New Mexico Mercury

Talking Water Through, Rather Than Past, Each Other

The 20th annual statewide meeting of The New Mexico Water Dialogue stressed the importance and value of communication synergy in light of the state's water sharing conundrums.

Reviewing NAFTA and the Environment

As possible, new trade agreements stir debate on the world stage, a North American citizen advisory panel is urging that a new emphasis be placed on the ecological costs of increased trade and money flows.

In a statement issued shortly before Christmas, the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC), a trinational group consisting of representatives from the three member nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), called on the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico to demonstrate a “revival of political will” and undertake a “new mission” with enhanced public involvement in trade and environmental matters...

Water Quality Control Commission Votes for Politics and Against Water Quality Protection

Last Wednesday, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) - a state decision-making entity responsible for protecting New Mexico's water – unanimously voted down (10-0) a Motion to Stay the Copper Rule. In September 2013, the WQCC adopted the Copper Rule, which would allow contamination of groundwater beneath copper mine sites in New Mexico. The stay would have prevented the new Rule from being used by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) in copper mine permitting decisions while the Copper Rule is under appeal in the NM Court of Appeals...

Provincial Matters, 1-13-2014

V.B. Price's weekly collection of appreciations and observations.

Springtime brings unwanted guests

Many home owners will soon get unwelcome houseguests. The arrival of spring means insect populations are about to boom in New Mexico Here’s how to reduce the odds that ants, flies and crickets will get into your home—and how to deal with them naturally if they do...

Now’s the time for inspections and pest proofing

Someone asked me if bugs will be out early because of the mild weather and what they should do about it. As I said in a previous column, you should take time to pest proof your home in the winter before pest activity starts. Inspect your home or business around the outside and seal or screen any openings where bugs as small as ants can enter...

Damming a River to Save It

This year the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission decides whether a diversion of the Gila River is necessary to meet supply demand. Critics say enforcing current diversion rights would reduce drying, meet demand and protect an already fragile ecosystem. 

A Special Kind of Paradise

We stand outside the handsome visitors center, an atoll in the midst of a vast brown sea. The sea is the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, 230,000 acres of Chihuahua Desert, Colorado Plateau, high plains grasslands and two mountain ranges, the Ladrón and Los Pinos.

There are few people in this 30-mile by 15-mile slab of New Mexico between Belen and Socorro: a scattering of ranchers in enclaves along the Rio Grande, a few biologists and geologists, five rangers, a handful of volunteers living on the reserve for three months at a time—and we, of course, a photographer and a reporter who have come to discover the story of this unique place...

Friday Voyage: Lessons From Uruguay Part 2

Uruguay's progressive renewable energy policy has become a beacon of what's possible when taking into account sustainability, public health and national values. 

Regional Water Planning - Just Another Windmill?

Is the most recent state water planning initiative a Quixotic undertaking? Mike Agar explores the possibilities beyond the windmills.