CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez has secured state funding to help shore up a giant cavern in southern New Mexico that is on the verge of collapse.
The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports the Republican governor on Thursday signed into a law a bill that redirects a portion of the vehicle excise tax to generate $30 million over three years to address the brine well near Carlsbad.
The cavity underneath the edge of the city was caused by the extraction of a salt formation. Experts expect an impending collapse, which could take with it a busy highway interchange that leads to two national parks.
Carlsbad and Eddy County have committed $4 million each in spending on the problem in additional to the state funding.