NMED News:
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) released updates for the month of June 2024 on the Enforcement Watch.
The Enforcement Watch is a listing of all active and resolved enforcement cases. Active cases involve an alleged violation of a regulation, rule, permit, license, etc. Resolved cases are those that were adjudicated in court of law or administratively resolved.
The Enforcement Watch also provides tools for the public to report alleged environmental or workplace safety violations.
“Whether it is the safety of manufactured cannabis edibles or protecting employees from ionizing radiation – businesses across to New Mexico must follow health and safety requirements to ensure the protection of our residents,” NMED Compliance and Enforcement Director Bruce Baizel said.
In the month of June, 165 new entries were added to the Active Matters listing and 87 were moved to the Resolved Matters listing.
The new additions to the report included:
- 102 notices of violation issued by the Food Safety Program to retail food establishments that failed to timely pay their permit fee which results in the assessment of a $25.00 late fee 52 notices of violation issued by the Drinking Water Bureau
- 5 notices of violation issued by the Occupational Health & Safety Bureau
- 2 notices of violation issued by the Solid Waste Bureau
- 2 notices of violation issued by the Radiation Control Bureau
- 1 notice of violation issued by the Cannabis and Help Bureau
- 1 notice of violation issued by the Ground Water Quality Bureau
The following enforcement cases were resolved in June:
- 83 cases in the Food Safety Program
- 2 cases in the Solid Waste Bureau
- 1 case in the Hazardous Waste Bureau
- 1 case in the Air Quality Bureau
Highlights of alleged violations and resolved cases in June include:
The Cannabis and Hemp Bureau issued a notice of violation to Royal Cannabis LLC., DBA Baked Chicken Farm in Mesquite, New Mexico, for manufacturing cannabis edible products and/or cannabis edible finished products without a valid permit.
The Radiation Control Bureau issued a notice of violation to ProTechnics of Houston, Texas for an incident at SpectraTek Oct. 22, 2019, where the licensee failed to follow its radiation safety and emergency procedures to protect its employees from exposure to ionizing radiation and failed to implement its Radiation Protection Program.
The Drinking Water Bureau issued a notice of violation to the Carrizozo Water System did not provide public notice to its customers of an asbestos Notice of Violation issued May 23, 2023.
The Drinking Water Bureau issued a notice of violation to the Santa Cruz Water Association of Santa Cruz for exceeding the maximum contaminant level of uranium during the 4th quarter of 2023, and the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2024.
The Groundwater Quality Bureau issued a notice of violation to the American Linen & Uniform Supply in Las Cruces, New Mexico for failure to effectively abate environmental concerns relating to the discharge of groundwater pollutants at the site.
The Occupational Safety and Health Bureau issued a notice of violation to Aztec Well Servicing of Aztec, New Mexico for not ensuring employees were protected from fall hazards from heights of up to 30 feet in a work area in Nageezi, New Mexico.
The Solid Waste Bureau issued a notice of several violations to Estancia Solid Waste Authority for failure to conduct random load inspections, failure to apply and compact soil over disposed construction and demolition debris, including wind blades, failure to cut/demolish all wind blades at the Vaughn Construction and Demolition/Asbestos Landfill.
The Enforcement Watch provides the public, the business community, environmental nongovernment organizations, and municipal governments with easy access to see which organizations NMED has alleged are in violation of regulations, permits, and/or licenses administered by the Department. It is updated when violations are alleged or resolved. Retrospective enforcement matters are added as staffing resources allow. Organizations remain on Enforcement Watch until the alleged violations are corrected to the satisfaction of the Department. The easiest way for an organization to avoid appearing on the Enforcement Watch is to stay off it in the first place by remaining in full compliance with applicable regulations. NMED encourages organizations that are unclear of their regulatory responsibilities to contact a consultant and conduct a third-party compliance audit and disclose potential violations.
NMED provides detailed compliance and enforcement metrics in the Compliance Measures section of the Quarterly Performance Report.
The full Enforcement Watch can be viewed at https://www.env.nm.gov/enforcement-watch.
