The $11 billion budget for New Mexico that was signed into law last week by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham includes $20 million for the state to reclaim abandoned uranium mine sites.
New Mexico has at least 350 abandoned uranium mine and mill sites, a toxic legacy of a Cold War-era boom that spurred companies and individuals to dig for ore. This is the second round of funding the legislature has approved to tackle the decades-old problem, and this time it includes funds to cover the costs for a legal team to track down the responsible parties in addition to paying contractors to safely remove hazardous material that is polluting nearby land and water.
New Mexico Environment Department Deputy Cabinet Secretary John Rhoderick told Source NM that the department’s ultimate goal is to force those who dug the mines to reimburse the state for mitigation costs, which could reach as high as $5.3 million per mine. Finding responsible companies is a complex process, and even if the legal team finds a name, uranium companies change hands, and larger companies frequently absorb smaller ones. “A lot of these mines were done by individuals, a group of two or three individuals 50 years ago. They may not even be alive anymore,” he said. “So as we investigate them, we identify them, the intent is then to see if there’s a way to go after their estate.”
Report: America’s most endangered public lands
The task of effectively managing the nation’s approximately 640 million acres of public lands and waters has grown increasingly difficult in the past year following severe budget cuts and mass layoffs at federal land management agencies. In an effort to identify the most at-risk lands and waters across the country, Stephanie Pearson with RE:PUBLIC, an independent public lands newsroom, compiled a list of the ten most endangered public lands. Pearson consulted a diverse array of stakeholders, policy advisors, and conservationists to create the list, acknowledging that “The ten places we chose are not the only critically threatened public lands. But each one is emblematic of an imminent danger.”
Quick hits
Colorado BLM director Doug Vilsack resigns instead of accepting reassignment
Greens sue Interior to stop ‘God Squad’ meeting
New Mexico approves $20 million to clean up abandoned uranium sites
Bill to make Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona a national park clears major legislative hurdle
Kevin Fedarko: How wildfires transformed the Grand Canyon’s North Rim
Trump appointees to federal appellate court are ripping environmental protections to shreds
Part of popular Colorado 14er hiking loop acquired by U.S. Forest Service
Russ Feingold’s new mission: Preserving nature to save the planet
Quote of the day
Foreign mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP got exactly what they paid for with this administration. President Trump handed them a sacred Apache site to destroy, greenlighted a deal that sends American copper to China, and the American people won’t see a single cent in royalties because our mining laws don’t require it.”
—House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman
Picture This
This is your reminder to check for owls before leaving port.
Meet Benito and Concho, two burrowing owls who accidentally left Florida in February 2025 as stowaways on a cruise ship… and somehow ended up in Spain. Yes. Spain. What followed was a year-long effort involving international partners, permits, quarantine, and a carefully planned flight back to the U.S. On March 12, they were released back into the wild in South Florida, by @myfwc.
Repatriation is the process of returning wildlife to their native habitat after they’ve ended up somewhere they don’t belong. That might sound simple. It is not. It requires international permits, coordination between multiple agencies, strict health screenings, quarantine periods, and specialized transport to make sure the animals and the ecosystems they return to are protected.
Because of all that, most wild animals that end up abroad never make it back into the wild. But through coordination and commitment from partners across the globe, these two birds made it all the way home.
No more cruisin’ for Benito and Concho.
Featured image: Schmitt Decline Mine, the first mine reclamation project initiated under the state of New Mexico’s Abandoned Uranium Mine Reclamation Initiative. Source: New Mexico Energy Department