New Mexico’s rivers named ‘most endangered’ in annual list
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Water is life throughout New Mexico, but some advocates are concerned that the state’s rivers are particularly vulnerable. In its annual report, American Rivers has named New Mexico’s rivers as the most endangered in the nation.
“The report highlights ten rivers whose fate will be decided in the coming year and encourages decision-makers to do the right thing for the rivers and the communities they support,” the advocacy group behind the report says on their website. “A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Sackett v. EPA, overturned decades of federal clean water protections for the vast majority of New Mexico’s streams and wetlands – with potentially devastating consequences to clean water, agriculture, acequias, economies, fish and wildlife habitat, and cultural resources.”
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That Supreme Court decision came in 2023, and New Mexico officials called the decision “appalling.” At the time, New Mexico Environment Cabinet Secretary James Jenney said, “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision amounts to cultural appropriation for New Mexico’s residents and tribal members, stripping us of our connections to our most precious natural resource.”
While the American Rivers report is sounding the alarm on New Mexico water, the report says there is some good news.
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“The New Mexico Environment Department, under the governor’s leadership, has begun building the foundation of a state permitting program. The legislature and the governor solidified this support by appropriating $7.6 million in the 2024 legislative session to set up a state-led program and for shared infrastructure with the existing groundwater permitting program,” the report notes.
In addition to New Mexico’s rivers, the report lists the Big Sunflower and Yazoo Rivers in Mississippi as endangered. Rivers in Tennessee, Arizona, the Carolinas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Arkansas, and West Virginia also make the list.
