An appeal for a veto of Aamodt water settlement funding

Next Friday (Oct. 14) is the deadline for Gov. Susana Martinez to decide what bills from this past special session of the legislature she will either sign or veto. One of the bills before her is an $86 million in capital outlay projects and one of the items in that bill is $15 million for the Aamodt water settlement. Chupadero resident Paul White may be swimming upstream so to speak, but he wants Gov. Martinez to line-item veto the Aamodt funding, saying there hasn’t been enough public input into the decision, that it risks drying out the Rio Grande, is unfair to farmers and ranchers and could ultimately cost taxpayers much more than the initial $15 million payment. White says the Aamodt agreement could cost as much as $400 million. The settlement includes construction of and funding for a regional water system. New Mexico senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall enthusiastically supported the settlement but there are still residents in northern New Mexico (like Paul White) who are dead-set against it for ecological and financial reasons...more