New Mexico Environmental Law Center

06/17/2026

Oracle’s planned Project Jupiter data center in Doña Ana County is being promoted as an economic engine for Southern New Mexico. Lorien House argues the project’s environmental impacts, water demands, pollution risks and limited job creation raise serious concerns that deserve greater public scrutiny. https://elpasomatters.org/2026/06/17/opinion-oracle-project-jupiter-data-center-risks-new-mexico/

06/16/2026

You can access NM Mining Watch's Roca Honda Toolkit here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12nJtLMGa8jdc-6g0Xcq0MZ8pqpwL0kEA4QxXuPp4ddw/edit?tab=t.p8y376apful3

06/15/2026

Save the Date! The Annual Commemoration organized by Red Water Pond Road Community and MASE is Saturday, July 18 this year.

On July 16, 1979, an earthen dam that held liquid uranium waste broke, releasing 1,000 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and more than 90 million gallons of acidic and radioactive liquids into the Rio Puerco. The contaminants flowed downstream through Gallup, NM and across nine Navajo chapters. Several days after the spill, United Nuclear Corporation sent a handful of people out with shovels and buckets in an attempt to remediate the mess. To this day there has been no reclamation, no study to see how far the contamination went and its impacts on local water systems and people’s health. United Nuclear Corporation has not been held accountable for the spill. This was the largest radioactive accident in US history.

On Saturday July 18th, the Red Water Pond Road Community will be hosting their annual commemoration of the spill to fight to heal our Diné and Mother Earth and restore the Hozho’. See you there!

06/08/2026

🚨Speak Up Against the New Air Pollution Permit Application for Project Jupiter’s Powerplant!!

😤The last round of comments on Project Jupiter’s Air Permits sparked a wave of public interest and outrage with over 7,000 comments being submitted to NMED.

‼️Acoma, LLC, now Yucca Growth Infrastructure (YGI), withdrew the original air pollution permit applications for the East and West Microgrids and has submitted a new application– because it is a new application, we need you to submit a new comment to NMED!

🏭The last permit applications for the East and West Microgrids would have allowed YGI to build 2 natural gas power plants that would have emitted 13 million tons per year of greenhouse gasses and significantly contribute to the already significant ozone pollution in Doña Ana County.

⚠️This new air permit will still require the use of natural gas, which will result in significant emissions that harm public health, including emitting 10 million tons of greenhouse gases per year and over 100 tons per year of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s)– which will also contribute to greater ozone levels in the already overburdened area.

The new permit application allows for the use of Bloom Energy’s Solid Oxide Fuel Cells – small combustion cells that also produce highly polluting solid waste – waste that Bloom has been cited by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for illegally dumping, in some cases, into the community’s landfill, further contaminating the land.

Because the facility will still be powered by natural gas, despite the companies’ claims that this is a “green” solution to power this facility, both the emissions and the significant water usage we expected from the East and West Microgrid WILL STILL exist.

YOUR health and water supply WILL STILL be significantly impacted by this new project. The hazardous waste from this facility will likely be dumped into the Sunland Park public landfill - also harming your health and water supply.

Speak up now!

Action Network link is here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/submit-comment-on-ygis-new-air-pollution-application?source=direct_link&

05/29/2026

Churchrock Resident & Anti-Uranium Activist Larry King featured in “Lawless Planet” Podcast about Historic 1979 Uranium Tailings Spill
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Did you know that the LARGEST radioactive spill in U.S. HISTORY happened right here in New Mexico?

Anti-uranium activist, former Churchrock Chapter president and community leader Larry King shares his lived experience about what he witnessed back in 1979 when the world’s largest uranium tailings spill took place north of Churchrock, New Mexico near the Red Water Pond Road Community.

The spill of uranium mining tailings after the earthen dam breached contaminated all of the surrounding land, water, livestock and people—without any notice until it was too late. NMELC has had the honor and privilege of working alongside Larry and the Red Water Pond Road Community for decades in demanding cleanup and accountability.

The podcast is around half an hour long, and starts out talking about the much better known Three Mile Island nuclear accident that took place a few months earlier. Larry’s segment begins around the 7 minute mark.
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Summary: In July 1979, just months after a nuclear accident at Three Mile Island gripped the nation, the largest radioactive spill in U.S. history quietly unfolded on a Navajo reservation in Church Rock, New Mexico — and almost no one noticed. A dam at a uranium mine tailings pond burst, causing 94 million gallons of toxic waste to flood a nearby river, poisoning the water, livestock, and people. Through the eyes of an activist who worked at the mine, we reveal how decades of corporate cover-ups and government indifference turned the “yellow dirt” on America's largest Native reservation into something dangerous.

05/26/2026

https://sourcenm.com/2026/05/26/uranium-companys-finalized-nm-plan-includes-treating-dumping-water-into-nearby-river/

New Mexico Environmental Law Center Legal Director Eric Jantz told Source NM that the company’s announcement and intent to drill “illustrates how federal policies are creating a speculation frenzy.”

A Colorado uranium company recently submitted a finalized operation plan to New Mexico officials, signaling that it — along with multiple other out-of-state companies — is increasingly serious about mining uranium in the state. Energy Fuels, Inc. submitted a 273-page operations and “reclamatio...

05/24/2026

NMELC will be closed on Monday, May 25 in honor of Memorial Day.