Posted November 13, 2025
On November 4, 2025, Santa Fe District Court Judge Francis Mathew denied the attempt of Bishop’s Lodge Resort to muzzle community protests against the Resort’s wastewater disposal practices.
In July 2025, Bishop’s Lodge Resort sued Protect Tesuque and 10 individual residents of Tesuque to enjoin their public protests against the Resort’s unlawful waste disposal practices. In September 2025, Protect Tesuque and each of the individual defendants presented proof demonstrating that community protesters:
- Do not obstruct traffic along State Road 590 or the resort’s entry.
- Do not trespass on private property or use drones over the resort.
- Do not harass or threaten guests, staff, or visitors.
- Do not create public safety hazards, as confirmed by every Sheriff’s visit to the protests.
On November 4, 2025, Judge Mathew rejected the Resort’s effort to enjoin Protect Tesuque and the 10 individual protesters. After an extensive evidentiary presentation by the Resort, Judge Mathews found that Bishop’s Lodge had not only failed to establish that it would suffer any irreparable harm if the protests continued, but that it had also failed to establish that its claims against protesters would likely prevail at trial or that its requested injunction would serve the public interest. Judge Mathews also found that the harm the Resort’s proposed injunction would inflict on the defendants’ First Amendment rights outweighed whatever harm the Resort might incur from denial of its proposed injunction.
Because the Resort had failed to establish any of the elements required for entry of an injunction – let alone all of them – the Court ruled there was no need for Protect Tesuque or the individual protesters to present any further evidence to rebut the Resort’s case.
The weekly protests began in June 2024, in response to the Resort’s plan to discharge up to 30,000 gallons per day of partially treated wastewater into Little Tesuque Creek. The protests continued when the Resort subsequently announced it would instead discharge its partially treated wastewater into a single undersized, unsafe disposal field immediately next to Little Tesuque Creek — a fragile watershed feeding hundreds of private downstream wells.
Protect Tesuque’s broader legal case challenges the state’s failure to enforce New Mexico’s own Liquid Waste Regulations. Protect Tesuque and scores of community members are seeking to enforce the State’s liquid waste regulations against the Resort’s unlawful waste disposal practices.
To date, however, no court has considered or decided whether and how the State’s liquid waste regulations apply to the Resort’s liquid waste disposal practices.
“We will not be silenced,” said Mark DeCamp, a Tesuque resident and named defendant. “The Resort’s baseless lawsuit is not about safety—it’s a cyncical attempt by Bishop’s Lodge Resort and its owners to abuse our courts to stifle public protest. As the Court clearly saw, our community has exercised its constitutional rights of assembly and speech responsibly and peacefully.”
- RFK Jr. Wants To Delay the Hepatitis B Vaccine. Here’s What Parents Need To Know. - December 4, 2025
- President’s Administration Again Requests Sensitive Colorado Voter Data, State Declines - December 4, 2025
- Xóchitl Gaytán Elected as President of Denver School Board for a Second Time - December 4, 2025
