Guv candidates share views on Helena situation

Helena Chemical Co. has been in the news lately for winning a civil defamation lawsuit against Mesquite activist Arturo Uribe and because of new action from the state to push it to comply with environmental regulations.

Helena has faced a lot of controversy in recent years. The company has been fined nearly half a million dollars by the state for environmental violations, most relating to air quality. And the Uribes and others have filed a negligence lawsuit claiming their health has suffered as a result of the company’s operations in Mesquite.

Helena maintains the damage to its reputation isn’t deserved and says the ruling in the defamation case is a step toward repairing its name. Uribe promises to appeal, and the state is continuing to put the pressure on Helena.

With that as the backdrop, I decided to ask the six gubernatorial candidates what they think of the situation. Many of them have talked a lot about government regulation and the business climate in the state, and I figured this was a way to make their talk tangible.

Here’s what those who responded had to say. Republican Susana Martinez is the only candidate who did not respond.

Doug Turner

Republican Doug Turner said he spent two days in Mesquite and is familiar with the Helena situation. He said he applauds the awarding of damages to Helena in its case against Uribe.

“I think that there have been totally inappropriate accusations against the company,” Turner said. “I think that they’re driven by self-serving interests, and the claims that are made, I think, are false and in many cases extremely damaging to the company.”

Turner said he believes the state has “been running a witch hunt” against Helena – a witch hunt he said began around the same time Uribe started speaking out against the company. Turner said companies should have to comply with environmental regulations, but he’s skeptical of the state’s allegations against Helena.

“This is a business that’s been there for a very, very long time,” he said, “and only in the last few years do they start having issues?”

Instead of going after businesses, Turner said, the state must “become a partner with businesses.”

So what will Turner do if he becomes governor and Helena isn’t in compliance with an environmental regulation?

“You work out a solution as if they’re children and you give them a chance to make it right,” Turner said. “Now if they don’t, of course you have to come back with a heavy hand, but it seems to me there’s a point in this whole thing at which the heavy hand is excessive.”

Turner said he hasn’t seen the state working to come up with solutions in the case of Helena.

“This has just been a continual process of political bullying. It’s awful,” Turner said. “This happens in many industries in this state. … It is an unproductive business relationship and that’s got to change.”

Janice Arnold-Jones

Republican Janice Arnold-Jones, on the other hand, said Uribe’s concerns should be taken seriously. As a lawmaker, she dealt with whistleblowers in the housing authority scandal, and she said she learned that when citizens are willing to put themselves on the line to speak out, public officials should pay attention.

That means Arnold-Jones doesn’t doubt there’s a problem in Mesquite. What’s not clear to her is whether the problem is Helena or the state environment department.

“I have no doubt (Uribe) sees a problem. I have no doubt,” Arnold-Jones said. “He’s assigning the problem to Helena. Is that correct? I don’t know that.”

As governor, Arnold-Jones said she would investigate two questions in this situation: Is Helena engaging in dialogue with the surrounding community? If it’s not, she said it should. The second question is whether there really are health issues and, if so, what the environment and health departments are doing to identify the source of the illness and deal with it.

“Because I do not live in Mesquite, I do not have a satisfactory amount of information to lay blame or discount either party,” Arnold-Jones said.

“What I do know is that when community members are willing to take an issue to court at their own risk, there is a problem,” Arnold-Jones said. “Whether the problem is solely Helena Chemical is not apparent. This is the time for the State of New Mexico to step in to clearly identify and define the problems and establish methods and timelines for solutions.”

Diane Denish

Democrat Diane Denish would not comment on Helena’s case against Uribe because Uribe plans to appeal. Her campaign did release a statement that said Denish “has a record of standing up for regular New Mexicans against powerful interests, and that will continue if she is elected governor.”

“Diane supports reasonable environmental regulations – especially to force accountability and compliance among companies that have a history of violations,” the statement said.

“Helena has a history of repeated violations and needs to be held accountable for them,” the campaign said. “Environmental regulations must have teeth to ensure companies with repeated violations face real consequences for violating clean-air standards.”

“In the most recent legislative session, Diane voiced her support for the Air Quality Control Permit Denial bill, which would allow regulators to take strong action against companies with repeated and egregious violations of air-quality standards,” the campaign said.

The legislation did not pass.

Pete Domenici Jr.

Republican Pete Domenici Jr. wrote in an e-mail he wouldn’t comment on the Helena matter because it’s ongoing, but he did provide general comments related to the “number of bureaus” that “regulate many environmental areas” in New Mexico.

“In my experience, the impact of the statutes, regulations and penalty policies of these bureaus impact the industry segments and particular businesses within those segments throughout the State of New Mexico,” Domenici wrote. “The penalty policies for various bureaus allow for imposition of fines through compliance orders. The initial fines in many compliance orders can be very large.”

“Based on my experience, the level of fines can be detrimental to resolving the environmental problem, and end up forcing parties into adversarial roles,” he wrote. “In addition, the use of large fines and associated press releases can be targeted against specific industries or businesses in ways that are also non-productive to identifying, quantifying and resolving the environmental issue at hand.”

Such action, Domenici wrote, “fits within the type of regulatory activity that needs to be changed in order to be able to successfully grow existing business and attract new business to New Mexico.”

Allen Weh

Republican Allen Weh said the current administration “is notorious for using environmental regulations to thwart business growth across the state.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this were one more example of that,” Weh said of the Helena situation in a statement released by his campaign. “As governor, I’ll insist that we pursue commonsense policies that protect the environment we love while also promoting a thriving economy that is business friendly.”