Fire recovery: Two separate spending bills that would support recovery efforts in communities affected by last year’s Black and McBride wildfires sailed through the Senate Conservation Committee on Thursday.
Senate Bill 334 would provide a one-time appropriation of $3 million that would go directly to cities, counties and soil and water conservation districts affected by the Black Fire near Silver City.
“We have 330,000 acres that burned in the fire, but much of the damage was actually a result of the floods that came after the fire, so we have acequias … and we have roads to clean up,” Sen. Crystal Diamond, R-Elephant Butte, told the committee. She is co-sponsoring the measure along with Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City.
Unlike the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire of Northern New Mexico, Diamond said the Black Fire is ineligible for federal dollars because the U.S. Forest Service did not claim responsibility for igniting it.
Senate Bill 430, sponsored by Sen. William Burt, R-Alamogordo, and Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, would appropriate $20 million to help the village of Ruidoso and Lincoln County deal with the damage caused by the McBride Fire, which burned nearly 6,200 acres and more than 200 structures, and claimed two lives. It would also be a one-time appropriation.
“The significant damage includes replacement and refurbishment of water systems, sewer systems, roads; there are two bridges that need to be replaced,” Burt said. “Lincoln County would really appreciate the help from the state to be able to recover from this fire.”
Both measures received unanimous approval.
Waste removal: Members of the Senate Indian, Rural and Cultural Affairs Committee unanimously voted to approve legislation granting a one-time expenditure of $1 million to the state Environment Department for cleanup of solid, liquid and hazardous waste on land grant property.
Senate Bill 87, sponsored by Sen. Leo Jaramillo, D-Española, and Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, will help land grants deal with what New Mexico Land Grant Council Program Manager Arturo Archuleta calls “illegal dump sites”, including hazardous materials.
Committee members said the state must do more to aggressively deal with the continuing problem of illegal dumping.
Mobile education: Kids and adults of all ages braved Thursday’s frigid temperatures to walk through Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Challenge Tomorrow mobile exhibit outside the state Capitol.
The mobile trailer offered a number of presentations on bioscience research, space travel and environmental stewardship.
Jeff Hoffman, one of the LANL staffers in the mobile trailer, said the STEAM-focused Challenge Tomorrow exhibit is a good way to remind the public the lab is involved with a lot of research unrelated to nuclear weapons.
The exhibition was part of the LANL Foundation STEAM Day at the Capitol.
Some good news: Under legislative guidelines, lawmakers cannot introduce legislation beyond the 30th day of the 60-day session.
As of today — the last day to file legislation for consideration — 1,043 bills, resolutions and memorials had been filed for the 112 lawmakers to consider.
Keep your eyes on the ones that popped up on the last day titled Public Peace, Health, Safety and Welfare. These are what are known as place-keeper or dummy bills. They could develop into something interesting or unexpected as the second half of the session plays out.
