Adrian Hedden

Eddy County commissioners stood in support of a project to store spent nuclear fuel in southeast New Mexico, as a federal court ruling to block such a facility was under debate by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Commissioner voted unanimously during their Tuesday meeting in Carlsbad to sign a resolution sent to the federal government in support of the facility and urging it be built in southeast New Mexico.

Holtec International proposed the facility in 2017, with support from the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, a consortium of local government and business leaders that recruited Holtec and provided the land – about 1,000 acres near the border of Eddy and Lea counties.

The site would temporarily store up to 100,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel sent by rail from nuclear power plants around the country. From there, supporters said, it could be reprocessed for additional fuel or sent to a permanent repository for disposal.

Such facilities to reprocess or dispose of the waste do not exist in the U.S. The rods, after being used by the power plants, are stored at or near the facility, mostly in cooling pools and awaiting a final destination.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted Holtec a license for its “interim” storage site for the rods in May 2023, a decision that was appealed by the state of New Mexico, oil and gas industry groups, and environmental advocates. The federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the site in April 2024, and another site proposed by Interim Storage Partners in Andrews, Texas, just over the state line,

On March 5, after consolidating the cases, the U.S. Supreme Court heard verbal arguments by the NRC and the companies to reinstate the licenses, with a ruling expected later this year.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy was developing a plan by which it would seek state-level consent for locating interim storage sites for the fuel, publishing a request for proposal looking for projects to site the facility.

The Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) aimed to respond to that call, positing the Holtec site as one with local support, said Eddy County Manager Mike Gallagher.

The facility was opposed by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state lawmakers who passed a bill in 2023 to ban high-level waste storage in the state. New Mexico’s congressional delegation also opposed the project.

But representatives of Carlsbad, Hobbs and both counties argued the Holtec site would help diversify the area’s oil-dependent economy, bringing high-paying jobs to the county while solving a national problem: what to do with nuclear energy’s waste.

“This would designate or show that Eddy County, that you all support ELEA moving forward with the DOE’s RFP,” said Gallagher, noting the vote also designated District 4 Commissioner Bo Bowen as the county’s spokesman to discuss the issue with other entities.

Bowen said the cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad signed similar resolutions, with one pending at Lea County.

“It’s just saying we are supporting the use of that land as an interim storage facility,” he said.

Other business

The county’s finance department reported about $5.4 million in revenue collected in January 2025, along with about $7.3 million in oil and gas tax revenue. As of January, the county reported about $520.3 million in overall revenue, and about $412.4 million in expenses.

Eddy County Fire and Rescue gave a presentation on its draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan directing how the agency will use its resources to fight wildfires in the county. The plan was last updated in 2008, despite federal guidance that such plans be retooled every five years.

Public meetings will be held to gain feedback on the draft plan before it is finalized by a vote of the county commissioners.

Commissioners also gave the go-ahead to Fire and Rescue to explore options for offering emergency medical services (EMS) transport, with up to three staffed ambulances. The program would be developed in four phases. By 2029, the county’s EMS division would hire paramedics, and buy and outfit ambulances.

Commissioners voted to cancel a $150,000 contract for oil and gas auditing required by the state of New Mexico. The contract with Total Assessment Solutions was up for a one-year renewal in 2025 for the third and final time allowed under the initial contract, which ran from January to December 2022. Commissioners said the county should not pay for something the state is required to do.