Thank you for signing the petition and speaking up to urge the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) to approve strong surface water quality permitting rules to protect New Mexico’s waters. The legislature passed Senate Bill 21, creating a state permitting program to protect rivers, streams, and wetlands from pollution. During a two-week WQCC hearing, 2000 people from across the state signed the petition and more than 60 people made public comment in support of the rules, including GRIP. GRIP told the WQCC that this was ill-advised, since the Copper Rule was designed to regulate discharges to groundwater, not surface water. Moreover, the NM Environment Department’s Groundwater Quality Bureau has no legal authority to regulate discharges to surface water under the Copper Rule. The Chino, Cobre/Continental, and Tyrone mines all discharge mine-impacted water to surface waters in the Mimbres Basin which has lost federal protections. A strong state surface water quality permitting rule is now needed to restore safeguards to our local waters. Parties to the rule making will submit final briefs and a decision will follow, perhaps as early as this fall, so stay tuned for updates! #GRIP #ThankYou #KeepingNMWatersClean #StayTuned

It's critical to have community voices at the table in natural resource use decisions, including mining proposals, as they will affect communities for generations to come.