The Rio Rancho City Council will receive an update Thursday on the controversial Project Ranger hypersonic missile facility, with city staff scheduled to brief officials on the status of agreements with Sandoval County and the defense contractor behind the project.
City staff will update the Governing Body during a 3 p.m. work session on progress developing required memorandums of understanding for road construction and fire services with the county, the water service agreement with Castelion Corporation, and summarize community meetings held last week featuring the company. While Castelion may have a representative present, the company is not scheduled to give a formal presentation but could respond to questions from council members.
The update comes as activists continue organizing opposition to the facility, which would manufacture solid rocket motors and assemble complete hypersonic missiles on approximately 1,000 acres in unincorporated Sandoval County, about three miles west of Rio Rancho’s city limits near the Northern Meadows community.
The Torrance, California-based defense contractor plans a $119.8 million capital investment over five years at the facility, which would employ approximately 300 workers with average salaries of $100,000 plus company stock ownership and full benefits. The company has committed to meeting Department of Defense standards and conducting all flight testing at approved military ranges rather than at the Sandoval County site.
The council approved three Project Ranger-related resolutions Nov. 13, following the company’s commitment to provide updates on community outreach efforts and progress on developing the required MOUs. The measures authorized up to $1 million in economic development funds for road construction, directed the city manager to negotiate water and wastewater service agreements and approved an intergovernmental agreement with Sandoval County.
Critics have raised concerns about emergency response capabilities, groundwater contamination risks and the facility’s use of ammonium perchlorate, a toxic oxidizer used in rocket propellants.
Beyond the work session update on Project Ranger, the regular council meeting at 6 p.m. will address multiple zoning and development proposals. Mayor Gregg Hull will present his annual State of the City report, and the council will consider resolutions establishing legislative and capital outlay priorities for the 2026 New Mexico Legislature session.
Public hearings are scheduled for site plan approvals, including a gymnasium at The Ask Academy on Enchanted Hills Boulevard, a church in The Village subdivision and a solar generation system in the Loma Barbon area.
Both meetings will be conducted in person at the Council Chambers and livestreamed on the city’s website at rrnm.gov/2303/Watch-and-Download-City-Meetings.
I am deeply concerned about the fact that no environmental impact studies have, at least as far as I’ve read, have been done. IMHO, the county representatives and city voices have not done their due diligence with respect to the impact the facility will have on our community. The entire process could not have been much more opaque. Usually, when people are hiding something and plowing ahead, literally and figuratively, even before permits and community notifications were in place, there’s a reason. The only reason why they would do this is because they know it will negatively impact our community in some way. Toxic chemicals in our ground water? Noise shaking the homes of nearby residents? Home values plummetting? Gee. We have no clue because none of our representatives seems to have found out! Show us the environmental impact studies, or show Castillion the door!
There many questions that need to be answered. To begin with, this is primarily a DoD financed project to study and produce ballistic missiles for the purpose of maintaining superiority over the Russian and Chinese weapons technology. DoD has is retained several defense contractors for similar studies. Therein lies the problem, the success of the facility is totally hinges on if, Castelion is able to obtain long term contracts to manufacture solid-fuel rockets for the DoD. 2) Research and development facilities usually do not have staffs of up to 300 people. 3) Testing requires a controlled environment of fuel and engine performance, thus the introduction of environmental and safety concerns. 4) I question if current funding for construction and 300 employees supports this five year project. 350 million dollars in Class B government bonds and 100 million dollars in private funding seems on the low side for this type of project and proposed number of employees. 5) Why, for a controversial project of this nature, is there not a website that addresses public concerns? Oh wait, don’t answer that, it is obvious.