NM Judge rejects water pipeline application

Theresa Davis And Scott Turner

A proposal to pump billions of gallons of water from a closed aquifer in Catron County to municipalities along the Rio Grande appears dead – for now. Seventh Judicial District Judge Matthew Reynolds on Thursday approved motions for summary judgment dismissing Augustin Plains Ranch’s application for a permit to provide cities and businesses with water from the remnants of a lake under the San Augustin Plains. It is the latest chapter in a 12-year legal battle that has seen the ranch have two permits dismissed by the State Engineer’s Office. Those dismissals have been upheld through the courts. “The people of New Mexico should not have their water tied up any longer with possibilities,” Reynolds wrote in the memorandum. Doug Mieklejohn, director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, represented more than 80 organizations and individuals who protested the Augustin Plains Ranch pipeline project application. The Catron County Board of Commissioners was one of those organizations. “Judge Reynolds aptly summarized earlier decisions in this long process when he said that the New Mexico Constitution was ‘offended by APR’s attempted subversion’ of constitutional requirements,’ ” Mieklejohn said. The law center has called the Augustin Plains Ranch project a highly-contested “water grab.” Augustin Plains Ranch project manager Michel Jichlinksi wasn’t sure if the decision would be appealed or if another application for a permit will be filed with the State Engineer. “We’re disappointed in this unfair decision,” he said. “It deprives New Mexicans of an important resource for the benefit of a small number of people. New Mexico’s poor economic standing and high levels of poverty are not due to a lack of resources. They stem from a long history of small but powerful interest groups conspiring with politicians and judges against the interests of the state.”...MORE