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Environment Department requests $75M strategic water supply and $50M for river stewardship, outlines permitting hires and PFAS/uranium cleanup work
Summary
NMED requested recurring funds for staff and $75 million (one-time) for strategic water supply plus $50 million for river stewardship; the agency described accelerated hiring to stand up surface-water permitting, ongoing uranium mine cleanup and work on PFAS and drinking-water projects across the state.
NMED Secretary Kenny told appropriators the department is seeking a combination of recurring and one-time funding to address water infrastructure, contaminated sites and permit-program capacity. "We're asking for $75,000,000 strategic water supply," Kenny said, and presented an overview of river stewardship, abandoned-site cleanup and permit staffing needs.
Why it matters: The requests tie to several policy priorities: increasing drinking-water resilience, restoring river corridors, and building regulatory capacity to manage surface-water discharge permitting. NMED said the $75M strategic water supply funding and a proposed $50M river stewardship appropriation would flow primarily to third-party contracts that perform restoration and infrastructure work across watersheds.
Permitting and staffing: NMED described a multi-year plan to staff a new surface water discharge permitting program; full implementation could require about 60 FTEs, phased over time. The department said it has funding to add roughly 30 positions this calendar year and reported nine hires filled already in a rapid-hire round. Funding sources for ongoing staff include permit fee revenue and a water-quality management fund seeded by the legislature.
Cleanup and priorities: Secretary Kenny highlighted near-term action on abandoned uranium mine remediation (some sites to be capped on-site) and investments in dry cleaner and neglected contaminated sites. The department said a River Stewardship program previously funded at $10M can scale to $50M to fund local contractors, soil-and-water districts and burn-scar remediation that protects drinking-water supplies.
Community and technical questions: Legislators asked where uranium waste is staged and whether Red Rock landfill or other off-site disposal options are used. NMED staff said in many cases the approach is site-by-site and currently includes on-site capping; any landfill placement requires NMED groundwater permitting. Members requested follow-up on selection criteria for strategic water supply awards; NMED said recipients would be announced imminently.
Next steps: NMED will return with more detail on awardees and the timing of rulemakings for water reuse and desalination where relevant. The committee asked NMED to provide additional data on water projects and the anticipated ramp-up of the permitting staff.
Ending: NMED positioned river stewardship and strategic water supply as investments in resilience and requested legislative support for both recurring and one-time funding.
