UNM’s Natural Resources and Environmental Law Clinic celebrated a victory this past month when the New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld ozone precursor pollution regulations for oil and gas sources. Clinic students represented two community organization clients-Naeva and the Center for Civic Policy- in both the initial rulemaking and in the appeal. During the two-week 2021 formal rulemaking, clinic students advocated on behalf of their clients for a provision that would require more frequent leak detection and repair for oil and gas wells located close to where people live, work, and play. This included putting on witnesses from Naeva and the Center for Civic Policy who testified to the harms of nearby oil and gas pollution, especially on native people, and even included putting on UNM Prof. Cliff Villa as an expert witness to testify about how environmental justice considerations were a core part of protecting public health and welfare. New Mexico’s Environmental Improvement Board included the “proximity” provision, with some changes, when they promulgated the regulations.

The regulations were subsequently challenged by the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico (IPANM). The Clinic represented Naeva and CCP in a joint brief-in-intervention with other conservation and community groups in this appeal. Clinic students contributed to key arguments in the brief. On November 27, 2024, the Court of Appeals upheld the rule on all counts.  Professors Gabe Pacyniak and Nadine Padilla supervised the clinic students on this matter over the past three years. 

Faculty Publications and Presentations

In March, 2024, Prof. Warigia Bowman co-authored an article entitled "Consumer Willingness to Pay for a Resilient Electrical Grid," that was published in the highly-regarded peer review journal, Energy Economics. On November 6, 2024, she gave a talk at the Harvard Program on Science Technology and Society about her book "Digital Development in East Africa." She will also be presenting on this book on December 6th, at the University of Indiana, Bloomington. This book is about the politics of the distribution of infrastructure. Importantly, natural resources, energy and water are affected by the quality and distribution of infrastructures like electricity, information technology, and sewage management. Bowman’s forthcoming article, "Surviving the Megadrought," will be published in the Ohio State Law Journal in the spring. That article considers doctrinal approaches for water conservation in the arid west.

Prof. Elizabeth Elia has presented her recent work-in-progress on legislative exactions at two natural resources and environmental scholars workshops this fall, the first co-hosted by UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Colorado, and the second hosted by Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Additionally, Elia has published short pieces on legislative exactions and Sheetz v. County of El Dorado in the Regulatory Review and in The Practical Real Estate Lawyer (November 2024). Finally, as chair of the ABA’s Real Property, Trusts & Estates Continuing Education section, Elia has been working with colleagues to plan upcoming topics for the free monthly webinar, “The Professors’ Corner.” Notable upcoming topics include Energy Uses of Property: Solar panels and transport issues on December 10 and Homeowners Insurance & Climate Change on March 11th.

Prof. Nadine Padilla will publish an article, “The Historic Listing of the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District on the Superfund National Priority List,” with the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources’ magazine Natural Resources & Environment. The article discusses the significance of the March 2024 designation of the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District on the National Priorities List, when the mining district became the first abandoned uranium mine site located on the Navajo reservation to be identified as a national priority under CERCLA. The Lukachukai NPL listing is a victory for impacted Navajo communities who for decades have advocated for cleanup of the 523 abandoned uranium mines on the reservation. Padilla delivered a CLE titled, “Abandoned Mines, Abandoned Treaties: The Federal Government’s Failure to Remediate Abandoned Uranium Mines on the Navajo Nation,” discussing the treaty and trust obligations owed to the tribe to remediate abandoned uranium mines. Padilla’s article on the topic will be published this spring in the Colorado Law Review. Padilla is also credited as a co-author on, “Teaching at the Intersection of Federal Indian Law and Environmental Law,” a transcription of a symposium panel that will be published in the Vermont Law Review.

Prof. Gabe Pacyniak and co-authors Abby Husselbee and Cara Lynch will publish “Clean Fuel Standard Directed Benefit Mechanisms to Promote Equity” in the Texas Environmental Law Journal, and two of the authors will present at the journal’s spring climate symposium. Pacyniak presented findings from the paper to the New Mexico Clean Fuel Standards Advisory Committee this summer. Pacyniak is also publishing with co-authors from UNM’s Just Transition Grand Challenge (Dr. Shannon Sanchez-Youngman, Dr. Melanie Sayuri Sonntag, and Addison Fulton) a paper titled “Inclusive Workforce Development for an Equitable Low-Carbon Transition” in UNM’s Natural Resources Journal. The paper argues that the current workforce development legal structure insufficiently prioritizes worker voices in governance and policymaking in the clean energy transition and proposes an interdisciplinary research agenda. Finally, Pacyniak and co-author Selene Diaz (UNM Political Science) will be presenting their work-in-progress “The Local Turn in Federal Climate Policy,” which describes the importance of broad diffusion of federal climate funds in the IRA but also notes challenges to achieving its vision, at the ABA annual conference. Pacyniak presented this paper at the Law & Rurality Workshop at the University of Iowa this fall.

Rin Tara, Utton Transboundary Resources Center (Utton Center) Staff Attorney and Water Policy and Governance Analyst, and John Fleck, Utton Center Writer in Residence, respectively, are preparing two papers on the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact. The papers are part of a larger series investigating the political and legal history of Upper Colorado River Basin water management institutions. The first paper, “A Horse Named ‘Stream Depletion Theory’: The History and Negotiation of the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact” details the creation and history of the Compact is in the final review stages and will be published in UNM's Natural Resources Journal Winter issue. The second paper, “Unfinished Business: 21st Century Questions Posed by Ambiguities in the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact and the Law of the River,” addresses the future of the Compact in a system with less available water, will be published in UNM's New Mexico Law Review Summer issue. Tara also participated in the San Juan Chama Contractors Association Field Trip, which serves as a three-day roundtable to discuss water management issues between the Colorado and Rio Grande River basins in New Mexico. The small group included water managers, irrigators, and New Mexico state representatives.

The UNM NREL program co-hosted an event titled, “A Tribal Conversation on the Implications of the Sackett Supreme Court Decision on NM Tribes, Pueblos, and Nations” on September 12, 2024. The UNM School of Law hosted this event in partnership with the Chestnut Law Offices, the Native American Rights Fund's Tribal Water Institute, and High Water Mark.

This event brought together tribal leaders and tribal water departments throughout New Mexico to discuss the 2023 Sackett opinion and how tribes throughout the arid west might be impacted. UNMSOL clinical law students presented on the Sackett opinion and its impact on tribal waters in New Mexico. Participants discussed options for tribes to protect their waters, the state’s efforts to establish a surface water permitting program, and the state of water security in New Mexico. Prof. Nadine Padilla participated in planning the event and supervised UNM’s clinical law students. 

Alicia Ulibarri Selected to the Community Governance Attorney Program

Alicia Ulibarri, a third-year law student at the School of Law, has been selected for the Community Governance Attorney Program (CGAP). CGAP was established by the New Mexico Legislature in 2019 to provide legal services for land grant, acequia, and colonias communities.

CGAP attorneys receive a tuition waiver and stipend in their third year, and then agree to work for two years after graduation for a non-profit organization that serves these communities.

New Mexico Land Grant Studies Program Co-Director Arturo Archuleta explained that the State’s Land Grant Council “is pleased that the Program has had three participants to date, and that one of those participants is already in practice, at New Mexico Legal Aid, serving land grant, acequia, and colonias communities.”

UNM just Transition Grand Challenge Hosts Co-Chair of Resilient Energy Economics Initiative, Dr. Noah Kaufman

UNM’s Just Transition Grand Challenge—an interdisciplinary program convened by faculty from schools of Law, Political Science, Population Health, and Management—will be hosting Dr. Noah Kaufman on December 10^th.

As co-chair of the Resilient Energy Economies Initiative, Dr. Kaufman and his colleagues are funding a series of research projects to support transition from fossil-fuel dependent communities. Kaufman also served as an economic advisor on climate issues in both the Biden and Obama White Houses. He currently serves as a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA. Kaufman will provide an overview of research projects currently under way in other parts of the country that aim to support communities transitioning away from fossil-fuel dependency. He will also discuss promising policies that are being developed that may be considered as possible paths and solutions for New Mexico, as the state is transition toward a low carbon economy. 

Utton Center Hosts Semester in the West Field Course

The Utton Center's John Fleck and Stephanie Russo Baca hosted two dozen students October 28 and 29 from Whitman College's famed Semester in the West program, offering a two-day tour of New Mexico's Middle Rio Grande. Fleck, himself a Whitman alum, gave them a tour and talked about Albuquerque's water infrastructure and history. He took them to the Rio Grande and on a walk to the 300-year-old Griegos Acequia, talking about the deep cultural history of water management in Albuquerque with stories from his forthcoming UNM Press book Ribbons of Green. The next day, Stephanie Russo Baca took the students on a tour of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District's Los Chavez Outfall structure and saw a beaver pond in the bosque on the way to the Rio Grande. 

Alumni Spotlight: Zoë Lees, Xcel Energy

After graduating from UNM School of Law in 2013, Zoë Lees started her career at the Modrall Sperling law firm, where she got her start practicing utility regulatory law. She later joined Xcel Energy, and in March of 2023 she was promoted to Regional Vice President of Regulatory Policy. In that role she spearheads regulatory strategic planning and policy for New Mexico and Texas. Her previous role as a principal attorney in Xcel Energy’s southwestern region endowed her with profound insights into critical issues facing the utility and the industry today. Zoë is committed to fostering economic development and growth in New Mexico while propelling the state's energy transition goals. 

A native of Santa Fe, Zoë has a deep-rooted affection for her home state. She and her husband, Ethan Watson, first met as teenagers at a music camp in the Jemez Mountains. They now reside in Albuquerque with their two lively sons, Leon and Ari. When she's not spending time with her family, Zoë enjoys reading, knitting, and skiing. Her dedication to her family, community, and profession exemplifies her leadership and service.

About the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Program

New Mexico is a place with a stunning variety of scenic beauty and natural and cultural resources, which makes it an ideal backdrop for the study of natural resources and environmental law and policy on a national scale. UNM Law’s natural resources and environmental law (NREL) program offers students a robust variety of experiences, including a full range of courses in the field, the NREL certificate program, the NREL clinic, the Natural Resources Journal (the oldest U.S. law review in the field), the Utton Transboundary Resource Center (a research center dedicated to natural resources and environmental issues), an externship program, and the Environmental Law Society. Students can also earn a dual degree in law and water resources.