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Non-profit

New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC)

Website:

nmelc.org/
Location:

Albuquerque, NM
Tax ID:

85-0360664
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2021):

Revenue: $1,060,054
Expenses: $1,214,022
Assets: $1,644,813
Type:

Environmentalist Legal Advocacy Group
Formation:

1987
Executive Director:

Dr. Virginia Necochea

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New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) is a left-of-center environmentalist legal advocacy group founded in 1987 that specializes in air, water, and land environmentalist issues in the state. 1 The NMELC took its inspiration and organizational formulation from the Southern Environmental Law Center. 2

The NMELC advocates for critical race theory‐aligned notions of equity in its practice of legal advocacy to fight “institutional racism” for “marginaliz[ed] minority communities.” 3 Moreover, this group adheres to tenets of activism that calls “to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities.” 4

Principles

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center adheres to the critical race theory‐aligned principles of equity that were adopted by the People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1992. 5 The preamble states that its purpose is “to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities,” 6 and one of its goals is “to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples.” 7

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center campaigns against mining uranium in New Mexico and calls for the banning of new uranium mines in the state. 8 The NMELC received a microgrant from the Indigenous Environmental Network “to hire a Community Liaison for McKinley County, including Navajo Chapters within the County. This Community Liaison will contribute to the Law Center’s efforts to pass a uranium-mining moratorium ordinance in McKinley County.” 9

 

NMELC began a campaign in 2014 to seek review of an inactive uranium mine in Mt. Taylor to begin the process of reclamation. 10 In 2019, the Rio Grande Resources, which owns the mine in Mt. Taylor, announced that it would close the mine and begin the process of remediation. 11

NMELC began its campaigning against the building of a planned city called Santolina in 2014. 12 NMELC claimed that Santolina would be a city of 90,000 people and “[i]t would require nearly 20 million gallons of water per day, at least 20 schools, and two interchanges on I-40.” 13 NMELC has filed comments, motions, and petitions against the Bernalillo County Planning Commission at various levels of the planning process. 14

NMELC campaigned successfully from 2014 to 2019 against Honstein Oil Co. to register their gasoline storage tank for a permit with the City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department. 15 The NMELC represented SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) in successfully filing a “complaint against the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County under Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964. 16  NMELC and SWOP based their complaint upon critical race theory‐aligned notions of equity, such as “institutional racism,” and claimed that the local politicians “have demonstrated a record of marginalizing minority communities so that they are exposed to an unequal burden of air pollution and the concomitant adverse health effects.” 17

Funders

New Mexico Environmental Law Center received grants from the Ford Foundation in 2008 18 and from the Kindle Foundation from 2008 through 2014 and again in 2017. 19 In 2022, the NMELC received $150,000 from the Tides Foundation and $150,000 from the Lannan Foundation. 20

Key People

As of March 2024, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center employed Virginia Necochea as its executive director. Necochea “is the former executive director and a founding board member of the Center for Social Sustainable Systems (CESOSS),” an environmentalist activist group that focuses on the Rio Grande area and South Valley, New Mexico. 21 She received her Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies from The University of New Mexico in 2015, where the topic and title of her dissertation was The Racial Discourses of Teacher Education Students in the Urban Southwest. 22

Eric Jantz is the legal director at the NMELC. He leads NMELC’s legal campaigns against uranium mining in New Mexico. 23 He specializes in public interest law and in critical race theory‐aligned notions of equity in so-called “environmental racism” and “environmental justice.” 24 He has written a peer-reviewed article advocating for critical race theory‐aligned notions of equity to address “environmental racism” in energy and mining. 25

References

  1. “About the New Mexico Environmental Law Center.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/about-nmelc/.
  2. Goldman, Don. “Fifteen Years of Victory for the Environment!” The New Mexico Environmental Law Center | 1987 – 2002, September 2002. https://nmelc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2017-NMECL-Impact-Report.pdf.
  3. “Burqueños Challenge Discriminatory Air Pollution Practices.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/2014/09/15/burquenos-challenge-discriminatory-air-pollution-practices/
  4. The Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ), October 27, 1991. https://nmelc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Principles-of-Environmental-Justice.pdf
  5. “About the New Mexico Environmental Law Center.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/about-nmelc/.
  6. The Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ), October 27, 1991. https://nmelc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Principles-of-Environmental-Justice.pdf.
  7. The Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ), October 27, 1991. https://nmelc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Principles-of-Environmental-Justice.pdf.
  8. “Stories.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/our-work/stories/.
  9. “New Mexico Environmental Law Center, New Mexico: Indigenous Environmental Network.” Indigenous Environmental Network, June 30, 2021. https://www.ienearth.org/new-mexico-environmental-law-center-new-mexico/.
  10. “Mount Taylor Mine Return to Active Status.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/our-work/cases/mt-taylor-mine-active-status/.
  11. “Mount Taylor Mine Return to Active Status.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/our-work/cases/mt-taylor-mine-active-status/.
  12. “Santolina Proposed Development.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/our-work/cases/santolina-development/.
  13. “Santolina Proposed Development.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/our-work/cases/santolina-development/.
  14. “Santolina Proposed Development.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/our-work/cases/santolina-development/.
  15. “Honstein Fuel Depot.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/our-work/cases/honstein-fuel-depot/.
  16. “Burqueños Challenge Discriminatory Air Pollution Practices.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/2014/09/15/burquenos-challenge-discriminatory-air-pollution-practices/.
  17. “Burqueños Challenge Discriminatory Air Pollution Practices.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/2014/09/15/burquenos-challenge-discriminatory-air-pollution-practices/.
  18. “Grantee – New Mexico Environmental Law Center.” Ford Foundation, November 28, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/new-mexico-environmental-law-center-106199/.
  19. “New Mexico Environmental Law Center • Kindle Project.” Kindle Project, December 20, 2017. https://kindleproject.org/grantee/new-mexico-environmental-law-center/.
  20. “New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC).” New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) | Santa Fe, NM | Cause IQ. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/new-mexico-environmental-law-center,850360664/.
  21. “NMELC Staff.” New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://nmelc.org/staff_board/.
  22. Necochea , Virginia. “The Racial Discourses Of Teacher Education Students In The Urban Southwest.” UNM Digital Repository, July 1, 2015. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=educ_llss_etds.
  23. “NREEL Lawyer of the Year.” State Bar of New Mexico. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://www.sbnm.org/Leadership/Sections/Natural-Resources-Energy-and-Environmental-Law-Section/NREEL-Lawyer-of-the-Year.
  24. “NREEL Lawyer of the Year.” State Bar of New Mexico. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://www.sbnm.org/Leadership/Sections/Natural-Resources-Energy-and-Environmental-Law-Section/NREEL-Lawyer-of-the-Year.
  25. Jantz, Eric. “Environmental Racism with a Faint Green Glow Environmental Racism with a Faint Green Glow.” Natural Resources Journal, Summer 2018, 58, no. 2 (2017): 247–77. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4007&context=nrj
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: June 1, 1988

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2021 Dec Form 990 $1,060,054 $1,214,022 $1,644,813 $70,783 N $1,039,500 $8,858 $11,696 $102,500
    2020 Dec Form 990 $1,191,243 $1,063,800 $1,903,807 $202,402 N $1,161,823 $0 $29,032 $41,115
    2019 Dec Form 990 $1,449,139 $1,120,824 $1,619,972 $74,648 N $1,401,296 $20,967 $11,949 $103,625 PDF
    2018 Dec Form 990 $1,116,744 $1,067,826 $1,262,080 $78,899 N $1,043,633 $58,367 $10,899 $102,816 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $1,103,457 $1,040,707 $1,213,663 $62,290 N $1,018,643 $78,526 $3,125 $99,321
    2016 Dec Form 990 $806,986 $913,559 $1,130,684 $59,516 N $760,122 $43,059 $1,913 $100,603 PDF
    2015 Dec Form 990 $1,191,451 $885,391 $1,240,174 $70,452 N $1,165,773 $2,050 $1,689 $93,813 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $758,038 $832,549 $941,932 $75,258 N $689,612 $37,729 $2,417 $87,131 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $791,753 $820,429 $1,032,599 $95,494 N $742,115 $34,773 $4,362 $88,426 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $759,229 $736,291 $1,031,777 $73,506 N $718,407 $22,028 $2,494 $85,556 PDF
    2011 Dec Form 990 $842,525 $804,155 $1,001,550 $68,153 N $826,210 $1,846 $4,040 $86,706 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC)

    722 ISLETA BLVD SW
    Albuquerque, NM 87105-3853