ARIZONA

Lawsuits over Arizona’s shipping container border wall dismissed

PHOENIX – Two federal lawsuits filed over former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s decision last year to place thousands of shipping containers along the U.S.-Mexico border have been dismissed after the state said it would pay the U.S. Forest Service $2.1 million to repair environmental damage.

The Sept. 15 dismissal of the cases in U.S. District Court in Phoenix ends the fight over the double-stacked containers that were placed as a makeshift border wall in the summer of 2022.

Ducey, a Republican, sued in U.S. District Court seeking to stop the federal government from preventing placement of the containers.

The U.S. Department of Justice then sued Ducey and other Arizona officials, saying the wall interfered with federal control of the land along the international boundary. Many of the 3,000 containers were placed in the Yuma area of western Arizona and in the remote San Rafael Valley in southeastern Cochise County.

Ducey agreed in December to remove the container wall shortly before his term ended, saying it had been envisioned only as a temporary measure.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who took office in January, had criticized the container wall as a political stunt.

NEW MEXICO

Prosecutors take new approach to combatting retail theft

SANTA FE – Prosecutors in New Mexico’s largest metro area are taking over all cases involving retail theft including small-scale shoplifting, in efforts to enforce new state sanctions against coordinated retail crime.

Albuquerque-area District Attorney Sam Bregman and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Sept. 5 announced the approach to combatting retail crime.

Previously, police officers in the Albuquerque area often processed misdemeanor sanctions for shoplifting less than $500 worth of merchandise. Prosecutors say they can then consolidate related cases of retail theft over a 90-day period and possibly bring felony charges.

Lujan Grisham signed legislation in April to create a new category of “organized retail crime” and stiffen penalties for organized theft of store merchandize as retailers have highlighted losses from coordinated pilfering.

“People should be able to go to the store without being afraid. Business owners are also fed up,” said Bregman, announcing the new approach to prosecution. “We think these new changes will hold repeat shoplifters accountable.”

In New Mexico and beyond, major retailers are trying to curb theft while not angering shoppers as they lock up everyday items on display. A new federal law requires online marketplaces to verify high-volume sellers on their platforms amid heightened concerns about retail crime.

Ground broken on wind-powered $10B transmission line

ALBUQUERQUE – An energy infrastructure project bigger than the Hoover Dam is how Hunter Armistead describes the $10 billion venture his company will be overseeing during the next three years.

The chief executive of one of the world’s largest wind and solar development companies said breaking ground on Pattern Energy’s SunZia transmission line on Sept. 1 marks a major milestone as the United States looks to make good on promises to address climate change and bolster the nation’s already overwhelmed power grids as demand increases and weather events become more extreme.

The U.S. can’t afford to take 12 years to “create this type of solution” given the growing need for more energy infrastructure, Armistead said.

He pointed to Europe and China, where billions of dollars are being invested in new high-voltage lines to connect power plants to cities where demand is high.

The U.S. Department of Energy has cited independent estimates that indicate transmission systems need to expand by 60% by 2030 and may need to triple by 2050.

The SunZia project will stretch about 550 miles – funneling renewable energy from central New Mexico to more populated areas in Arizona and California. Developers say it will be capable of transporting more than 3,500 megawatts of new wind power to 3 million people in the West.

Final approval came in May, with U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland saying the latest application was reviewed in record time as the administration has tried to fast-track more projects.

Armistead said developers historically have tried to avoid federal lands because of the bureaucracy involved. The irony is that the federal government actually wants developers to build more transmission lines, he said.

NEBRASKA

Railyard explosion not expected to create lingering problems

OMAHA – Nebraska authorities said they don’t expect any lingering problems related to the Sept. 14 explosion of a railroad shipping container carrying an acid used to make explosives because the chemical largely burned off and any residue was contained at the scene.

No one was injured in the blast at Union Pacific’s massive railyard in North Platte, and no structures were damaged. A precautionary evacuation of a one-mile area right around the fire only involved a few farmsteads for several hours because the fire happened in the west end of the railyard near the edge of town. The fire didn’t even spread beyond the shipping container on top of the one that exploded to the rest of the parked train.

North Platte Fire Chief Dennis Thompson said on Sept. 15 this was the best-case scenario for an incident like this because of its isolated location and the quick response from his hazardous materials team and other agencies, including the railroad’s own experts. A team from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency that happened to be passing through the area on the way to a training session in Western Nebraska even stopped to offer their expertise.

The perchloric acid inside the container that exploded, which is used to make explosives as well as a variety of food and drug products, dissipated in the air as it burned off, Thompson said. And air and soil monitoring in the area never showed any dangerous levels.

He said the other container that burned in the fire likely contained memory foam – not another hazardous chemical.

The head of the Federal Railroad Administration did recently say that inspectors found an alarming number of defects among the freight cars and locomotives in use at the North Platte railyard, which is the world’s largest, during an inspection this summer. But there’ wasn’t any immediate indication that Thursday’s explosion were linked to those defects.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Panel denies application for CO2 pipeline segment

South Dakota regulators on Sept. 11 rejected a permit application for a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline through the state, dealing a fresh setback to the company behind the multistate project after North Dakota refused a siting permit for another leg there.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to turn down Summit Carbon Solutions’ application to build a 469-mile in-state route – part of an intended $5.5 billion, 2,000-mile pipeline network through five states.

The decision complicates an already complex process for Summit Carbon Solutions as it seeks similar authorization in other states amid opposition from landowners and environmental groups. The proposed network would carry planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from more than 30 ethanol plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota for permanent underground storage in central North Dakota.

After the South Dakota vote, Summit announced it intends to refine its proposal and reapply for a permit.

The project would use carbon capture technology, what supporters see as a combatant of climate change, though opponents criticize its effectiveness at scale and the need for potentially huge investments over cheaper renewable energy sources.New federal tax incentives and billions of dollars from Congress toward carbon capture efforts have made such projects lucrative.

Commission Vice Chair Gary Hanson said a permit could not be legally issued if the evidenced showed the applicant is currently unable to comply with existing statutes and regulations.