Efforts coalesce to avoid cavern collapse in New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – A state official says New Mexico is only a few steps away from being able to backfill a giant underground cavern before it collapses underneath a community of mobile homes and critical transportation routes in southern New Mexico.
Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Ken McQueen said Monday that his agency will be prepared as soon as July to help commission engineering plans to shore up a cavity left by the extraction of a salt formation.
The formation has