NMED News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) today released Enforcement Watch updates for the month of January 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. In FY24 NMED initiated 934 enforcement actions and resolved 1,706, paving the way to cleaner and safer New Mexico.

“In January, we saw an increase in air quality violations, concentrated in southeast New Mexico,” explains Bruce Baizel, NMED Compliance and Enforcement Director. “Remarkably, the month’s eight violations are equal to those logged in the previous three months.” 

In January, 84 new entries were added to the Active Matters listing and 104 were moved to the Resolved Matters listing.

New additions to the report included:  

• 43 notices of violation issued by the Drinking Water Bureau  
• 19 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
• 8 notices of violation issued by the Air Quality Bureau
• 4 notices of violation in the Hazardous Waste Bureau
• 4 notices of violation in the Solid Waste Bureau
• 3 notices of violation issued by the Occupational Health & Safety Bureau
• 3 notices of violation in the Public Pools/Spas Bureau

 The following enforcement cases were resolved in January:

• 78 cases in the Food Safety Program
• 17 cases in the Drinking Water Bureau
• 6 cases in the Hazardous waste Bureau
• 2 cases in the Petroleum Storage Tank Bureau
• 1 case in the Air Quality Bureau

Highlights of alleged violations and resolved cases in January include: 

• The Air Quality Bureau issued a Notice of Violation to Frontier Field Services, LLC, of Midland, Texas, for twelve excess emissions events in violation of state and federal air quality regulations at the North Penn Compressor Station, near Artesia. The events emitted excess emissions of tens of thousands of pounds of pollutants that harm human health.

• The Air Quality Bureau issued a Notice of Violation to Enterprise Field Services, LLC, of Houston, Texas, for failing to complete required maintenance on engines at the Largo Compressor Station, southeast of Blanco, New Mexico, and other violations of state and federal air quality regulations and statutes.

• The Food Safety Program issued a Notice of Violation to Santa Fe High School for operating without a valid permit.

• The Hazardous Waste Bureau issued a Administrative Compliance Order to the United States Department of the Air Force, Cannon Air Force Base, in Curry County, for violations of the Hazardous Waste Act and associated regulations for release of 3700 gallons of PFAS contaminated liquids in August 2024. The Environment Department also asked the base to justify why it shouldn’t have its operating permit revoked.

• The Hazardous Waste Bureau determined that CVS Pharmacy, located at Albuquerque, adequately addressed violations of New Mexico Waste Management Regulations, identified in an October 2024 Compliance inspection.

• The Public Pools and Spas Section of the Environmental Health Division issued a Notice of Violation to Arctic Labs in Las Cruces for failing to obtain a construction permit prior to installation or modification of a public aquatic venue, in violation of New Mexico Public Aquatic Venues regulations.

• The Solid Waste Bureau issued a Notice of Violation to Dennis Martinez Property, of Chamisal for failure to properly dispose of waste safely, failure to dispose of solid waste at a proper solid waste facility, failure to properly permit or register to store or utilize more than 100 scrap tires, and failure to prevent illegal dumping of scrap tires, in violation of New Mexico Solid Waste Rules and the Recycling, Illegal Dumping and Scrap Tire Management Rule.

• The Occupational Safety and Health Bureau issued a citation and Notice of Penalty to Kerr Squared, LLC. Where an employee was not provided with information, procedures and training in the use of a respirator while spray painting, in violation of the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act.

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.