Planes, trains and automobiles: Buttigieg announces infrastructure grants

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to New Mexico this week and announced grants for 37 projects across 19 states including several infrastructure modernization projects across the state, such as upgrading natural gas pipelines to prevent methane leaks and road maintenance. Buttigieg visited Deming Wednesday as part of the “Investing in America” Tour […]

Planes, trains and automobiles: Buttigieg announces infrastructure grants

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to New Mexico this week and announced grants for 37 projects across 19 states including several infrastructure modernization projects across the state, such as upgrading natural gas pipelines to prevent methane leaks and road maintenance.

Buttigieg visited Deming Wednesday as part of the “Investing in America” Tour and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to discuss rural infrastructure and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that became law in November 2021.

The federal, bipartisan legislation included a program that awards $1 billion over five years to prevent gas leaks in both rural and urban communities, Buttigieg said.

“There’s a savings that comes from more efficient and more modern infrastructure,” Buttigieg said. “Infrastructure has been here for decades, sometimes built with technologies or materials that didn’t withstand the kind of pressures that you can with newer sorts of pipelines that are being built. All of that is also part of our fight against costs and prices, so many things going up across the country.”

Buttigieg added that the benefits include cost, safety and climate benefits from the pipeline upgrades.

Wednesday was the first time a U.S. transportation secretary has visited Deming and Buttigieg, speaking during the press conference in front of the Florida Mountains, expressed his feelings about Deming from a transportation perspective.

Deming is “one of the few places you can see a train from end to end under that big sky,” Buttigieg said. “There’s an aircraft from the floodplain we saw coming into your Deming Airport to those airliners taking people from the West Coast to the East Coast, leaving their contrails in the sky to those county roads in the rural roads and the interstates that are so important to the economy in this area. It is a very, very fitting place to talk about what it means to invest in America.”

The bipartisan infrastructure package is an infrastructure law that seeks to make safety investments in communities across the country.

So far, $2.6 billion in funding was awarded to New Mexico for work on 217 projects including roads, bridges, public transportation, airports, clean water and broadband expansion, according to a White House fact sheet on the infrastructure law in New Mexico.

Buttigieg was joined by other dignitaries in Deming. The visit included Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Nanette Barragán, 2nd Congressional District Rep. Gabe Vazquez and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján. Local leaders from Deming including Republican state Rep. Jenifer Jones, Deming Mayor Benny Jasso and other local leaders.

Earlier in the week, Buttigieg visited Albuquerque to discuss wildlife corridors and other transportation projects.

We're ad free

That means that we rely on support from readers like you. Help us keep reporting on the most important New Mexico Stories by donating today.

Related

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

A New Mexico-based LGBTQ rights organization endorsed 15 candidates for state House and Senate seats for the 2024 elections.  Marshall Martinez, executive director of…
Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pocket vetoed two bills the legislature passed this legislative session: one changing the Cybersecurity Act and the other concerning law…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

Migrating birds appear to have caused a virus in dairy cattle that is causing reduced milk production. So far, the disease, which initially started…
Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republican-backed legislation in the U.S. Congress would make it harder for the government to designate new national monuments. The proposed Congressional Oversight of the…
Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican The main things that bring Brayan Chavez to school every day: Seeing, talking to and engaging with…
Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican Brittany Behenna Griffith has a laundry list of adjectives to describe the ideal special education teacher:…
Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican A challenging task awaits New Mexico lawmakers in the next 30 days: Reconciling three very different…
Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News Four years after hospitals in New York City overflowed with covid-19 patients, emergency physician Sonya Stokes remains shaken by…
Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday $10 million in funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act was awarded to six tribal nations and…
Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee discussed a potential constitutional amendment that seeks to limit the governor’s executive powers. The committee approved…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit…
Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case against the abortion medication mifepristone. It will hear a second…
New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid announced on Wednesday that it will cover the cost of Opill, the first oral contraception approved for over-the-counter use. It is…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit…
San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

The Navajo Nation and San Juan County reached an agreement Monday about commission districts after the tribe alleged that its members were not adequately…
MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

New Mexico’s 2022 election was ranked most well-run in the country by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab’s Elections Performance Index.…
Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

Migrating birds appear to have caused a virus in dairy cattle that is causing reduced milk production. So far, the disease, which initially started…

GET INVOLVED

© 2023 New Mexico Political Report