CEHMM celebrates 20 years of success
This month CEHMM celebrated our 20th Anniversary with an Open House event, which was well attended by many in the community. Thank you to all who attended and helped us to celebrate this momentous occasion.
Incorporated in 2004 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in the state of New Mexico, funding for the development of the Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management was part of an appropriations bill funding the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. CEHMM was built on the WIPP legacy of significant hazardous materials management expertise and expanded scientific research into new areas that would benefit the public and environment. The purpose of the CEHMM projects is to work toward practical solutions to issues that affect both human health and the environment. The projects serve the community, the region, and the state through educational outreach, job creation, and research leading to the resolution of important technical and environmental challenges.
Since its inception, CEHMM has identified and pursued applied research projects that have a nationwide impact and are innovative, meaningful, and practical. Originally housed in a Greene Street office, CEHMM created a wide range of cutting-edge programs, including developing technology for using algae as a feedstock for biofuels and co-products, biomonitoring for avian influenza, and West Nile viruses’, cooperative conservation of species listed as warranted but precluded from listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.
In 2006, CEHMM began working on the Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Dunes Sagebrush Lizard Candidate Conservation Agreements in partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and ranching and industry partners. These voluntary agreements allow ranchers and industry to continue working on the landscape in the event a species is listed as threatened or endangered, while protecting them from take of the species. In 2007, CEHMM built two algae ponds via Department of Energy grants, which kicked off our biofuel research. During that year, CEHMM also conducted research on avian influenza (bird flu) and West Nile virus. In 2008, CEHMM finalized the Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Dunes Sagebrush Lizard Candidate Conservation Agreements and began to enroll stakeholders into the programs.
In 2009, CEHMM purchased an extraction unit to remove oil from algae to produce biodiesel, in partnership with the City of Carlsbad. In 2010, we expanded CEHMM’s algae farm facility and were successful in producing algae oil from our facility. By 2011, we produced 200 gallons of algae biofuel, and the Conservation Agreements were able to fund habitat restoration projects to support the Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Dunes Sagebrush Lizard. In 2012, the US Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard did not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act largely due to the success of CEHMM’s Candidate Conservation Agreement Programs and our partners in conservation. In 2013, CEHMM developed our Environmental Services division, which is designed to assist industry with environmental permitting. In 2015, CEHMM once again began developing Candidate Conservation Agreements, this time in support of the Texas Hornshell Mussel, which makes its home in the Black and Delaware Rivers south of Carlsbad. By 2017, this agreement was developed and CEHMM began enrolling both ranching and industry partners into the programs.
Having grown immensely since our inception, CEHMM now operates out of two offices in Carlsbad and one in Milnesand, New Mexico. Currently, CEHMM’s focus is primarily on conservation and environmental services, and we work closely with ranchers and industry to keep projects moving on the landscape in the face of threatened or endangered species. Because of our current focus, we have begun the process of changing our name to the Center for Environmental Health, Monitoring, and Management. It is due to our relationships and partnerships with industry, ranchers, and the local community that CEHMM has been so successful over the years. Thank you to everyone for your support and dedication to our programs.
CEHMM is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in Carlsbad, New Mexico. We are here to help keep industry on the ground working while simultaneously providing conservation efforts through cooperative conservation. For further information on how CEHMM can assist your activities on the landscape, visit our website at www.cehmm.org or call the CEHMM office at 575-885-3700.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: CEHMM celebrates 20 years of success
