Upper Pecos gets temporary protection from mining

More than 165,000 acres of public land in the Upper Pecos watershed will be protected from mining for the next two years, and the protections could be extended for another 20 years.

Still, advocates are pushing for more state-level protections for New Mexico waterways because federal water protections have grown more uncertain.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland initiated a two-year temporary withdraw of 164,483 acres of National Forest land and 1,327 acres of Bureau of Land Management land from new mining claims or federal mineral leases Thursday. During those two years, BLM and the U.S. Forest Service will study the area, starting the process for proposing a 20-year withdrawal, which could then be renewed.

“Our community knows all too well the devastating impacts of mining contamination, as we are still grappling with the environmental and health consequences from mining activities over a century ago. The scars left behind serve as a stark reminder of what is at stake,” Pecos Mayor Telesfor Benavidez said in a statement.

“This two-year pause on new mining claims allows us to safeguard our water, land and way of life while prioritizing the health and safety of our residents. The Pecos River is the heart of our community, sustaining agriculture, outdoor recreation and clean drinking water for future generations.”

The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission also decided to protect Pecos headwaters, as well as water in the Rio Grande, Rio Chama, Cimarron and Jemez watersheds on Tuesday by designating 250 miles as outstanding national resource waters under the Clean Water Act. The decision protects those waters from degradation, with exemptions for specific activities like acequia operations or watershed restoration projects.

When Clean Water Act jurisdiction shrunk after the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, it had a dramatic impact on New Mexico’s waters, according to Steven Fry, policy and project specialist with nonprofit Amigos Bravos.

“We have so many intermittent, ephemeral streams, and so up to 95% of our waters and about 85% of our wetlands lost protections when that decision came down. And because we don’t have a state program, all those waters could suddenly be polluted into without needing a permit,” Fry said.

Mining and the Pecos River

Mining started near the northern New Mexico Village of Pecos in the 1890s. In pursuit of lead, copper, zinc, gold and silver, American Metal Co. opened the Tererro Mine in the early 1900s in Pecos Canyon. The mining process used acid and left behind piles of waste rock.

“Every time it rains, that acid drainage gets into Willow Creek, and Willow Creek is about 100 yards from the main stream of the Pecos,” said Lela McFerrin, vice president of the Upper Pecos Watershed Association. “Over the years, we had fish kills. Ninety thousand fish were killed in the 11-mile stretch that goes from the old mine down to the Lisboa Springs Fish Hatchery, which is still in existence.”

Cleaning up the area cost the company and the state millions, McFerrin said.

In 2019, an Australian mining company filed for a permit to explore mineral deposits near Jones Hill, 8 miles southeast of the Tererro Mine site. The community responded by organizing, McFerrin said, trying to protect the area from more mining.

“Water is the blood of our Pueblo and all nearby communities. We cannot place our life-giving waters in the hands of foreign-owned mining corporations,” Pueblo of Tesuque Gov. Milton Herrera said in a statement.

All that organizing has also been backed by New Mexico’s federal congressional delegation. In 2024, Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández introduced the Pecos Watershed Protection Act, which would permanently protect the withdrawal area in Santa Fe and San Miguel counties from new mineral claims. All five members of the Democratic congressional delegation welcomed the temporary protection announcement.

The two-year withdrawal is only the first step in a long process to protect the area from more mining, according to McFerrin.

State clean water protections

Environmental advocates also celebrated permanent state protection of 250 miles of water in northern and central New Mexico watersheds this week.

“We’re often so focused, especially in the summer months, on whether there is water or not in our rivers that we don’t think about how important it is to make sure the water that we do have is clean and of high quality,” said Brittany Fallon, a policy manager with Western Resource Advocates.

The new outstanding national resource waters designation from the Water Quality Control Commission applies to water quality. The designation does not impact water rights or existing land uses. It means when people apply for permits to build near the waters or do mining near the waters, they have to demonstrate they will not hurt water quality, Fry said.

“These are the critical headwater streams that are protecting our main stem rivers. They provide exceptional habitat for wildlife and recreation,” Fry said. “A lot of these streams are upstream of communities that use irrigation or drinking water supplies. They’re really the lifeblood of our watersheds, and so having the headwater streams be protected ensures that downstream water quality is also improved.”

New Mexico is one of three states that does not have a state service water permitting program. Instead, it relies on the EPA to issue discharge permits. But in 2023, the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction shrunk. So, there has been a push from environmental advocates to create a new state program to start doing some of that permitting.

Several bills will be considered in the upcoming state legislative session to help create that program, Fry said.

“But we’re still a few years away from actual implementation, and so this is a mechanism that we’re using to protect these waters in the short term,” Fry said.

Federal water quality protections could be further diminished under another Donald Trump presidency. In his first term, Trump revised the Navigable Water Protection Rule in an attempt to narrow which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The president-elect also campaigned on deregulation in the most recent election cycle.

“Our federal protections are no longer guaranteed, and if we can shore those up at the state level, all the better for New Mexicans,” Fallon said.

Cathy Cook is a news reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com.