Florida based, privately owned Holtec International’s efforts to construct a Interim Nuclear Storage Facility (HI-STORE CISF) on a 1000-acre site owned by the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) continues to face legal challenges. The land proposed to store the spent nuclear waste is a former cattle grazing tract dotted with oil rigs located close to the…

The potential for violence in Lea County schools is a topic of concern for many area folks. Most reason that the issue will never confront their own schools. The problem will always be somewhere else. On Thursday, February 29, at approximately 1:39 pm, the reality of school violence came to Hobbs. Officers from the Hobbs…

Eddy County’s Steven McCutcheon II, of Carlsbad, not state Rep. Larry Scott (R-62), of Hobbs, has been appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to fill the District 42 state Senate seat vacated by Gay Kernan on August 1. New Mexico’s District 42 spans portions of Chavez, Eddy and Lea counties. Rep. Scott is not surprised…

Lea County officials conducted a drug bust on Tuesday, September 5, seizing almost $163,000 worth of drugs – fentanyl and methamphetamine. Authorities have not as of yet released additional information about the ongoing case. Lea County Drug Task Force (LCDTF) agents with the assistance of Lea County Sheriff’s deputies conducted “a vehicle stop for a…

Almost 600 acres, comprising 12 parcels of federal public land in southeastern New Mexico and Oklahoma, may be leased by online auction to the oil and gas industry on November 30 by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Approximately 75% of the land to be leased is located in Lea and Eddy counties –…

An Albuquerque company has taken the necessary first step to acquire permission to locate a medical isotope production facility in Lea County. Eden Radioisotopes, LLC (Eden) “…has formally notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of its plans to submit license applications in order to construct and operate a medical isotope production facility near Eunice,…

On Thursday, June 29, The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) announced significant “enforcement actions” against Ameredev, a major oil and gas operator in Lea County. Ameredev is based in Austin, Texas.  In 2019 and 2020 Ameredev is accused of “egregious violations of state rules…

The Federal Government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is expected to auction for oil and gas lease a total of 12 parcels of land – approximately 916 acres – in southeastern New Mexico and Oklahoma by the end of this year. Two of the parcels – comprising slightly over 124 acres – are located in…

On Monday night, November 7, the all-male board of city commissioners in Hobbs voted unanimously (7-0) approving an ordinance that requires abortion providers conducting business within the Hobbs City Limits to operate “following federal law” as a pretense for preventing abortion clinics from operating in the city. The federal law in question is notably unenforceable,…

The very thought of having nuclear waste stored in one’s backyard is a topic that stimulates serious conversation, and such conversations and concerns are frequently occurring amongst Lea County stakeholders and residents of surrounding counties. The reason that this topic is rising to occur in our daily thoughts is that the United States Nuclear Regulatory…