Truth or Consequences Daily Digest Tuesday, September 08, 2026
Ty's Take
The Copper Flat mine hearing cycle keeps turning, and by now anybody paying attention knows exactly where the line gets drawn around here. On one side you've got folks thinking about jobs and paychecks, which is real and legitimate, especially when you're living in a county where work isn't exactly falling from the sky. On the other side you've got people looking at Elephant Butte, at what we've got left in the Rio Grande, and asking a hard question: what good is a job if the operation that creates it poisons the water your grandkids are going to need? There's no easy answer, and Labor Day seems like the wrong time to pretend there is one. What matters now is that Sierra County actually weighs both sides instead of just picking the one that sounds better this week.
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Sierra County Citizen
Hearing on Copper Flat Mine, VII: Talking about jobs on Labor Day
A Sierra County resident reflects on the Copper Flat Mine's brief 1982 operations, which provided only 7 percent of county jobs before laying off workers that June when copper prices collapsed. The author questions whether temporary mine employment truly benefits local communities, noting that...
Hearing on Copper Flat Mine, IV: Sierra County can’t afford to gamble with our water
Lee Newman, owner of Animas Creek Nursery near Hillsboro, has closed his tree-growing operation along Las Animas Creek after water levels dropped and pipeline supplies became insufficient over the past several years. Newman expresses concern that New Mexico Copper Corporation's proposed reopening...
Hearing on Copper Flat Mine, II
The Mining and Minerals Division will hold a hearing on the Copper Flat Mine application's proposal to use filtered tailings to conserve water. Experts question whether the filtration method will actually save sufficient water to support mining operations in Sierra County.
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