Common Ground Community Trust

Artificial intelligence. Hypersonic missiles. Autonomous spacecraft. Nuclear modernization. Directed-energy weapons. Missile defense. Mass rocket-motor production.

These are presented to us as separate projects, separate companies and separate economic-development decisions.

They aren’t.

The Pentagon is racing toward AI-enabled warfare at the same time it is demanding dramatically faster missile production. Sandia is working at the intersection of autonomy and hypersonics. Los Alamos is bringing advanced AI into national-security computing. Kirtland and AFRL sit at the center of space and directed-energy research. Castelion’s Project Ranger is bringing large-scale solid rocket motor manufacturing and testing west of Rio Rancho.

And Monday evening, the Albuquerque City Council is scheduled to consider public economic-development assistance for BlackVe, a national-security space company developing technologies that include artificial intelligence and autonomous spacecraft.

The technology is accelerating. Weapons production is accelerating. Public money is accelerating.

Environmental, fiscal and democratic oversight are not.

The Minab school strike during the Iran war showed why this matters. The danger is not simply some future AI system that “goes rogue.” Automated systems can take flawed human intelligence and move it through a targeting system with extraordinary speed and lethal precision. And the Pentagon’s account of what happened inside that targeting chain remains the government’s account—not the final word.

New Mexico has lived through the consequences of previous national-security projects whose environmental costs were understood only after communities had already paid them. We should not make that mistake again.

https://elainecimino652909.substack.com/p/new-mexico-at-the-center-of-the-military?r=281p2&utm_medium=ios

My new article examines how the pieces are coming together—and why New Mexico is rapidly becoming the physical infrastructure of America’s new military-AI arms race.

New Mexico at the Center of the Military-AI Arms Race The Pentagon’s pursuit of artificial-intelligence dominance is converging with hypersonic weapons, nuclear modernization, directed energy and missile defense in New Mexico—while environmental and democratic oversight remain fragmented.

The tragic loss of four members of a New Mexico medevac crew has raised serious questions about the intersection of military testing and civilian safety. Reporting indicates the aircraft experienced GPS interference during a military electronic warfare exercise, and the investigation is ongoing. The families—and the public—deserve complete transparency about what happened.

This smacks as a coverup

This matters far beyond one accident. As New Mexico rapidly expands weapons testing, hypersonic development, and military manufacturing, communities have a right to know how these activities affect public safety, emergency response, aviation, water, air quality, and public health.

That is why Project Ranger cannot be viewed in isolation. It is part of a broader expansion of military infrastructure across the state. When government agencies approve projects before independent environmental review is complete, or when critical information is withheld until after major decisions have been made, public trust is undermined.

Transparency is not anti-military. Accountability is not anti-business. They are the foundation of good government. And public safety and the eroding of oversight and the firing of people who oversee these type of incidents has created a vacuum in which the American people are left in dark

The lesson from this tragedy is to insist on independent oversight, full disclosure, and rigorous public review before communities are asked to accept additional risks. New Mexicans should never have to choose between economic development and the right to know what hazards they face.

A Civilian Plane Crashed in New Mexico. Was the Military’s Tech to Blame? Drone warfare is making the skies more dangerous, even for airplanes far from the battlefield.

ASIDE —The $20 million apprenticeship commitment. Blackstone and PNM announced a proposed $20 million investment in apprenticeship programs, technical education, scholarships, and workforce development. For unions whose mission includes expanding apprenticeship programs, that is a tangible benefit.

According to the report, Prosperity Works argues that because Blackstone agreed to waive a $350 million termination fee, TXNM should instead seek an equivalent payment and return approximately $240 million to customers through bill credits, with the balance used for other public purposes. The organization contends that ratepayers should benefit from a transaction that ultimately did not close.

There are several broader issues this raises.

First, it underscores that the original merger was not simply a private business transaction. Throughout the Public Regulation Commission proceedings, the parties negotiated customer benefits, workforce commitments, and other public-interest concessions precisely because utilities operate as regulated monopolies. If the merger fails, the question naturally becomes whether customers should nevertheless receive compensation for the uncertainty and costs associated with the process.

Second, the article highlights an unusual aspect of the agreement: the decision to waive such a substantial termination fee. Break-up fees are common in large acquisitions because they compensate the non-breaching party and allocate risk if a transaction cannot be completed. Prosperity Works argues that forgoing that payment effectively leaves value on the table that could have benefited New Mexicans. Whether TXNM has any legal ability to recover or redirect those funds is ultimately a contractual and corporate-governance question rather than simply a policy choice.

Third, this development also reframes the earlier support from portions of organized labor. Construction and building-trade unions supported the merger in part because of promised apprenticeship funding and anticipated infrastructure work. With the acquisition no longer proceeding, many of those anticipated benefits may never materialize. That does not necessarily invalidate their position at the time, but it illustrates the risks of tying public support to commitments contingent on a transaction closing.

https://www.abqjournal.com/business/nonprofit-wants-txnm-to-hand-240-million-to-customers-over-waived-blackstone-termination-fee/3095690

More broadly, the episode raises questions about accountability. When major mergers involving regulated utilities promise billions in investment, workforce programs, ratepayer benefits, and community commitments, who bears the cost if those promises disappear? If customers, workers, and communities invested time and accepted uncertainty during the regulatory process, should there be a mechanism ensuring they are not left empty-handed when a deal collapses?

That question extends beyond this single merger. It speaks to whether New Mexico’s regulatory framework adequately protects the public when private equity seeks to acquire essential public infrastructure. The debate is no longer only about Blackstone; it is about how much leverage the public should have when the assets involved are electric service, public trust, and a regulated monopoly.

Nonprofit wants TXNM to hand $240 million to customers over ‘waived’ Blackstone termination fee Prosperity Works says TXNM should have pursued a $350M termination fee from Blackstone and passed most of it to ratepayers.

Another explosion. Another warning. Another reminder that communities deserve the truth.

Last October, Castelion used Northrop Grumman’s Promontory, Utah facility during its Rio Rancho presentation as an example of a comparable solid rocket motor manufacturing site. Residents were told these facilities demonstrated how Project Ranger could operate safely. 2025-1021 Rio Rancho Community Meeting PPT.pdf

The presentation specifically referenced the April 2025 Promontory accident, describing it as a fire involving sodium perchlorate with no injuries and emphasizing that nearby buildings remained intact. 2025-1021 Rio Rancho Community Meeting PPT.pdf

Now, another explosion has destroyed a building at that same Promontory complex.

And the story doesn’t begin in 2025.

In 2023, investigative journalist Taylor Barnes documented the deaths of two Northrop Grumman workers at a Utah hypersonic missile facility. His investigation reported that the workers died after entering an area with argon gas, examined Utah Occupational Safety and Health citations alleging serious confined-space safety failures, and noted that the company was appealing those citations at the time. Dying to Make Hypersonic Missiles in Utah - Inkstick.pdf

One sentence from Jonathan Steinke’s father says everything:

“My son died a senseless death… a death that should not have occurred.” Dying to Make Hypersonic Missiles in Utah - Inkstick.pdf

No one is claiming Project Ranger will experience the same failures.But when a community is asked to accept solid rocket motor manufacturing and static fire testing, it has every right to ask difficult questions.

Where are the independent environmental studies?

Where is the comprehensive emergency response planning?

Where are the baseline air, groundwater, and public health monitoring programs?

Where is the transparency before operations begin instead of after something goes wrong?

Industrial accidents involving energetic materials are uncommon, but they are not hypothetical. The history of this industry demonstrates why independent oversight, environmental review, and emergency preparedness are essential.

The evidence is no longer missing. It has been documented in accident investigations, worker fatalities, regulatory findings, and now another destroyed building. The failure is no longer one of information—it is one of governance. Public officials cannot claim they were unaware. They have chosen to move these projects forward without the level of independent scrutiny and public protections that risks of this magnitude demand.

Dying to Make Hypersonic Missiles in Utah Inkstick Exclusive: How Two Workers Perished on the Job at America’s Third-Largest Defense Contractor. “My son died a senseless death” at Northrop Grumman.

How Many Warnings Are Enough?

How many workers have to die before we admit that this industry carries consequences that cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents?

How many explosions have to occur before public officials stop calling independent environmental review an unnecessary obstacle?

How many families have to bury a son or daughter before government recognizes that “trust us” is not a public safety policy?

How many children have to lose their hearing from repeated blast noise? How many neighbors have to wonder whether their drinking water is still safe? How many communities must live with contaminated air, contaminated aquifers, and the fear that the next siren or plume of smoke could be theirs?

These are not hypothetical questions. They are the inevitable questions that follow an industry whose history includes explosions, worker fatalities, toxic exposures, and catastrophic accidents. Those events are not secrets. They are documented. They have been investigated. They have been paid for in human lives. Dying to Make Hypersonic Missiles in Utah - Inkstick.pdf

Yet when Project Ranger came to New Mexico, the conversation was not about that history. It was about jobs, investment, patriotism, and assurances that modern engineering had solved the problem. Public officials repeated those assurances. They subsidized the project. They accelerated approvals. They celebrated the ribbon cutting.

What they did not require was independent science equal to the magnitude of the risk.

No comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement.

No independent baseline studies of air, groundwater, or public health before operations.

No precaution worthy of a project that will manufacture and test solid rocket motors.

That is not economic development. It is the transfer of risk from corporations to the public.

History keeps issuing warnings. The question is no longer whether the evidence exists. The question is why those entrusted with protecting the public continue to ignore it.

When the next accident happens, no one should be allowed to say they never saw it coming. The record already exists. The warnings have already been written. The only thing still missing is the courage to act before another community pays the price

Building Explodes at Northrop Grumman’s Utah Plant for New Nuclear Missile The explosion Wednesday is the latest in a history of workplace accidents, including injuries and deaths, at Northrop Grumman facilities in Utah. The plant’s programs include the new Sentinel ICBM.

The New CBS Gatekeepers in the SW

The transfer of CBS programming to KOAT comes at a moment when media independence deserves more scrutiny, not less. Nationally, CBS has faced criticism over editorial decisions during Paramount’s ownership transition. Here in New Mexico, the problem is equally serious, though it looks different.

Too often, local television news functions less as an independent watchdog than as an amplifier for government press releases, corporate public relations, and economic development messaging. Groundbreakings become headlines. Ribbon cuttings become news. Promised jobs are repeated. Public subsidies are celebrated. Missing are sustained investigations into environmental risks, public expenditures, regulatory failures, conflicts of interest, cumulative health impacts, and whether the public is actually being protected.

That omission matters because New Mexico is rapidly becoming a center for hypersonic weapons, AI-enabled warfare, aerospace manufacturing, nuclear modernization, and defense contracting. Billions of public dollars, public land, tax incentives, and infrastructure investments are reshaping the state with remarkably little sustained investigative reporting.

Journalism is not supposed to market government policy or corporate expansion. Its obligation is to examine power, follow the money, test official claims against evidence, and ask the questions those in authority would rather avoid.

When the press stops asking difficult questions, accountability disappears. Communities lose one of their few independent safeguards. Public relations fills the vacuum where journalism should be.

The issue is not simply who carries CBS programming. It is whether the institutions responsible for informing the public are still willing to challenge the political and economic interests they cover—or whether they have become another part of the machinery that asks the public to accept, rather than question, decisions made in their name.