High court asked to intervene on Bishop’s Lodge issue

Protect Tesuque seeking to block application to put treated wastewater into leach field

The organization behind a motion to deny a Santa Fe-area resort’s application to discharge treated wastewater into an on-site leach field is taking the case to the New Mexico Supreme Court.

“We’ve followed the rules, we’ve shown up, and we’ve used every channel available — and we’re still being ignored,” Protect Tesuque board member Bernadette Romero Jaramillo said in a statement. “That’s why we’re turning to the courts.”

Originally, Bishop’s Lodge planned to dispose of treated wastewater in Little Tesuque Creek. That plan was unpopular with residents fearing contamination in the creek, and the resort decided to shift gears and build an on-site leach field instead.

But that plan also drew pushback, and Protect Tesuque has been challenging Bishop Lodge’s permit application. In February, the group motioned to deny the permit before the planned hearing

on the application, losing in court April 7.

The organization filed an emergency petition Monday asking the Supreme Court to halt a May hearing on the permit.

All liquid waste discharges are regulated by the state. According to an Environment Department spokesperson, discharges of 5,000 gallons or less are regulated under the liquid waste program. For high-volume dischargers like Bishop’s Lodge, which anticipates receiving and treating up to 30,000 gallons of wastewater per day, ground and surface water protection regulations apply instead.

Protect Tesuque disagrees, arguing the latter regulation is less protective than the former. The group’s petition also requests the Environment Department apply the state’s liquid waste regulations, rather than the ground and surface water protections.

“[The Environment Department] is imperiously usurping the legislative power by substituting a different, far less protective set of regulations than the Legislature and the [Environmental Improvement Board] have mandated,” the petition reads.

But in a response to the February motion, the resort argued the opposite was true — and ran contrary to statute, which explicitly excludes large wastewater treatment plants from the liquid waste regulations.

“Quixotically and illogically, [Protect Tesuque] requests that the Secretary apply the less prescriptive, less protective Liquid Waste Disposal and Treatment Regulations,” the response says.

The lodge replaced its aging wastewater plant with a “membrane bioreactor,” which it says can more effectively treat wastewater.

Bishop’s Lodge’s March response says the wastewater is treated to “meet or exceed” state water quality standards before being discharged.

“The law and science — not conjecture and scare tactics — must guide this matter,” the response states.