New Mexico

The Interior Department may see more lawsuits after announcing it would no longer require the Bureau of Land Management to create an environmental impact statement for more than 3,200 oil and gas leases in seven states. The Biden administration started work on the review four days before President Trump took office in January...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is out with its recap of the winter of 2024-2025, which includes December, January and February.    “We are seeing that it was our 27th warmest winter out of 130 years, going all the way back to 1895-1896.”    USDA...

As we move into the final months of the western snowpack season, how might what we see in the higher elevations translate to support of regional water supplies for agricultural irrigation and municipal H2O?   “Following two favorable winters, previously, California's intrastate reservoirs remain in reasonably good shape," noted USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "This ye...

On Monday, western Democrats issued a statement over reports the BLM has issued stop work orders connected to projects removing hazardous wildfire fuels.  Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, New Mexico’s Senator Martin Heinrich said their letter, addressed to recently confirmed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Acting Agriculture Secretary Gary Washington, “sounds the alarm”.   They said delaying these treatm

It may be early February, but there’s already concerns about irrigation this spring and summer because of the light snowpacks being reported across the west.   “The Snow Water equivalency percentage of averages to below normal just about everywhere and that does include much of the Northwest outside of Oregon and outside of the eastern slopes of the Northern Rockies,” said USDA Meteorologist Brad

With the end of the most intense portion of the irrigation season with in sight here in the Northwest, how is water storage fairing as we prepared to head into fall?  USDA meteorologist Brad Rippy said when it comes to the 11 Western states they watch, nine of those states either close to normal or above normal storage.   “...

A bipartisan group of Senators recently introduced legislation to merge USDA broadband programs.  New Mexico Democrat Ben Ray Luján and South Dakota Republican John Thune reintroduced the Rural Internet Improvement Act.  The legislation would streamline and bolster USDA Rural Development broadband programs and ensure their funding is targeted to rural areas that need it the most.     "Our bip

Dairy operators looking to improve production, expand marketing and distribution, or looking to develop dairy products, funding to help is available.  Dairy farmers and processors in Washington, Oregon, as well as California, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico are encouraged to apply for funding through the Pacific Coast Coalition Dairy Business Innovation Initiative.  It’s ex...

Senators John Thune and Ben Ray Luján recently introduced the Livestock Disaster Assistance Improvement Act.  The bipartisan legislation by the South Dakota Republican and New Mexico Democrat would improve the effectiveness and timeliness of multiple Department of Agriculture programs that assist farmers and ranchers in the aftermath of adverse weather events.  The legislatio...

Researchers at the University of Idaho says they have found a correlation between agricultural chemicals and cancers in adults and children in Idaho, and across 11 Western states.  UI researchers analyzed federal and state health and agriculture data, and report a relationship between cancer incidence and pesticide applications in Idaho’s 44 counties, as well as 459 counties in the Western United