By Denise Tessier
Other than familiarity with his famous father’s name, Pete Domenici Jr. is relatively unknown to the public. So for many, their first introduction to the son of New Mexico’s long-time U.S. Senator is news reports calling him an “environmental lawyer.”
That’s exactly how he’s described in the Albuquerque Journal’s story Monday, Jan. 18, “Domenici Jr. Announces Bid:”
The younger Domenici, an Albuquerque environmental lawyer, has never sought an elected office before.
In my book, an environmental lawyer is one who works to protect the interests of those who work to protect the environment.
The younger Domenici, however, works for the other side. In 2001, when a couple of oil and ranch families calling themselves Gandy Marley, Inc., proposed putting in the state’s first hazardous waste disposal site between Tatum and Roswell, Domenici was the lawyer protecting their interests – not those of the neighbors concerned about the potential health impacts. As Kristen Davenport of The New Mexican wrote at the time:
The site, called Triassic Park for the Triassic-era clay that lines the basin, would accept half a million cubic yards a year of 491 hazardous materials such as arsenic, lead, mercury or pesticide residue.
. . . Fewer than 15 families live within a 10-mile radius of the proposed Triassic Park. The site is so isolated, and water so scarce, that Gandy Marley, Inc., says water will have to be shipped in from miles away. The company plans to use up to 50,000 gallons of water a day to keep down dust (and keep contaminants from going airborne). Six to eight trucks a day will rumble over those country roads just to bring water. According to the application, another five or six trucks a day will arrive with contaminated waste to be buried or put into evaporation ponds.
. . . The company has hired attorney Pete Domenici Jr., son of New Mexico’s longtime Republican senator, to represent its interests surrounding Triassic Park.
The Journal announcement story Monday additionally said of Domenici Jr. that:
He also stressed his knowledge of the state’s energy economy gained during his more than 20 years of experience as an attorney.
The Web site Democracy for New Mexico has posted a list of other Domenici clients – none of which could be described as environmental.
I’m not sure why the Journal decided to give Domenici Jr. a boilerplate identifier as “environmental lawyer.” Perhaps that’s what he calls himself.
And perhaps a more realistic description will emerge in subsequent coverage. But this first step in introducing Domenici as an environmentalist is misleading.
How might the Journal have described him instead?
How about the way The New York Times handled it Tuesday morning:
Pete Domenici Jr., a lawyer . . .
So glad you mention this–I was blown away when I read that in the Journal. The last time I saw Pete, Jr’s name on an environmental-type document, it was because he was writing letters to the Historic Preservation Division on behalf of his client who opposed the state’s designation of Mt. Taylor as a traditional cultural property.
Thanks for the comment, Laura. I appreciate you weighing in on this.
Mr. Domenici was the lead lawyer for the Los Alamos National Laboratory hazardous waste permit. He defended the right of LANL to continue the decades of open burning and open detonations that have contaminated air water and soil and the community. By the way, Citizen Action New Mexico obtained hundreds of pages of documents about the Triassic Park project that were kept secret from the public for over a decade by the New Mexico Environment Department. We also obtained over 3,700 pages of secret documents about contamination and poor environmental studies for LANL. Secrecy and powerful interests have combined to destroy environmental protection in NM.
An attorney from Mr. Domenici´s law firm may well be the next Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department. No doubt, the open burn-detonation decision will be reopened with a different outcome from closure. LANL will then be able to continue contamination as usual.
Dave McCoy
Director
Citizen Action
David,
Thanks for bringing renewed attention to Pete Domenici Jr.’s background via this 11-month-old post, still relevant in light of the fact that he was appointed last month to head governor-elect Susana Martinez’s energy and environment team. Your speculation on the state’s next Environment Secretary is certainly plausible in that light. Thanks for the heads up.
Why is it that any person or group that support a waste disposal site are automatically labeled as anti-environment. The hard truth is that hazardous and non-hazardous wastes are generated by all of us. There are too many so called “environmentalist” that want to blame the existence of hazardous waste on the individuals and companies that are quite simply offering a environmental friendly solution to dispose of these wastes. Environmental regulations have been written to insure that wastes are handled in a manner to not cause harm to people or the environment. I believe that companies like the ones you have sighted should be encouraged. Like it or not, hazardous waste is not going to go away. Having disposal facilities that adhere to environmental regulations and properly handle these wastes is not the problem. In my opinion, these individuals and companies are the true “environmentalist.”