The Indian Health Service and The University of New Mexico School of Medicine have partnered to create a family medicine residency program at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock. The announcement was made on July 22.

“I want to extend my most sincere congratulations to the Indian Health Service for establishing this unique and crucially important training program,” Paul B. Roth, MD, MS, UNM’s Chancellor for Health Sciences said. “It reflects the commitment and creativity of our faculty working side-by-side with IHS and the Navajo government to address their medical workforce needs.”

“The Indian Health Service is excited to work with the University of New Mexico...

Drilling, sand mining, herbicides imperil rare lizard in New Mexico, Texas

SILVER CITY — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced July 15 that the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act and initiated a year-long status review.

Found only in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the lizard historically possessed the second-smallest range of any North American lizard. It was first identified as needing protection in 1982 and proposed for listing as an endangered species in 2010. However, opposition from the oil and gas industry has prevented that much-needed step.

Over the years this three-inch lizard lost more of...

WASHINGTON D.C. —U.S. House Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., issued this statement celebrating the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act – landmark conservation legislation to fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and restore our National Park System:

“The Great American Outdoors Act fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million annually and creates the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. This will provide funding to the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Education to fix buildings, trails, roads, and other...

Reinstates Obama Administration BLM Waste Prevention Rule

SAN FRANCISCO — In a resounding victory for taxpayers, public health, and the environment, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California invalidated the Trump administration’s rollback of the Obama-era Waste Prevention Rule on July 15. This ruling means that the Waste Prevention Rule goes back in effect in 90 days, and the oil and gas industry will have to comply with the rule’s requirements to prevent waste of gas on federal lands.

Enacted in 2016, the Waste Prevention Rule was designed to protect the public from wasteful venting, flaring, and leaking of gas from drilling operations on federal and...