The board of directors of the Elephant Butte Irrigation District is taking direct aim at the latest lawsuit filed against the district and its 6,000 farm families.
The latest legal broadside came when a process server working for the N.M. AG’s office in Santa Fe came slipping in between the pecan trees to deliver a lawsuit to pecan farmer James Salopek, chairman of the EBID. The suit is directed by NM Attorney General Gary King against the EBID and El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 seeking to invalidate a legal and binding operating agreement between the two entities. The operating agreement equitably divides the Rio Grande Project water between the two irrigation districts. In addition to seeking to invalidate the operating agreement, the lawsuit also challenges the method for determining how the quantity of upstream New Mexico’s water is calculated in an attempt to keep more water for the middle Rio Grande. The underlying issue here is that the State of New Mexico is soon going to be in a position where they are not making the required deliveries under the Rio Grande Compact to Compact Texas. By seeking to change the method by which certain calculations are made, upstream New Mexico is seeking to put themselves in a better position regarding their required deliveries to Compact Texas, which would have the effect of delivering less water to EBID farmers. The lawsuit was originally filed last year against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation but it has now been expanded by the State to include the local farmers.
The EBID board is asking all involved (including the City of Las Cruces) to ask serious questions about these actions which on the surface seem to be a brazen water grab (from his own constituents) by an Attorney General who is attempting to further his political career at the expense of New Mexico agriculture. It may come down to the fact that there are more votes north of Elephant Butte Lake which could come in very handy in a statewide political race... EBID Press Release
1 comment:
Politics will always trump water rights. Producers who fail to vet the politician they vote for will pay in water, land and prices.
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