NMED News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) released Enforcement Watch updates for the month of March 2025. The Enforcement Watch is a listing of all active and resolved enforcement cases.

Active cases involve an alleged violation of a regulation, rule, permit, license, etc. Resolved cases are those that were adjudicated in court of law or administratively resolved. The Enforcement Watch also provides tools for the public to report alleged environmental or workplace safety violations.

“Our efforts throughout the state significantly enhance the well-being of New Mexicans by averting exposure to unsafe drinking water, polluted air, and hazardous work conditions,” said Bruce Baizel, NMED Compliance and Enforcement Director. “In alignment with recent months, NMED has notably increased its monitoring and enforcement of drinking water systems that fail to meet compliance standards.”

In March, 78 new entries were added to the Active Matters listing and 124 were moved to the Resolved Matters listing.

New additions to the report included:

• 50 notices of violation issued by the Drinking Water Bureau
• 13 notices of violation issued by the Food Safety Program to retail food establishments that failed to timely pay their permit fee, resulting in a $25 late fee

• 9 notices of violation issued by the Occupational Health & Safety Bureau
• 4 notices of violation in the Ground Water Question Quality Bureau
• 1 notice of violation issued by the Air Quality Bureau
• 1 notice of violation in the Public Pools/Spas Bureau

The following enforcement cases were resolved in March:

• 97 cases in the Food Safety Program
• 25 cases in the Drinking Water Bureau
• 1 case in the Air Quality Bureau
• 1 case in the Public Pools/Spas

Highlights of alleged violations and resolved cases in March include:

• The Air Quality Bureau issued a Notice of Violation to C & E Concrete, Inc. for their portable crusher facility in Farmington. This case is the result of an inspection and involves failure to maintain a minimum distance from an existing occupied structure, in violation of a General Construction permit.

• The Drinking Water Bureau issued a Notice of Violation to the Village of Eagle Nest for not providing public notice of failure to correct significant deficiencies identified in a 2024 inspection within the water system.

• The Ground Water Quality Bureau issued a Notice of Violation to Sunwest Dairy of Clovis for operating in violation of the terms of a discharge permit, under the Water Quality Act, by failing to submit a monitoring well location, as well as monthly wastewater generated readings and other violations.

• The Public Pools/Spas Program issued a Notice of Violation to Ten Thousand Waves of Santa Fe for failing to obtain a construction permit prior to constructing or substantially altering a public aquatic venue, in violation of New Mexico Public Aquatic Venues Regulations.

• The Food Safety Program issued a Notice of Violation to Taco Bell in Santa Fe for operating without a valid food establishment permit.

Enforcement Watch provides the public, the business community, environmental nongovernment organizations, and municipal governments with easy access to see which organizations NMED has alleged are in violation of regulations, permits, and/or licenses administered by the Department. It is updated when violations are alleged or resolved.

Retrospective enforcement matters are added as staffing resources allow. Organizations remain on Enforcement Watch until the alleged violations are corrected to the satisfaction of the Department.

The easiest way for an organization to avoid appearing on the Enforcement Watch is to stay off it in the first place by remaining in full compliance with applicable regulations. NMED encourages organizations that are unclear of their regulatory responsibilities to contact a consultant and conduct a third-party compliance audit and disclose potential violations.

NMED provides detailed compliance and enforcement metrics in the Compliance Measures section of the Quarterly Performance Report.

The full Enforcement Watch can be viewed at https://www.env.nm.gov/enforcement-watch.