NEW MEXICO

Governor proposes $500M to treat fracking wastewater

SANTA FE – Environmental activists pushed back on Jan. 22 against an initiative from the governor of New Mexico that would finance the treatment and recycling of oil-industry wastewater, warning that the plan relies on unproven technologies and might propel more water-intensive fracking for oil and natural gas.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is seeking legislation and regulatory changes that would allow the state to finance buying and selling treated water that originates from the used, salty byproducts of oil and natural gas drilling or from underground saltwater aquifers.

The aim is to help preserve freshwater sources by providing a new source of recycled water for industrial uses, at the same time helping an arid state attract businesses ranging from microchip manufacturers to hydrogen fuel producers.

An array of environmental and social-justice groups gathered outside the Statehouse to denounce the governor’s plan as a handout to the oil and natural gas industry that won’t necessarily decrease pressure on the state’s ancient underground aquifers.

Inside the Capitol, state Environment Department Secretary James Kenney briefed a state Senate budget-writing on the administration’s plan to underwrite the project with up to $500 million in bonds over a two-year period, to spur private investment in water-treatment and desalination infrastructure.

Approval from the Legislature is necessary under a construction-spending bill that has not yet been introduced. The state’s annual legislative session ends on Feb. 15.

The Environment Department is proposing a new regulatory framework for reusing oil-industry wastewater and desalination of naturally occurring brine. On Monday, it also announced a related request for technical and economic briefings by people in business, academia, government agencies – or other interested individuals.

State wants to issue electronic driver’s licenses, ID cards

SANTA FE – The New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division wants to develop and issue electronic driver’s licenses and identification cards.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Roberto “Bobby” J. Gonzales of Ranchos de Taos would authorize the division to offer electronic credentials to customers at no additional cost to their physical licenses and identification cards.

If the bill is approved by lawmakers, the division would develop the interfaces needed for the licenses to be used with digital wallets in a manner that ensures the security of customers’ data.

When opened on a smart phone or similar device, the electronic license or identification card would display a simplified version of the printed credential with more detailed data encrypted in the file.

Electronic credentials can be updated in real time, such as when the division receives an address update from a driver or when a license is suspended or revoked.

Eight states, including Arizona and Colorado, currently offer mobile licenses to their residents, and 10 other states are in various stages of development.

NORTH DAKOTA

Local GOP calls on lawmaker to resign after DUI stop

BISMARCK – Local Republican Party leaders of a North Dakota lawmaker’s own district joined calls on Dec. 29 for him to step down after his vulgar comments to police earlier in December during his traffic stop and arrest on a charge of drunken driving.

In a Facebook statement, the North Dakota District 23 GOP Executive Committee said it has “lost confidence” in Republican state Rep. Nico Rios’ ability to represent voters’ best interests. The committee requested his resignation.

The local party joined Republican House Majority Leader Mike Lefor and state party officials who earlier called on Rios to resign after the Dec. 15 traffic stop, during which he blasted Williston police with profane, homophobic and anti-migrant language.

In a statement on Dec. 27, Rios said he is “seriously mulling all aspects” of his future, and plans to seek help for issues with alcoholism, but he made no immediate plans to resign.

Rios also previously said he takes responsibility for his “disgusting actions,” and apologized “to those I have hurt and disappointed,” including law enforcement officers. He added that he is “100% committed to making repairs for my actions and straightening out my life.”

Police body camera footage requested by and provided to the AP shows Rios cursing an officer, repeatedly questioning his English accent, and using homophobic slurs and anti-migrant language. He also said he would call the North Dakota attorney general about the situation. He told the officers they would “regret picking on me because you don’t know who … I am.”

Rios has said he was leaving a Christmas party before police pulled him over. He was charged with misdemeanor counts of drunken driving and refusing to provide a chemical test. He is scheduled for a pretrial conference on Feb. 5 in municipal court.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Hundreds torch an effigy of destructive pine beetle

RAPID CITY – In what’s become an annual winter tradition, hundreds of people carrying torches set fire to a giant wooden beetle effigy in Custer to raise awareness of the destructive impact of the mountain pine beetle on forest land in the Black Hills.

Custer firefighters prepared and lighted the torches for residents to carry in a march to the pyre on the night of Jan. 21 in the 11th Burning Beetle fest, the Rapid City Journal reported.

People set the tall beetle effigy on fire amid drum beats and chants of “Burn, beetle, burn.” Firefighters kept watch, warning participants not to throw the torches, even as some people launched the burning sticks into pine trees piled at the base of the beetle. Fireworks dazzled overhead.

The event, which includes a talent show and “bug crawl,” supports the local arts.

The U.S. Forest Service calls the mountain pine beetle “the most aggressive, persistent, and destructive bark beetle in the western United States and Canada.” The Black Hills have experienced several outbreaks of the beetle since the 1890s, the most recent being from 1996-2016, affecting 703 square miles, according to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

KANSAS

Couple charged with collecting ‘mummified’ relative’s benefits

OVERLAND PARK – A Kansas couple has been charged with fraudulently collecting more than $215,000 in retirement benefits on behalf of a dead relative while they concealed his body inside their home for six years.

Authorities say Mike Carroll’s pacemaker showed that he died in 2016 at age 81, but Overland Park police didn’t discover his body until 2022 after his son-in-law, Kirk Ritter, called police to report his death in the Kansas City suburb.

Prosecutors say Lynn Ritter and Kirk Ritter, both 61, continued depositing and spending from Carroll’s bank account even while his body became “mummified” on a bed in the home he owned. Lynn Ritter is Carroll’s daughter.

Family members told the Kansas City Star that the Ritters would repeatedly give them excuses about why Carroll could never take a phone call or visit while leading them to believe that Carroll was still alive.

The couple was due to appear in federal court to face several charges on Feb. 2. They didn’t respond to phone and email messages from the newspaper, and court documents do not list a defense attorney representing them.

Prosecutors said the pension and Social Security payments Carroll received over the six years after his death totaled $216,067. But bank records from that time showed checks being written from his bank account and cashed by Lynn and Kirk Ritter.