89.9 FM Live From The University Of New Mexico
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

REAL ID Compromise Passes Second Test, Mine Spill Dumped 880,000 Pounds of Metals In River

Rita Daniels

New Mexico REAL ID Compromise Passes 2nd Test-Associated Press

A second Senate committee has passed a bipartisan proposal aimed at making New Mexico compliant under the federal REAL ID Act.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a measure that would create "driver's authorization card" yesterday.

Under the proposal, immigrants living in the country illegally would be allowed to apply for that card but could no longer get a New Mexico driver's license.

Democratic Sen. Joseph Cervantes urged senators to pass a REAL ID fix. He said he knew someone close who couldn't visit a dying father because Fort Bliss in El Paso was no longer accepting New Mexico driver's licenses from entry.

The bill now goes to the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Sen. John Arthur Smith, a co-sponsor of the compromise bill.

EPA: Mine Spill Dumped 880,000 Pounds Of Metals In River-Associated Press

The Environmental Protection Agency says millions of gallons of wastewater that gushed from a Colorado gold mine last year may have sent more than 880,000 pounds of metals into a river.

A preliminary report released Friday says the spill flowed into the Animas River and most of the metals settled into the riverbed. It says some of them reached the San Juan River, which the Animas joins in New Mexico.

Utah officials have said some contaminants reached their state, but the report doesn't address that.

The study did not identify the metals but said researchers were looking at cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc and possibly others.

An EPA-led cleanup crew inadvertently triggered the 3 million-gallon spill on Aug. 5 at the inactive Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.

Ethics Commission In Deliberation-Associated Press

New Mexico is moving closer to creating an independent ethics commission to keep watch over the conduct and campaign finances of public officials, lobbyists and state contractors.

The House of Representatives was scheduled to deliberate and possibly vote yesterday on a constitutional amendment to create an independent ethics agency.

New Mexico Succeeds In Legal Fight To Bar Horse Slaughter-Associated Press

New Mexico has succeeded in a lengthy legal battled aimed at barring a horse slaughter operation from opening in the state.

A state district judge in Santa Fe granted an order late Thursday that finalizes a settlement reached with the attorney general's office, animal advocates, Valley Meat Co. and other associated businesses.

Valley Meat had sought to convert its cattle processing plant to the slaughtering of horses but the state filed a lawsuit in 2013 in hopes of stopped those plans.

An attorney for Front Range Equine Rescue, Bruce Wagman, said Friday that the order and previous rulings from the judge effectively end any chance of a horse slaughter operation opening in New Mexico.

The last domestic horse slaughterhouses closed in 2007, a year after Congress initially withheld inspection funding.