The New Mexico Environmental Law Center works to protect the land, air, and water around New Mexico and to defend under-resourced communities that are fighting for environmental justice. Founded in 1987 with a mission to ensure a clean environment for all New Mexicans, the Law Center defends citizens against polluters while also working to strengthen environmental regulations throughout the Land of Enchantment. The NMELC has been on the legal frontlines against toxic contaminants from the mining and fracking industries, air pollution from the petrochemical industry, environmental racism that unjustly threatens indigenous communities and people of color, for cleanups in communities that have already been contaminated, and fending off the growing threat that climate change presents to clean water access. As a legal resource center against Big Polluters and the public officials that do their bidding, the NMELC defends all of New Mexico in the struggle for environmental justice.
As a statewide organization, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center serves a wide range of communities fighting to protect their environment. Efforts include representing stakeholders in legal proceedings and at public hearings; working on legislation to defend air, land, and water against polluters; and engaging with supporters on changes to existing regulations for stronger environmental defense. The Law Center has spearheaded landmark industry changes in uranium mining clean-ups, exposure to medical waste, landfill locations, oil and gas ordinances, aquifer and river water protections, cleanup of Cold War-era radioactive waste at Los Alamos National Lab, greenhouse gas emissions, and highway expansions. The NMELC remains a proactive leader in regulatory battles over how regional and state entities will deal with such ongoing environmental health threats. Cases are publicized, tracked, and then ultimately marked as closed after victories are won.
For more information:
PR-APR-8.29.24
Why won’t City Council address industrial air pollution? – Albuquerque Journal, May 2023
Community Convinces Air Quality Board to Hold Public Hearing – The Paper, December 2022
Contact
Virginia Necochea, Executive Director
Website
Social Media
Climate Impacts
Air Pollution, Drought, Flooding, Heat, Wildfires
Environmental Justice Concerns
Fracking/Oil and Gas Development/Pipelines, Groundwater Contamination, Hazardous/Toxic Sites, Incinerator/Dumping/Landfill, Mining, Nuclear Power Plants, PFAS/PFOS, Superfund Sites
Strategies
Community Organizing and Education, Legal/permit challenges to development, contamination, pollution, etc, Policy Reform, Renewable Energy
501c3 Tax Deductible
Yes
Accepting Donations
Yes