New Mexico Environmental Law Center

Founded in 1987, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) is a nonprofit, public
interest law firm whose mission is to use legal advocacy and representation to protect New
Mexico’s communities and their air, water, and land in the fight for environmental justice.
NMELC provides free and low-cost legal services on environmental matters statewide and
works with clients — often individuals, neighborhood associations, environmental
organizations, Tribes, and Pueblos — seeking to protect the environment and defend
environmental justice issues. For over 30 years, our attorneys have represented clients on over
300 cases across New Mexico. Our areas of expertise include: solid waste, hard-rock mining,
uranium mining, air quality, urban sprawl, water quality and quantity, dairies, oil and gas
extraction, and climate change. Through legal advocacy and representation, along with public
education and outreach, NMELC works to effect systemic, statewide environmental policy
change – to ensure New Mexico’s communities have clean air, water, and land now and into
the future.