City Approves MOA with County to Address PFAS Contamination

City approves PFAS MOA with county

The Santa Fe governing body last night approved a memorandum of agreement with Santa Fe County about the investigation and plans for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), aka forever chemicals. As noted in an accompanying memo, the Army National Guard, which operates at the Santa Fe Regional Airport, conducted an investigation and found PFAS contamination at the facility. In presenting the MOA, City Utilities Director John Dupuis said the move toward formal cooperation will ensure lack of duplicative efforts and streamline efforts moving forward. The issue, he said, “is of significance to both of us given that groundwater is our most resilient protection against drought, and protection against PFAS is essential.” As SFR reported earlier this year, the City of Santa Fe hired a contractor last year for tests of all its supply wells and storage tanks, as well as at its Santa Fe River treatment plant on Canyon Road and at the Buckman Direct Diversion, which draws water off the Rio Grande for city and county taps, which showed no municipal contamination. However, testing has revealed contaminants in wells in La Cienega and La Cieneguilla, causing ongoing confusion and concern for residents. Dupuis said the county and city jointly applied for and have received funds to work on the issue, and expect to benefit from the recently announced $18.9 million in PFAS funding from the federal Environmental Protection Agency awarded to the state environment department. Those funds follow new tougher standards for PFAS in drinking water, a regulatory change expected to impact thousands of water systems across the country, according to reporting SFR published earlier this year. Dupuis told the governing body the entities have received approximately $459,000 in funds; the county has set up a dedicated PFAS page on its website with additional information.

City statue plan faces criticism

Several residents voiced objections at last night’s City Council meeting over a plan to move two controversial statues to public buildings. As announced last week by city and tribal leaders, the resolution sponsored by the mayor and Councilors Carol Romero-Wirth, Michael Garcia and Pilar Faulkner would install a never-displayed statue depicting two Tesuque Pueblo Revolt runners inside the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, and move the Don Diego de Vargas statue to the New Mexico History Museum through a temporary loan agreement. Residents commented on the proposal during both open public comment and the hearing on the specific proposal, with the vast majority critical of the plan, the Santa Fe New Mexican notes. The mayor and sponsors, nonetheless, encouraged attendees to consider the resolution as a chance to move forward with the often divisive issue. City Councilor Mike Garcia thanked attendees for coming to weigh in on the proposal. “I think that’s the critical part of this resolution as we move on to hear from folks, we want to ensure that dialogue,” Garcia said. “Folks are going to have opinions one way or the other, but we want to ensure we’re working together in a respectful manner.” Webber, who has faced the bulk of criticism over the fate of city monuments, echoed the comments, noting, “We have an opportunity here to take a small, but nonetheless significant step forward toward unity and healing and education.”

PRC tries out AI platform

The Public Regulation Commission yesterday announced it’s trying out HData, an Alabama-based technology company that uses AI, along with automation and data, to conduct regulatory research. In response to a query from SFR, the agency says its trial with HData will last one year and cost $4,500. The platform, the agency says in a news release, will allow for access to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission data sources state regulators don’t typically use, along with various tools—including AI tools—in the regulatory sphere. “The energy and utility industries are evolving, and it’s important that the Public Regulation Commission keeps up with those changes,” Chief of Staff Cholla Khoury says in a statement. “We’ll continue to explore ways to give our staff cutting-edge tools and resources to ensure the Commission develops policies for safe operations and reliable utility services at fair, just, and reasonable rates.” The agency says its trial run with HData follows the objectives laid out in its strategic plan for fiscal years 2023–2026, which include “optimizing internal operations, processes, and time management.”

AG talks social media, sexual predators

Attorney General Raúl Torrez participated yesterday in a virtual town hall on the threats social media sites present to children, moderated by NBC Daily News anchor Kate Snow (a former KOAT reporter), alongside youth activists LOG OFF Founder Emma Lembke and Design It For Us Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi. Earlier this month, Torrez announced the arrests and arraignments of three men accused of contacting and soliciting sex from underage decoy accounts on Meta following a months-long undercover investigation by the state Department of Justice. Last December, Torrez’s office filed a lawsuit against Meta, Mark Zuckerberg and other related platforms including Instagram and Facebook regarding the protection of children from sexual abuse and human trafficking. In yesterday’s town hall, the Albuquerque Journal reports, Lembke said New Mexico’s AG is shining a “light on the fact that these conversations need to be had,” and the importance of parents talking with their children about their negative experiences on social media without judgment. “There needs to be room and space for families to have open and honest conversations,” Qureshi said. “But the onus is on the companies to have safer platforms. They haven’t been able to do that. Some regulation is needed in order to make that happen.”

Listen up

SFR released its endorsements in six Santa Fe County contested Democratic primaries this week, with early voting continuing through June 1 in advance of the June 4 primary. Have burning questions or opinions heading into election day? Consider calling in to today’s 8 am edition of KUNM’s Let’s Talk New Mexico program (89.9 FM), which will be focused on the primary election. We’ll be there, along with AARP New Mexico State Director Joseph Roybal Sánchez, New Mexico In Depth Managing Editor Marjorie Childress and Aline Castelan Gonzales, Campaigns & Programs director for The Semilla Project. Email letstalk@kunm.org, leave a message on the show page or call in live at (505) 277-5866.

An old tale made new

In a not-too-distant and dystopian future, artists, journalists and free-thinkers are locked away at the hands of an unseen oppressive government. The prisoners are then ordered to tell their captors stories on a daily basis. Those are the broad strokes for Two Artists in Prison, the latest production from Theater Grottesco, 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday; 2 pm Sunday through June 9, at Teatro Paraguas’ second space. The show follows two such artist-prisoners, played by Danielle Louise Reddick and Mona Malec, on a day they’re ordered to recount the ancient epic Beowulf. Theater Grottesco co-founder John Flax tells SFR the play has been “marinating for a long time. I first started talking about it with an old Belgian colleague of mine—Joz Houben, who was at the Lecoq with me in the ‘80s. It has been at least 10 years that I’ve been thinking of this.” As with all Grottesco work,Two Artists is an original piece created through company collaboration; Flax co-directs with Apollo Garcia. The show also signals a bit of a post-pandemic return for the troupe, which has been mostly performing short for the last few years (Two Artists clocks in at about an hour). Flax kept some of the show’s secrets to himself, but does advise: “Because it’s a small theater, we don’t want people to get disappointed if they do that Santa Fe thing and wait too long to get tickets and it’s sold out,” he advises.

Worth the trek

Long-distance backpacking site The Trek, which hosts stories and blogs from folks on the trail, has a recent post from Continental Divide Trail trekker Rebecca Lynn Ellis, worth reading because it mostly focuses on Pie Town, NM, and provides a vicarious sense of adventure. Ellis begins by noting the thru-hiking community is similar to the van-life community—she lived in a van for four years—in the three types of people it attracts (briefly: people who are there out of necessity, desire or are just weird). Ellis then provides a quick view of the tiny town, including a stay at a free hostel called The Toaster House, a no-frills stop for hikers with a plethora of toasters. Curious, we tracked down more information about The Toaster House, a well-known stop on the CDT. The home’s original owner Nita Larronde raised her children there and, when she moved down the road, left it open and freely available for hikers. New Mexico Magazine included Larronde in its 2018 story about CDT trail angels, with Larronde explaining how the toaster decorations began (long story short: with a broken family toaster). Larronde died last year, earning multiple tributes from the hikers her home hosted over the years. Larronde also helped with Pie Town’s pie-baking, and is featured in this 2016 SFR story on the town’s pie legacy. Speaking of which, pie, though not mentioned in the blog post that began this series of non-sequiturs (we’ll see if pie emerges in Ellis’ next post as she leaves Pie Town and heads toward Grants), can still be had in Pie Town, as best we can tell, via the Pie-O-Neer Homestead.

High and dry

The National Weather Service forecasts a sunny day, with high temperatures in the low to mid 80s, and northeast wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon.

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