Summary
Committee members and NMDOT staff discussed dust-driven highway closures, options for mitigation such as leasing right-of-way or using produced/desalinated water, and the need for cross-agency drills and clearer policy on private lands that contribute to roadside dust.
Legislators and New Mexico Department of Transportation staff discussed dust mitigation and emergency response after long highway closures attributed to dust storms and site-preparation activities.
Representative Dow asked whether produced or desalinated water could be used to suppress dust on highways after substantial closures on Interstate 10; NMDOT staff said dust mitigation is a standing program but noted practical limits where much of the dust originates on private property or federal lands. "Part of the challenge in doing a lot of dust mitigation is a lot of the property that needs to be worked on to minimize the dust is private property," a NMDOT official said.
Aaron Chavarria, a district-level NMDOT staffer, said NMDOT has used land transfers with the Bureau of Land Management and negotiated grazing changes at Lordsford Playa, but that dust sources can now come from miles away and from a mix of BLM, state land and private property. He described the situation as “sensitive” because ranchers’ livelihoods are affected by land-use changes.
Legislators asked about leasing right-of-way so the state could actively water or treat adjacent areas; NMDOT replied that leasing for mitigation is possible but would be costly and that policy clarification from the Legislature could define when mitigation should be required as part of permitting and site‑readiness for large developments. Senator Ramos and Representative Dow also proposed running cross‑agency drills with Homeland Security, local emergency managers and law enforcement to improve the speed of closures and coordinated responses for long-duration events.
NMDOT said not all problem corridors are currently targeted for mitigation; the transcript shows New Mexico Highways 9 and 15 were not on the current list of targeted dust-mitigation sites. The department said it maintains web-accessible information about dust mitigation measures and is pursuing partnerships with counties, tribes and federal land managers to identify effective interventions.
