringing firefighting foams into their houses.

The restrictions in HB 212 would be implemented in two phases. The first phase, which would go into effect in 2027, prohibits the sale of products such as cookware, food packaging, dental floss and juvenile products containing PFAS.

Kenney explained that those products have the potential of PFAS being ingested by consumers, which has higher risks associated with it than skin contact.

In 2028, the bill would prevent the sale of products such as carpets, rugs, cleaning products, cosmetics, fabric treatments, feminine hygiene products, textiles, textile furnishings, ski wax and upholstered furniture.

Kenney said right now consumers can walk into stores and purchase products that say they are non-toxic but actually contain PFAS.

“People who are not familiar with this topic are being told that the things they’re bringing into their home are safe,” he said.

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New Mexico

New Mexico vs. Tulsa Prediction Odds, Key Player to Watch for NIT Semifinal

Published

2 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico vs. Tulsa Prediction Odds, Key Player to Watch for NIT Semifinal

It’s not just the NCAA Tournament that’s down to the final four teams, but the NIT also has just four teams remaining in its bracket. The semifinals are set to begin on Thursday night, with the first of two games being a showdown between New Mexico from the Mountain West and Tulsa from the American.

Let’s dive into the odds and my best bet for Thursday night’s matchup, with a berth in the NIT final on the line.

New Mexico vs. Tulsa Odds, Spread, and Total

Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook

Spread

New Mexico -3.5 (-118)
Tulsa +3.5 (-104)

Moneyline

New Mexico -178
Tulsa +146

Total

OVER 161.5 (-110)
UNDER 161.5 (-110)

New Mexico vs. Tulsa How to Watch

Date: Thursday, April 2
Game Time: 7:00 pm ET
Venue: Hinkle Fieldhouse
How to Watch (TV): ESPN
New Mexico Record: 26-10
Tulsa Record: 29-7

New Mexico vs. Tulsa Betting Trends

Tulsa is 1-5 ATS in its last six games
The OVER is 8-3 in Tulsa’s last 11 games
Tulsa is 7-3 ATS in its last 10 games as an underdog
New Mexico is 5-0-1 ATS in its last six games
The OVER is 13-7 in New Mexico’s last 20 games

New Mexico vs. Tulsa Key Player to Watch

David Green, F – Tulsa Golden Hurricanes

If Tulsa wants to pull off the upset and win this game, they need David Green to step up in a big way. He’s the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.7 points per game, but he scored just five points in the NIT quarterfinal. Let’s see if he can bounce back with a strong performance tonight.

New Mexico vs. Tulsa Prediction and Pick

Tulsa has already beaten one Mountain West team in the NIT, taking down UNLV by a score of 77-66, and I think they can at least cover as underdogs against New Mexico.

The Golden Hurricanes are one of the best shooting teams in college basketball, ranking 25th in effective field goal percentage. Well above New Mexico, which comes in at 70th in that metric. Tulsa is also a solid team defensively, ranking 106th in defensive efficiency.

The Mountain West continues to be an overrated conference. Their regular season and tournament champion lost in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Colorado State and Wyoming both lost in the first round of the NIT, and UNLV fell in the second round to Tulsa.

I’m going to continue to follow my strategy of fading the Mountain West in postseason tournaments.

Pick: Tulsa +3.5 (-104) via FanDuel

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New Mexico

Santa Fe National Forest, other Northern New Mexico land, announce fire restrictions

Published

14 hours ago

April 1, 2026

Press Room

Santa Fe National Forest, other Northern New Mexico land, announce fire restrictions

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New Mexico

New Mexico State women’s basketball’s 3 best March Madness moments

Published

1 day ago

April 1, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico State women’s basketball’s 3 best March Madness moments

New Mexico State’s women’s basketball team has entered a new era with the hiring of Adeniyi Amadou as its new coach. He’ll try to take the Aggies back to the NCAA Tournament, where they appeared multiple times in the 1980s and 2010s.

NM State has six NCAA Tournaments, four conference tournament championships (all won as part of the Western Athletic Conference) and eight regular-season conference championships to its name in women’s basketball. The Aggies have reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament once in 1988, although that was when teams could receive first-round byes if they were a high enough seed (they were a No. 6 seed then and lost to Washington in their first NCAA Tournament game).

Let’s look back on some of those seasons. Here are the three best March Madness moments in NM State’s women’s basketball history:

First conference tournament win (2015)

NM State began its WAC dynasty in 2015.

The Aggies won their first-ever conference tournament in women’s basketball in the 2015 WAC Tournament. NM State was the regular-season conference champion and earned the No. 1 seed and a bye to the semifinals of the WAC Tournament as a result. The Aggies went 2-0 to secure a conference tournament championship.

Bolstered by 22 points from Sasha Weber and 16 rebounds from Brianna Freeman, NM State pulled out a 79-75 overtime win in the semifinals over Seattle. Another 20 points from Weber helped the Aggies win the WAC Tournament championship game 70-52 over UT-Pan American (which has since merged with UT-Brownsville to form UTRGV) and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988. Freeman was named the WAC Tournament MVP.

Three in a row (2017)

The Aggies would then make it three consecutive WAC Tournament championships two years later.

NM State entered the 2017 WAC Tournament with a perfect 14-0 conference record, and it kept that unbeaten run going. The Aggies defeated UMKC (now referred to as Kansas City) 71-63 in the semifinals thanks to four players scoring in double figures, including Moriah Mack’s 21 points in 40 minutes of action. NM State then took down Seattle 63-48 in the championship game off the back of a double-double from Tamera William at 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Mack won the WAC Tournament MVP that year. She scored 18 points against the Redhawks in the championship game. It was the third and final WAC Tournament championship for then-coach Mark Trakh before he joined USC.

Resilience in overtime (2019)

Another regular-season conference championship wasn’t enough in 2018, as the Aggies lost to Seattle in the semifinals. But NM State got back on its perch in the WAC in the following year.

Guided by second-year coach Brooke Atkinson, the Aggies needed two overtime victories to win the 2019 WAC Tournament after defeating Chicago State in the quarterfinals (the WAC Tournament went from seven to eight teams starting in 2018, with no byes to the semifinals). The first one came in a 91-80 win over UMKC after NM State allowed just five points in overtime. The Aggies were forced into double overtime during the championship game against UTRGV, which ended with a 76-73 win.

Gia Pack scored 86 points across the WAC Tournament, including 36 against UMKC, to win the tournament’s MVP. Brooke Salas scored a team-high 29 points in the championship game.

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