Senator Heinrich Highlights Mining Pollution in New Mexico Watersheds

Protecting New Mexico's Rivers

• 🏞️ Senator Martin Heinrich discussed two bills aimed at protecting New Mexico's vital water resources.
• 🌊 The first bill, S1476, seeks to designate portions of the Hila and San Francisco rivers as wild and scenic rivers, reflecting decades of local community effort.
• 🎣 The Hila River is described as the lifeblood of western New Mexico, offering excellent whitewater rafting and trout fishing.

The Pinoshed Watershed Protection Act

• 🚫 The second bill focuses on the Pinoshed watershed in northern New Mexico, aiming to prevent new mining claims in the upper Pinoshed area.
• ⛏️ Historical mining operations for lead, zinc, gold, copper, and silver in the 1920s and 30s left behind polluted water and soil due to inadequately cleaned-up waste and tailings.
• ⚠️ A tailings dam failure in 1973 and subsequent spills led to significant pollution of Alamitos Creek and the Pinoshed River, causing a massive fish kill of 90,000 trout.
• 💧 Even today, mine pollution flows into farm fields during heavy rains and snowmelt, impacting the community and landowners.

Opposition to Proposed Mine

• ❌ Heinrich stated that not a single person in the community, including county commissioners, local businesses, farmers, and tribes, supports a proposed new mine in the same area as the polluting old Terrarero mine.
• 💔 The senator paid tribute to Ralph Fhill, a lifelong Pinoshed resident and advocate for the river, who passed away before seeing the Pinoshed protected from future mining.
• 🌱 The community is committed to carrying on Fhill's work to protect their traditional way of life.