Heinrich Advocates for Mining Pollution Cleanup of Pecos Watershed, Protection of Gila River in Opening Statement

“I want to talk briefly about two of the bills on the agenda supported by my constituents in New Mexico,” opened Heinrich. “The first, to designate portions of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers as wild and scenic rivers, represents decades of work by the local community to protect the Gila River and its incredible watershed. S. 1476 would provide permanent protection for more than 400 miles of streams and rivers in the Gila region.” 

“The second bill, the Pecos Watershed Protection Act, would prevent new mining claims from being staked in the Upper Pecos Watershed,” continued Heinrich. “In 1973, tailings dams failed at the Alamitos Canyon Mill, sending mine pollution into Alamitos Creek and the Pecos River. The tailings were never remediated and the dam was never fixed, so pollution continued to stream into the watershed.”  

“This site still does not meet water quality standards, and never will, because there’s no feasible way to fully clean up this pollution from more than a century ago,” Heinrich followed. “How can we ask these people to live next to a new mine when this is what the land in the basin looks like every time it rains?”  

A video of Heinrich’s opening remarks can be found here.   

A transcript of Heinrich’s remarks as delivered is below:  

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you and Ranking Member Cortez Masto for convening this subcommittee hearing today.  

I look forward to working with both of you to get some of the bills we’re hearing about today signed into law in this Congress. 

And I want to talk briefly about the two bills on the agenda supported by my constituents in New Mexico.  

The first, to designate portions of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers as wild and scenic rivers, represents decades of work by the local community to protect the Gila River and its incredible watershed. 

From its headwaters high in the Gila Wilderness, America’s first wilderness, to the Lower Box where it enters neighboring Arizona, the Gila River is the lifeblood of western New Mexico.  

And the Gila River boasts some of the best whitewater rafting in the Southwest and some of the best trout streams, and some of the best trout streams where I’ve spent countless hours with family and friends. 

Named for long-time Gila defender Dutch Salmon, who described himself as a “redneck environmentalist,” S. 1476 would provide permanent protection for many of the stream miles in the Gila River region. 

The second bill would protect another watershed in New Mexico, this time in the northern portion of my state. 

The Pecos Watershed Protection Act would prevent new mining claims from being staked in the Upper Pecos Watershed. 

This area was home to lead, zinc, gold, copper, and silver mining in the 20s and ‘30s, the 1920s and 30s.  

Because the waste and tailings from those operations have never been adequately cleaned up, the communities and landowners in the Pecos area still suffer with polluted water and soil today.  

In 1973, tailings dams failed at the Alamitos Canyon Mill, sending mine pollution into Alamitos Creek and the Pecos River. The tailings were never remediated, and the dam was never fixed, so pollution continued to stream into the watershed. 

And then in 1991, an early spring rain washed mill waste into the river, resulting in a massive fish kill. Ninety-thousand trout died at the Lisboa Springs Fish Hatchery alone, not to mention the damage to the Pecos River as a whole.  

And cleanup efforts since that spill have been limited and have left the community to deal with ongoing pollution of their soil and water. 

These are photos that were taken on a farm in the Pecos Watershed. The orange here is mine pollution that flows into these fields anytime there’s a heavy rain, especially during the spring snowmelt at the beginning of the growing season.  

And these are not historical photos—they were taken earlier this year. This is the pollution that my constituents are still living with today. 

And yet—a company wants to open a new mine in the exact same area as the old Terrero mine that is still polluting streams and farms today. 

How can we ask these people to live next to a new mine when this is what the land in the basin looks like every time it rains? 

There is not a single person in this community that I’ve met with that supports this proposed mine. Not one—not the county commissioners, not local businesses, not the state, the farmers, not tribes, not acequia parciantes—like literally no one.  

And I also want to say a quick word about the person who took these photos.  

Ralph Vigil was a lifelong Pecos resident who was, he was the glue of this community and the champion of this living river.  

And he owned Molino de la Isla Farm, and in his spare time, he organized his neighbors to advocate on behalf of this river.  

He knew every nook and cranny of the Pecos Valley and he fought to protect his and his neighbors’ ability to sustain their traditional way of life. 

Ralph died suddenly in May of this year at the age of 46.  It grieves me to know he did not live to see his beloved Pecos protected from future mining.  

But I know the people of Pecos are carrying on his work and carrying it forward, and I hope we can finish it soon. 

Thank you very much Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Cortez Masto, for having this hearing.