Dec. 14 – More than 165,000 acres of public lands in the Upper Pecos River Basin will be protected from mining over the next two years, and the protection could be extended for another 20 years.
Still, advocates are pushing for more state-level protections for New Mexico’s waterways as federal water protections have become more uncertain.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Thursday initiated a two-year temporary withdrawal of 164,483 acres of National Forest land and 1,327 acres of Bureau of Land Management land from new mining claims or federal mineral leases. During those two years, BLM and the US Forest Service will study the area and begin the process of proposing a 20-year withdrawal, which could then be extended.
“Our community knows all too well the devastating effects of mining pollution as we continue to grapple with the environmental and health impacts of mining activities more than a century ago. The scars left behind serve as a stark reminder of what happened on the is at stake,” says Pecos. Mayor Telesfor Benavidez said in a statement.
“This two-year pause on new mining claims allows us to protect our water, lands and way of life, while prioritizing the health and safety of our residents. The Pecos River is the heart of our community and supports agriculture, outdoor recreation and clean drinking water for generations to come.”
The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission also decided Tuesday to protect the Pecos headwaters, as well as water in the Rio Grande, Rio Chama, Cimarron and Jemez watersheds, by designating 250 miles as excellent national water resources under the Clean Water Act. The order protects these waters from degradation, with exceptions for specific activities such as acequia operations or watershed restoration projects.
When Clean Water Act jurisdiction diminished following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, it had a dramatic impact on New Mexico’s waters, said Steven Fry, policy and project specialist at non profit organization Amigos Bravos.
“We have so many intermittent, ephemeral streams, and so up to 95% of our waters and about 85% of our wetlands lost their protection when that decision came down. And because we don’t have a state program, all those waters could suddenly disappear. be polluted without the need for a permit,” says Fry.
Mining and the Pecos River
Mining began in the 1890s near the northern village of Pecos, New Mexico. Looking for lead, copper, zinc, gold and silver, American Metal Co. opened. the Tererro mine in Pecos Canyon in the early 20th century. The mining process used acid and left behind piles of waste rock.
“Every time it rains, acid runoff ends up in Willow Creek, and Willow Creek is about 300 feet from the main stream of the Pecos,” said Lela McFerrin, vice president of the Upper Pecos Watershed Association. “Over the years we have experienced fish kills. Ninety thousand fish were killed in the 18 kilometer stretch from the old mine to the Lisboa Springs fish farm, which still exists today.”
Cleaning up the area cost the company and the state millions, McFerrin said.
In 2019, an Australian mining company applied for a permit to explore mineral deposits near Jones Hill, 13 kilometers southeast of the Tererro mine. The community responded by organizing, McFerrin said, in an effort to protect the area from more mining.
“Water is the blood of our Pueblo and all nearby communities. We cannot place our life-giving water in the hands of foreign-owned mining companies,” Pueblo of Tesuque Governor Milton Herrera said in a statement.
All that organizing was also supported by New Mexico’s federal congressional delegation. In 2024, Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, and Representative Teresa Leger Fernández introduced the Pecos Watershed Protection Act, which would permanently protect the withdrawal area in Santa Fe and San Miguel counties from new mineral claims. All five members of the Democratic Congressional delegation welcomed the announcement of temporary protections.
McFerrin said the two-year withdrawal is just the first step in a long process to protect the area from more mining.
State clean water protection
Environmental advocates this week also celebrated permanent state protection of 250 miles of water in the watersheds of northern and central New Mexico.
“We are often so focused, especially in the summer months, on whether or not there is water in our rivers, that we don’t think about how important it is to ensure that the water we do have is clean and of high quality. quality is. ” said Brittany Fallon, policy manager at Western Resource Advocates.
The Water Quality Control Commission’s new outstanding national water resource designation applies to water quality. The designation will not affect water rights or existing land use. It means that when people apply for permits to build near the waters or do mining near the waters, they must demonstrate that they will not harm water quality, Fry said.
“These are the critical headwater streams that protect our most important rivers, providing exceptional habitat for wildlife and recreation,” Fry said. “Many of these streams are located upstream of communities that use irrigation or drinking water supplies. They are truly the lifeblood of our watersheds, so protecting headwater streams will improve water quality downstream as well.”
New Mexico is one of three states that does not have a state water licensing program. Instead, it relies on the EPA to issue discharge permits. But in 2023, the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act shrank. So there has been a push from environmentalists to create a new state program to start doing some of that permitting.
Several bills will be considered during the upcoming state legislative session to help create that program, Fry said.
“But we’re still a few years away from actual implementation, and so this is a mechanism we’re using to protect these waters in the near term,” Fry said.
Federal water quality protections could be further reduced under a new Donald Trump presidency. During his first term, Trump revised the Navigable Water Protection Rule in an effort to limit which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The president-elect also campaigned on deregulation during the most recent election cycle.
“Our federal protections are no longer guaranteed, and if we can strengthen them at the state level, so much the better for New Mexicans,” Fallon said.
Cathy Cook is a news reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com.
