Gila diversion agreement heads to D.C.

The Interstate Stream Commission approved the Central Arizona Project’s New Mexico Unit Agreement for a Gila River diversion at their meeting Friday, tucked away in the Ruidoso Downs racetrack Hall of Fame. The vote finalized the process here in New Mexico and sent the agreement on to the U.S. secretary of Interior for final federal approval next month. The ISC’s approval came after months of negotiation between the agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior — through the federal Bureau of Reclamation — and the local CAP Entity responsible for design, construction, operation and maintenance of the controversial diversion. These talks focused almost solely on a list of supplemental terms added to the agreement by direction of Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. The CAP Entity voted to approve the agreement at a special meeting in Silver City on Sept. 29, and Jewell must sign off on the agreement before a statutory deadline of Nov. 23. “Don’t know what’s left to say, but we’ve done our part and now it’s up to them,” said ISC Chair Jim Dunlap...more