Latest news with #ProtectTesuque
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tesuque residents all stirred up over resort's new proposed wastewater permit
May 19—SANTA FE — The fight over a Santa Fe luxury resort's new proposed wastewater discharge permit drew more than 100 local residents to the Roundhouse on Monday for the first day of a public hearing that was part town hall meeting, part legal drama. One after one, most area residents expressed concern, if not outright anger, about possible groundwater contamination in the Tesuque area caused by the release of up to 30,000 gallons per day of treated wastewater by Bishop's Lodge. "This puts our community in danger," said Bernadette Romero Jaramillo, who said the treated wastewater would be released into a disposal field located within a local flood zone near Little Tesuque Creek. But wastewater experts and attorneys representing Bishop's Lodge insisted a recently-installed wastewater system used by the resort and a nearby subdivision is state of the art and designed to filter out contaminants down to 0.04 microns — or just a fraction of the size of a human hair. "The law and the science must govern this permit hearing," said Christina Mulcahy, a Santa Fe-based attorney representing Bishops Lodge. She accused local opponents of "fear-mongering," and held up a jar of treated effluent for attendees' inspection at one point during Monday's hearing. That prompted some residents to call out "Drink it!", a challenge that went unheeded by Mulcahy and drew warnings from the hearing officer presiding over the case. The public hearing that began Monday came about after local opposition to the new permit erupted last year. A nonprofit group called Protect Tesuque has helped organize the opposition, in part by holding weekly protests at the entrance to the Bishop's Lodge Resort. The group has already tried unsuccessfully to get the permit denied, and has also asked the state Supreme Court to intervene in the case. The dispute has highlighted simmering tensions between local residents and tourists in the pricey, quasi-rural area north of Santa Fe. It's also prompted signs to be posted along Bishops Lodge Road, which runs through the village of Tesuque. Several Tesuque Pueblo representatives also testified Monday, with former tribal governor Mark Mitchell requesting more data monitoring and for the disposal field, or leech field, to be relocated. He said Tesuque Pueblo, which is located downstream from the wastewater treatment facility, uses creek water for ceremonial purposes. "We found in the past that when people got sick, that's where they got sick from," Mitchell said. But not all area residents spoke in opposition to the new wastewater treatment permit, as some residents of Bishop's Lodge Hills and Villas, the adjacent subdivision that features about 80 homes and home sites, showed up to testify in favor. Bishop's Lodge's attorneys also pointed out the high-end resort has held a state wastewater discharge permit since 1979. The new permit would represent the eighth renewal of the permit, but the first since the new treatment facility was built. It would specifically allow water from toilets, sinks, bathtubs and washing machines that is submitted to a multi-step filtering and treatment process to be discharged into the ground via a piping system. The treatment process includes exposure to ultraviolet light to destroy disease-causing organisms. While not all state permit applications trigger public hearings, the high-profile nature of the Bishop's Lodge case and a request from opponents led to this week's hearings, said Environment Department spokeswoman Muna Habib. Felicia Orth, the hearing officer appointed to the case, will issue a report and recommendation on the permit application within 60 days after the public hearing concludes, Habib added. Environment Secretary James Kenney, who did not attend Monday's hearing in person, will then make the final decision on whether to approve or deny the new permit.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico Supreme Court requests parties file written arguments in Bishop's lodge wastewater case
Mark DeCamp, with nonprofit Protect Tesuque, stands outside of the Roundhouse on Jan. 30, before a Senate Conservation Hearing. (Austin Fisher / Source NM) The New Mexico Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday requesting all the parties involved in a wastewater disposal dispute in Tesuque submit written arguments by May 19. The court's decision follows an April 22 emergency petition submitted by attorneys representing nonprofit Protect Tesuque to halt a proposed permit for treated wastewater from Bishop's Lodge hotel and 82 adjacent homes in Tesuque Village. New Mexico Supreme Court asked to weigh in on Tesuque wastewater conflict Protect Tesuque argued that the New Mexico Environment Department wrongly applied state environmental laws in the permitting process, and asked the state's highest court to intervene. In the motion, attorneys for the nonprofit argue that NMED's permitting policies unequally enforce limitations in liquid waste laws between smaller and larger permits (more than 5,000 gallons of liquid waste per day), which they say amounts to a constitutional violation because it ignores state environmental laws. Tom Hnasko, the attorney representing Protect Tesuque, said the court could have denied the petition without further argument. 'They obviously want to see what the Environment Department and Bishop's Lodge have to say about the matter,' he said. Attorneys for both Bishop's Lodge and the New Mexico Environment Department requested the state's justices deny the petition, and filed documents last week saying they intended to file further arguments. 'The New Mexico Environment Department remains confident in its legal position that Bishop's Lodge's wastewater treatment system is subject to state ground and surface water quality regulations. NMED has consistently found that the facility meets or exceeds all applicable state water quality standards. Due to ongoing litigation, we are unable to comment further at this time,' said Drew Goretzka, a spokesperson at the New Mexico Environment Department in a written statement Wednesday. Representatives for Bishop's Lodge or its parent company, Juniper Capital, did not respond to emailed requests for comment Wednesday afternoon. The hotel and its parent company maintain that the proposal to treat sewage is safe, noting that it installed a new wastewater treatment plant in 2024 'designed to meet or exceed all local and national water quality standards.' The draft permit is scheduled for a May 19 hearing before the New Mexico Environment for additional testimony, which at this time, remains in place. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico Supreme Court asked to weigh in on Tesuque wastewater conflict
Bernadette Romero-Jaramillo, a lifelong Tesuque resident and Protect Tesuque board member told Source NM the issues over wastewater 'are bigger than us, it's not just a Tesuque Village concern, it's a state concern.' (Danielle Prokop / Source NM) A dispute over sewage disposal in a village outside of Santa Fe is leaking into the New Mexico Supreme Court, as residents contend state environmental agency actions surrounding a draft waste permit were unconstitutional. Dozens of people gathered at blue cafeteria tables and the bleachers lining the Tesuque Elementary School gymnasium Wednesday night to hear the latest in the ongoing fracas over a permit for a leach field to dispose of treated wastewater from Bishop's Lodge hotel and 82 adjacent homes in Tesuque Village. Democratic Santa Fe elected officials also attended the town hall, including County Commissioner Justin Green in the room, and Rep. Andrea Romero and Sen. Peter Wirth virtually. Tensions in the case have been building for the last year, as residents oppose multiple proposals for sewage disposal by the resort. The meeting followed the latest development in the case: On April 22, attorneys for the nonprofit Protect Tesuque requested the state's highest court order the New Mexico Environment Department to halt the permitting process for the hotel and homes, arguing in an emergency petition that the agency wrongly applied state environmental laws in the permitting process. Specifically, they say the limitations in liquid waste laws should also apply to larger permits — dischargers disposing more than 5,000 gallons, which are regulated under another law. State environmental regulators disagree. 'The New Mexico Environment Department maintains full confidence in its legal position that the Bishop's Lodge wastewater treatment system falls under ground and surface water quality regulations,' said NMED spokesperson Jorge Estrada in a written statement. 'NMED has consistently affirmed that the facility meets — or exceeds — all applicable state water quality standards.' An administrative hearing officer on April 7 rejected Protect Tesuque's request for the department to deny the permit. Protect Tesuque's argument to the state Supreme Court is that NMED's permitting process for large dischargers ignores the regulations passed by the Legislature, and the agency doesn't have the legal authority to make exceptions to those laws. 'NMED is making their own laws,' Hnakso told Source. 'Their whole basis for doing what they're doing is only applying the law if you're discharging less than 5,000 gallons per day. If it's more, they apply a different law — but that's not what the Environmental Improvement Act says.' He called it a separation of powers issue. 'The plain language is that the executive branch has to apply the law as written by the legislature,' Hnasko said. 'If they don't, it's a constitutional violation.' On Wednesday, attorneys for both NMED and Bishops Lodge filed court documents requesting that justices either dismiss the case or issue a schedule with deadlines for responses. Thomas Hnasko, an attorney representing the nonprofit Protect Tesuque, in comments at the town hall to the approximate 60 attendees, said he was unsure if the state's highest court would hear the emergency petition, and noted that the arguments had to contend with years of agency permitting. 'It's a heavy lift because that's the way it's always been done,' Hnasko said. 'It's really difficult when you're taking a position that's gonna upset the apple cart and not only affect Tesuque, but have an effect statewide.' But lawmakers, Hnasko said, could clarify which laws guide NMED's permitting decisions. 'If changes need to be made or variances need to be applied for, that can happen in the Legislature,' he said. 'But right now, the Environmental Improvement Act does not allow what they're doing.' Tesuque Village, with a little over 1,000 residents, depends mostly on septic tanks for sewage, and private wells for drinking water. When Bishop's Lodge's 1970s-era wastewater treatment plant stopped working, the resort began trucking wastewater into Santa Fe for treatment, which the owners described as expensive and inefficient. 'Bishop's Lodge and the Hills & Villas Community have worked closely with the New Mexico Environment Department Groundwater Quality Bureau to replace their old wastewater treatment system,' Chris Kaplan, the head of Asset Management at Juniper Capital, which owns Bishop's Lodge, said in a written statement. 'The new system, installed in 2024, is a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility designed to meet or exceed all local and national water quality standards.' The resort changed its plans in response to community pushback, he added. 'The original plan to release the fully treated effluent to surface water was abandoned in favor of an on-site, low-dosing area that will capture the fully treated effluent in the winter months.' The current state permit authorizes Bishop's Lodge to discharge about 14,700 gallons per day into two leach fields on the property. The new request would allow for discharge of up to 30,000 gallons of treated wastewater into a new leach field. Protect Tesuque opposes the new disposal plan, writing on its website that the proposal fails to meet 'engineering, siting, and contamination safeguards required by our state laws,' and pushes potential impacts downstream. Residents Wednesday night expressed concerns about the costs of well testing and the potential loss of home values and safety if contamination occurred in the aquifer. 'I don't want to have to spend $3,000 every year having my well tested test just to have somebody tell me they screwed up my water and I lost, you know, a considerable value in the house and I won't be able to sell,' resident Brian Corcoran said. A week-long hearing on the draft permit is scheduled to start May 19. In Wednesday's town hall, local officials suggested longer-term initiatives that could help address some of the issues at play. For instance, Commissioner Green announced a plan to start engineering a regional water system that could move forward, after securing the final signature from the Pueblos of Tesque, Nambé, Pojuaque and San Ildefonso earlier that day. He said work on the study should begin in the next few months. 'That said, these things don't happen very quickly. This is a large capital project, this will take years and years and years to do a lot of this groundwork,' he said. Wirth agreed that ultimately the long-term solution must be developing a regional water and sewage system. Residents said the solution isn't fast enough. 'I'm sorry. But you're moving too slowly,' said Donna Amos, a resident who lives near Shidoni Gallery, garnering applause from other attendees. 'We will all be dead by the time a regional water system is done.' Both Wirth and Romero, after multiple requests from audience members, committed to meeting with Juniper Capital representatives, but hesitated on further actions, such as introducing legislation, both saying it would be important to see if the state's Supreme Court will weigh in on the issue. After the town hall, Bernadette Romero-Jaramillo, a physical therapist and member of Protect Tesuque, said she believes the situation is no longer just a local fight, but one with statewide implications if the court takes up the case. 'Ours is a community that is here to fight to the bitter end to protect our village, our resources — it's about our future,' she said. 'We need a resolution for the now.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
