New Mexico Environmental Law Center

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.

05/20/2026

NMELC is hiring!

We are looking for a Law Clerk to start June 2026.

See Job posting on our website at: nmelc.org/employment/

Complete application must be submitted electronically to Executive Director, Dr. Virginia Necochea at [email protected].

EXTENDED APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 27, 2026

Location: New Mexico

As a Law Clerk, you will work directly with NMELC’s Legal team to provide support on legal, policy,
and other case-related matters. Your work and research will primarily focus on environmental justice
matters related to uranium mining reclamation, data center development, air quality issues, water rights
transfers, public and environmental health impacts, among others.

Applicants should submit a letter of interest, resume, two writing samples, and three references
electronically to Dr. Virginia Necochea, Executive Director at [email protected].

Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Interviews may be conducted in person or by online video conference.

05/19/2026

To our donor community—THANK YOU!

We are so grateful for all of our amazing and generous donors! We are happy to share a recent message from one of our wonderful donors:

“Thank you [NMELC] for all your effort and support of what is beautiful, essential and good.”

All of us at NMELC are thankful for these encouraging words, and we hope to hear from other supporters and donors as well.

Because of you we can continue to fight for environmental justice in New Mexico and defend our air, land, and water. Without you, we could not fight for the health of New Mexico communities from attacks and exploitation of industry and systematic corruption.

Why do you choose to give to the New Mexico Environmental Law Center?

If you have a moment, please click the link in our bio or email us at [email protected] and tell us what inspires you to give. Messages can be kept anonymous!

05/10/2026

On this Mother’s Day, NMELC wishes peace to all Mothers– especially our sacred Mother Earth and all of the Mothers who are fighting for Environmental Justice and who are an integral part of the movement. .

Every day, our great Mother Earth gives us life and provides for us all.

Every day, there are Mothers who care for their children while at the same time are organizing and advocating for Environmental Justice- not just for the future of their own children, but for every person and for future generations.

Beautiful, strong, resilient, and hardworking Mothers - WE SEE YOU!

On this Mother’s Day, we encourage everyone to give some extra love and acknowledgement to change-making Mothers for their resilience, courage, care, strength, and the unconditional love they have for children everywhere, for their families, for their communities, and for protecting the places we call home.

“Mothering is not just raising children; it’s raising the next generation of healers, warriors, and dreamers.” — Layla F. Saad

05/07/2026

NMELC Board of Directors Elects New Officers!✨

We are happy to share that the NMELC Board of Directors recently elected a new slate of officers for 2026!

Congratulations to Dr. Divana Olivas on being elected as Chair, Ramón Padilla as Vice Chair, Magdalena Avila as Secretary, and Carla Nieto remains in her role as Treasurer.

Thanks to all of our amazing Board members for their service to our nonprofit and for providing invaluable guidance and oversight to our organization, we greatly appreciate each of you!

05/04/2026

NMELC is hiring!

We are looking for a great Law Clerk to start sometime in June, 2026.

See Job posting on our website at: nmelc.org/employment/

All materials must be submitted electronically to Executive Director, Dr. Virginia Necochea at [email protected].

APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 22, 2026

Location: New Mexico

As a Law Clerk, you will work directly with NMELC’s Legal team to provide support on legal, policy,
and other case-related matters. Your work and research will primarily focus on environmental justice
matters related to uranium mining reclamation, data center development, air quality issues, water rights
transfers, public and environmental health impacts, among others.

Applicants should submit a letter of interest, resume, two writing samples, and three references
electronically to Dr. Virginia Necochea, Executive Director at [email protected].

Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Interviews may be conducted in person or by online video conference.

05/01/2026

In honor of International Workers’ Day, NMELC will be closed Friday, May 1st.

As billionaires, corporations and industry run rampant, NMELC stands in solidarity with workers everywhere, especially those who bear the greatest brunt stemming from economic injustices and oppression. Labor rights are human rights and we will continue to fight for a world that puts people’s well being and health over profit.

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

NMELC encourages you to honor this day with community and attend a May Day Rally near you.

-May Day: Workers over Billionaires
Friday May 1, 3-7 PM
Civic Plaza, 1 Civic Plz Albuquerque, NM 87102

-May Day
Friday May 1, 5-8 PM
Tiguex Park, 1800 Mountain Rd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104

04/24/2026

As it turned out, the five-billion-dollar plan for a “digital infrastructure campus,” which became a 165-billion-dollar sketch for Project Jupiter, wasn’t even really owned by BorderPlex. Behind the scenes were OpenAI and Oracle—mentioned not once in the initial Project Jupiter announcement, nor, as a result, in Onsurez’s article about it. The construction would take place near Santa Teresa, on the New Mexico side of the El Paso metro area: a “frontline, fence-line community,” as Kacey Hovden, a Las Cruces–based lawyer at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, put it to me. “I don’t even think this is an assertion,” Haussamen said. “I think it’s a fact that at least some of these big companies look for communities that are news deserts to build projects like these, because it’s easier for them when there’s less public scrutiny, and I don’t think that they expected the news coverage they got here.”

“At least some of these big companies look for communities that are news deserts to build projects,” a local journalist said, “because it’s easier for them when there’s less public scrutiny.”