The Town of Taos is hosting a two-day water conference this week with scientists, policy experts and others to talk about limited water resources and resulting management challenges. The New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute is putting on its annual water conference in Taos. The two-day event begins tomorrow. The conference will include a tour that highlights the connection between traditional irrigation systems, or Acequias, and an area's hydrology and local community. Other topics include the latest drought research, land grants, the future of ski areas and watershed restoration priorities. Despite some relief from the drought this summer, officials say New Mexico is still dealing with the effects of prolonged dry conditions and that means water supplies will continue to be squeezed. According to the latest map, two-fifths of the state remains abnormally dry.
Los Alamos National Laboratory has only a narrow time frame before it runs out of room to store its nuclear waste. A recent report from the Defense Nuclear facilities Safety board said the Los Alamos lab will reach its maximum capacity for storing the waste sometime in the federal fiscal year that begins in fall 2016. The Albuquerque Journal reports LANL’s waste should go to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico, but the facility remains shut down after the underground site was contaminated last year. WIPP was initially slated to reopen next March, but over the summer the U.S. Department of Energy indefinitely delayed the opening. Recently, however, energy secretary Ernest Moniz recently said the facility is on track to open by late 2016.
Your odds of winning the Powerball Lottery Jackpot are now even slimmer. New Mexico Lottery officials say the odds of winning smaller cash prizes will improve under changes to the multi-state game. The changes that took effect Sunday mean the overall odds of winning a prize will be one in about 25 instead of one in 32. A shot at the jackpot increases to one in 292 million, up from one- in 175 million. The first drawing under the revised game is tomorrow Powerball sales have been slumping nationwide, and it's been no different in New Mexico. Officials here reported a decline in sales of more than 18 percent for the 2015 fiscal year. Lottery officials say New Mexico's focus on instant-win scratcher games has helped overall sales grow despite Powerball's decline.
A Santa Fe clean energy non-profit is asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to weigh in as it seeks the recusal of all but one member of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission in a case that will determine the fate of a coal-fired power plant. New Energy Economy filed its motion Monday. The group wants the court to disqualify the four commissioners from the case. The commissioners have rebuffed previous efforts to get them thrown off the case. They dispute the group's claims that they're too chummy with the utility that operates the power plant. The commission has been considering a plan that calls for shutting down part of the San Juan Generating Station and replacing the lost power with a mix of coal, nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy.
Several New Mexico officials recently declared support for a plan to build a nearly $1 billion natural gas and solar power plant in San Juan County. The Farmington Daily Times of Farmington reports Governor Susan Martinez and the state's five congressmen are among those who’ve written letters to Western Area Power Administration in support of the plant. It's known as the Clean Path Energy Center and could start operating in late 2019. Power plant developer Western Energy Partners is awaiting approval to connect transmission lines to the plant. Western Area Power Administration spokeswoman Kara Lamb says her company will be ready to move forward once the plant complies with the National Environmental Policy Act. Western Energy President Curt Hildebrand says he plans to publish a notice of intent to build the plant this month.
The federal government will provide close-to six-million dollars to build a new veterans cemetery near Fort Stanton in south-central New Mexico's Lincoln County. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announcing Monday the funding being provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The senators said ground-breaking for the project is expected to take place November 11th, Veterans Day. New Mexico currently has two cemeteries for veterans— one here in Santa Fe in northern New Mexico and one at Fort Bayard near Silver City in southwestern New Mexico. A deputy secretary for New Mexico Department of Veteran Services says plans for a veterans cemetary in Gallup will move forward in the coming year, with hopes a groundbreaking ceremony will take place in November 2016.
Santa Fe Weather: Partly sunny today with a 30–percent chance for showers and thunderstorms, the high today reaching 68. Tonight through tomorrow: Mostly cloudy with numerous showers and thunderstorms—chance for precipitation at 50-percent tonight and 60-percent Wednesday. Tonight’s low 58, with the high tomorrow, 64.