/ Laura Paskus
By Danielle Prokop | Santa Fe New Mexican
A majority of New Mexico’s waterways and wetlands will lose federal pollution protections under the Environmental Protection Agency’s final “U.S. Waters” rule unveiled Thursday.
Environmental groups, politicians and agency heads decried the Trump administration’s decision, calling it disastrous for the state.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called the rule “an affront” to New Mexicans and “an absolute disaster for the state’s water resources.”
She added that her administration “will consider all legal options to prevent this rule from going into effect. This is far from over.”
Rachel Conn, a project manager at Amigos Bravos — a Taos-based water advocacy group — called the rule “draconian.”
“New Mexico is the hardest hit out of any other state by this final rule,” Conn said.
