New Mexico
New Mexico wants feds to pay for PFAS cleanup at Holloman Air Force Base – Carlsbad Current-Argus
Amended complaint targets water pollution at bases throughout state
Adrian Hedden
Carlsbad Current-Argus
New Mexico officials want the federal government to pay millions of dollars for cleaning up pollution from “forever chemicals” secreted by Air Forces bases throughout the state, now including Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range.
The New Mexico Attorney General amended its complaint to add Holloman and White Sands as contaminated areas, along with Kirtland Air Force near Albuquerque. Previously Cannon Air Force Base was the only contamination site included in the suit.
The amendments also added the Department of Defense and Air Force as defendants, along with companies 3M and DuPont which produced per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the chemicals at the center of the suit.
The State also called for a court to award costs, damages and other financial relief to New Mexico from the federal government, based on new regulations enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA recently added several PFAS to its list of hazardous substances that could warrant federal cleanup under the “superfund” statute.
The state’s complaint detailed about $16.7 million in incurred and estimated future expenses it said were tied to the Department of Defense’s PFAS contamination at all three Air Force bases, Fort Wingate near Gallup and in communities in Otero and Curry counties.
The Air Force did not respond to a request for comment.
New Mexico holding feds ‘accountable’ for PFAS
PFAS were first produced in the 1940s and were widely used in the decades since. They are believed contained in firefighting foam used at the bases but were also tied to myriad products and processes including cookware and oil and gas drilling.
Long-term exposure, often through water supplies, was known to cause cancer, liver damage and other health problems in people. Other impacts were found in nearby wildlife, reducing hatch rates in birds.
Plaintiffs in New Mexico’s PFAS case against the federal government were the New Mexico Environment Department, New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee and the New Mexico Department of Justice.
“For over five years, the U.S. Department of Defense failed to take accountability for PFAS clean-up in New Mexico – leaving New Mexicans with a legacy of toxic PFAS pollution to shoulder,” said NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney in a statement.
“Thanks to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s science-driven leadership on PFAS, New Mexico will now hold the U.S. Department of Defense accountable for the monetary costs of clean-up and damages to our environment.”
The amended filing made New Mexico the first state in the U.S. to seek damages from the Department of Defense under the EPA’s PFAS guidance, NMED reported, and was intended to see the DOD pay to clean up PFAS in both public and private water sources on or near the bases.
“PFAS has now contaminated freshwater aquifers on which the communities and hardworking people of New Mexico depend,” said New Mexico Natural Resources Trustee Maggie Hart Stebbins. “Our residents suffer when they can’t use that groundwater and it’s time for the federal government to compensate communities that are bearing the burden of its pollution.”
UNM study ties PFAS near Holloman to firefighting foam
PFAS levels near Holloman Air Force Base and around Alamogordo reached dangerous levels, according to a February report from the University of New Mexico, published in the journal Environmental Research.
A team of researchers from UNM’s Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) said there were “unexpectedly high levels” of PFAS contamination found in birds and mammals around the base in the Holloman Lake between the base and White Sands National Park. The lake is part of a fragile wetland system in the arid Tularosa Basin, part of a series of wastewater catchments ponds created by the Air Force.
“Because these large wetlands are the only ones in the region, they are immensely attractive to wildlife,” said MSB Director and biology professor Christopher Witt, a lead author of the study. “Holloman is one of the three most important wetlands in New Mexico for migratory waterbirds —over 100 species and tens of thousands of individuals use these habitats annually.
“The wetlands are also heavily used by people for recreation and hunting.”
The study pointed to the Air Force’s firefighting practices at the base as the main cause of contamination. The foam was widely used starting in 1970 for training, the report read, but was recently phased out of manufacturing. Runoff from the base when the foam was in use flowed into the catchment ponds, read the report, leaching into local groundwater sources.
The research team conducted more than 2,000 measurements of PFAS compounds in different species and tissue types, focusing on aquatic birds due to their heavy exposure to water and because they are sought by hunters. Desert rodents were also tested to see if animals could be contaminated without exposure to the water.
Both were found contaminated.
“There were differences among species in how much of each PFAS they contained, reflecting differences in their habitats, diet, and physiology,” said co-author of the study Chauncey Gadek, a Ph.D. student at UNM”s Department of Biology. “Ultimately, these differences illustrate the different paths by which PFAS can move through ecosystems and accumulate in various species, including people.”
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 734-972-6855, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.
New Mexico
Rain starts moving into New Mexico tonight, with more rain and mountain snow through Thursday
Grant’s Tuesday Evening Forecast
A storm system will start bringing rain and thunderstorms into New Mexico tonight. More rain and mountain snow will expand across the state through Thursday.
It’s been another mild day across New Mexico Tuesday with high temperatures hovering near and above average again today. High clouds have been filtering some of the sunshine though as upper level moisture increases ahead of our next storm system. We will already start to see some rain develop in southwest and western New Mexico this evening. These rain and very high elevation snow showers will lift northward into more of New Mexico by Wednesday morning, bringing an isolated chance for precipitation to areas along and south of I-40, with a spotty precipitation chance in northern New Mexico. Scattered showers and storms will redevelop across the western half of New Mexico Wednesday afternoon. High temperatures will see little change Wednesday.
Lift associated with the storm system will increase across New Mexico Wednesday night into early Thursday morning. This will cause a big increase in rain and mountain snow form southwest New Mexico to the northern mountains. On and off showers, storms, and mountain snow will continue through the morning and early afternoon, bringing all of New Mexico a chance for rain. Some of the heaviest rain will fall in southern New Mexico, along with the Rio Grande Valley and into the northern mountains. Precipitation will wrap up from south to north through Thursday evening with some lingering rain and mountain snow in northern New Mexico into early Friday morning. Forecast rainfall amounts have been trending higher across the state, along with snow totals. At least a couple inches of snow is likely above 8,000′, with up 6″ above 9,000′. High temperatures will be much cooler Thursday.
Cooler air sticks around Friday with a slight warming trend this weekend. Another storm is possible by Sunday, which could bring back rain and mountain snow chances.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The Larry P. Abraham Agri-Nature Center in Los Ranchos was created to be a space for the community to share agricultural resources and learn. Now, Corrales wants in on the action.
“The Agri-Nature Center provides a lot for the community and provides valuable agricultural education, demonstration of agricultural techniques that work well in our environment in our climate, and helps support local businesses at the same time,” Agri-Nature Center Agricultural Program Director William Carleton said.
The center focuses on home-grown foods, sustainable farming, regenerative agriculture through food preservation, and education through hands-on learning. With programs like animal husbandry, water conservation, research into new agricultural technology, and growers’ markets.
“They have all these workshops, land set aside for certain type of gardens, agricultural activities, cooking, and we don’t currently have something like that here in Corrales,” Dean Sherer said with the Corrales Historical Society.
The goal is to educate people and get them involved in more sustainable practices of agriculture to promote more agricultural activities.
Both the Agri-Nature Center and the people in Corrales believe that if they can expand by adding more of these centers in the state, they can become hubs for more and more New Mexicans to get involved in and learn from. “The Agri-Nature Center serves the residents of Los Ranchos, but also people throughout the metro area and beyond,” Carleton said. “This past year, we served 46 different zip codes in New Mexico at our workshops and events.”
Two of their programs in particular have been so popular, they’re looking to expand them. Such as a community garden started this year. This is one of the programs Corrales is looking to replicate in its own community.
“There’s been so much positive feedback with the community garden, and the idea would be to expand plots,” Carleton said. “Right now we have 30, which filled up this year.”
Another popular program they’re looking to expand is a demonstration kitchen, which up until now has only been used for workshops. Going forward, they want to make the equipment available for people to use. Such as freeze-drying foods.
“I see it as a community resource for learning how important agriculture is for us in New Mexico, and if we can sustain it in a better way, if we can learn new techniques to help our gardens grow better and larger,” Sherer said.
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