The Latest on an address by U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce to the New Mexico Legislature (all times local):
1:10 p.m.
New Mexico's lone Republican congressman is praising former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz for helping restart the nation's only underground nuclear waste repository nearly three years after a radiation leak shuttered the facility.
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce sent a blessing Thursday to Moniz for his work in reopening the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico. The comments by Pearce came during an address to a joint session of the state Legislature that emphasized cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.
The repository was shuttered in February 2014 after a chemical reaction inside a drum of inappropriately packed waste caused the lid to burst, contaminating parts of the underground disposal area. It reopened last month.
Pearce made no mention of President Donald Trump's nominee to run the Energy Department, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
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1:00 p.m.
Republican Congressman Steve Pearce says he has pitched the idea of constructing an oil refinery in New Mexico to the administration of President Donald Trump.
The lone Republican in New Mexico's congressional delegation described his efforts to ignite job growth in his home state Thursday during an address to a joint session of the Legislature.
Pearce did not specify where the refinery project would be located or how it might be financed. He praised Trump's efforts to restart stalled pipeline infrastructure projects including the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Native American tribal leaders in New Mexico wrote to Trump in January to express their opposition to extending the pipeline underneath a reservoir.
Pearce represents New Mexico's southern congressional district that includes portions of the oil-rich Permian Basin.
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