Credit NMFO Commentary: Community leaders and nonprofit organizations are applauding New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for signing House Bill 200 into law today. The legislation,which was co-sponsored by Reps. Matthew McQueen and Nathan Small and Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart and Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, ends the proposed Gila diversion project and fast-tracks the spending of the remaining approximately $80 million in the NM Unit Fund for priority water projects, creating long-term water security and jobs in southwest New Mexico (Catron, Grant, Hidalgo and Luna Counties).
“House Bill 200 is a fiscal responsibility bill. It will create jobs, stimulate the economy, and improve lives,”
Ghost Town In Playas Provides High-Tech Testing For AFRL - 9:59 am
AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate researchers setting up test equipment overlooking the Playas Research and Training Center in southern New Mexico. Courtesy/AFRL
AFRL NEWS:
KIRTLAND AFB In a dusty ghost town in southern New Mexico, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is conducting some of its most important testing.
Located in Hidalgo County, Playas was once a bustling “corporate town” built by the Phelps Dodge Corporation to house the workforce of a copper smelter built in 1971. The boom town was all but abandoned when copper prices fell in 1999, the smelter was closed, and most of its residents fled for better opportunities elsewhere.