U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), delivers opening remarks during a Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee hearing, Dec. 2, 2025. Courtesy photo

U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — During a U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee hearing to examine 26 pending bills, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Committee, delivered opening remarks on the need to pass his Pecos Watershed Protection Act and M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act.

Heinrich stressed the importance of protecting watersheds and timely cleanups of mining pollution. Heinrich also highlighted how Pecos Valley residents are still dealing with the fallout from polluted waters following failed mine clean-ups, as companies are currently seeking to establish new mines in the already polluted area.

“I want to talk briefly about two of the bills on the agenda supported by my constituents in New Mexico,” Heinrich opened. “The first, to designate portions of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers as wild and scenic rivers, represents decades of work by the local community to protect the Gila River and its incredible watershed. S. 1476 would provide permanent protection for more than 400 miles of streams and rivers in the Gila region.”

“The second bill, the Pecos Watershed Protection Act, would prevent new mining claims from being staked in the Upper Pecos Watershed,” Heinrich continued. “In 1973, tailings dams failed at the Alamitos Canyon Mill, sending mine pollution into Alamitos Creek and the Pecos River. The tailings were never remediated and the dam was never fixed, so pollution continued to stream into the watershed.” 

“This site still does not meet water quality standards, and never will, because there’s no feasible way to fully clean up this pollution from more than a century ago,” Heinrich followed. “How can we ask these people to live next to a new mine when this is what the land in the basin looks like every time it rains?”

A video of Heinrich’s opening remarks can be found here.