SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and members of the Congressional delegation announced Jan. 31 that the U.S. Department of the Interior made $43.7 million available to the state to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells in New Mexico through the federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act.

When an oil and gas operator goes bankrupt, wells may become “orphaned” and the responsibility to plug and reclaim those sites may fall to the state. Wells and associated facilities that are left abandoned can cause environmental damage by leaking methane or impacting groundwater.

There are approximately 1,700 orphaned and abandoned wells in New Mexico on state and private land. At current funding...

Staff Reports

Details are still emerging as Gallup police investigate the shooting death of Lane Ortiz, 32, of Fort Wingate.

According to a GPD news release, Metro Dispatch received the emergency call at about 9:14 pm Monday. The caller reported hearing shots fired, and seeing a man, later identified as Ortiz, lying on the ground in the vicinity of the 500 block area of Clark Street in Gallup.

Ortiz had been shot multiple times, and was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.

GPD Detectives are seeking information and witnesses, as no suspect(s) have been positively identified.

If you have any information on this incident, call Metro Dispatch at (505)...

Staff ReportsAccording to a City of Gallup news release, the company DUB-L-EE, LLC, an Albuquerque-based plumbing, heating, and construction firm, has scheduled a water shut off between Coal and Aztec avenues for a period of no more than 3.5 hours Tuesday. Water outage will start at 1 pm and last until 4:30 pm. The City of Gallup encourages those affected by the outage to contact the city's utilities department dispatch at (505) 863-1200, if water is not active after the transfer, as this helps identify additional services that may be needed in the area.

Additional contacts:

Heriberto Vargas – Superintendent – (505) 319-3955
Joshua Baca – Project Manager – (505) 948-4083 
Mario...

N.M. plans for material-world application of natural resources

Escalante H2 Power is taking steps to convert the Escalante Generating Station from a coal-fired to a hydrogen-fired plant. If the project is a success, it would create up to 270 MW of clean power, and more than 500 temporary jobs during construction as well as at least 60 permanent positions once it’s in operation. More than 100 people lost their jobs when the plant closed in Aug. 2020.

After the Escalante plant closed, Brooks Energy Company and Newport Gas, LLC, formed Escalante H2 Power intending to make Escalante the first plant to be successfully converted from coal-burning to hydrogen-fueled.

A year later in Aug...