STATE News:

SANTA FE — On April 9, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, wrote to Carson National Forest Supervisor James Duran expressing strong opposition to a proposal to conduct uranium drilling within the Carson National Forest.

The lawmakers also urged the Forest Service to require a full Environmental Impact Statement and requested that the Forest Service suspend its review pending congressional action to protect the Chama watershed from mineral development.

“We strongly oppose approval of this action and urge the Forest Service to require a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before taking any further action on this proposal,” the lawmakers wrote.

“We plan to introduce legislation to withdraw the Chama watershed from all forms of mineral entry. We urge the Forest Service to take that legislative effort into account as it evaluates this proposal,” the lawmakers continued.

“The communities of the Chama Valley—acequia farmers, tribal members, ranchers, and rural families—have tended this watershed for generations. The Forest Service has both the authority and the responsibility to ensure that decisions affecting their water, their land, and their future are made with the care, science, and respect those communities deserve,” the lawmakers concluded.

Also copied on the letter were leaders of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), including the Secretary of Agriculture, the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, the Associate Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and the Regional Forester for the Southwestern Region of the USDA Forest Service.

The full letter can be found here.