Taos County Steps up on Water & Electricity

We have some good news from the County. Commissioners will vote on a new ordinance on Tuesday, Oct. 26. To Wit: “Discussion, consideration, and decisions regarding the following: Request for Approval of Taos County Ordinance 2010-4, An Ordinance Establishing an Advisory and Informational Committee on Public Welfare Impacts of Water Appropriations and Changes in Point of Diversion, Place of Use or Purpose of use.” (See NMSU news below.)

In other news, at the TCC, Commissioners will explore voting on a resolution, questioning the KCEC’s proposed rate increase—an increase, according to the Coop’s flyer—that disproportionately affects low-energy residential and commercial users. When KCEC trustees meet this Tue. at their own regular monthly meeting at Coop HQ, somebody should remind them that the REA was set up to help rural residents. KCEC Trustees have gerrymandered districts so that representatives of the minority maintain political control. Consequently, the Coop enhances travel and benefits for trustees and management.

In the last month or so, the Coop admitted to giving the CEO a raise, voting to increase rates, and then went off to enjoy a Broadband conference in Atlanta. While the rest of the country is responding to the economic downturn by proposing shrinking budgets and cutting costs, the local Coop has taken on $20 million in more debt and is raising rates.

NMSU gets $1.4 million grant for acequia study
Monday, October 25, 2010

By Jane Moorman
NMSU News Service

LAS CRUCES — Water is the life blood of a community. Through the centuries, northern New Mexico communities along traditional acequia irrigation canals have managed the limited water resource provided by nature in ways that modern society can learn and benefit from.

New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences has received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to provide new insights into the relationships between traditional water management systems, communities and landscapes.

“We think there are clues for future water sustainability within these acequia systems,” said NMSU’s Sam Fernald, associate professor of watershed management, who is principal investigator of the five-year study. “We want to quantify how these inter-relationships benefit local communities and downstream water users.”

The study will involve hydrologists, sociologists, economists, anthropologists, remote sensing specialists, and rangeland and ecosystem scientists from NMSU, the University of New Mexico, Sandia Labs, New Mexico Tech University, Maxwell Museum at UNM, the University of Idaho, the University of Nevada at Reno and the University of Concepcion in Chile, as well as the New Mexico Acequia Association and community members from El Rito, Arroyo Hondo and Valdez, Velarde and Alcalde and surrounding areas.

Acequias consist of gravity-fed earthen canals that divert stream water flow for distribution in fields. These systems lie at the center of a set of complex self-maintaining interactions between culture and nature that appear to enable drought survival and maintain other socio-cultural and ecosystem benefits.

“Traditional acequias create and sustain intrinsic linkages between human and natural systems that increase community and ecosystem resilience to climatic and socioeconomic stresses,” Fernald said. “Greater knowledge about these interconnections and what can cause them to change or fail will be essential to determine how the communities relying on acequias can adapt to changing conditions.”

This interdisciplinary research project along three rivers, El Rito, Rio Hondo and Rio Grande, will explore socio-economic and cultural linkages within and between acequia communities and associated landscapes; hydrologic linkages between surface water and groundwater in irrigated river valleys and contributing watersheds; and wildlife habitat and livestock grazing distribution connections between valley riparian areas and upland forests and grasslands.

A computerized system dynamics model will be used to quantify the role of acequias in hydrologic functions, socioeconomic structures and ecosystem processes, and simulate effects of climate and land-use stressors.

Pre-emptive strike

We urge parciantes on the Spring Ditch (Adjacent to La Bell Cleaners) and Acequia Sanchez (Valverde Commons/Autumn Acres) to contact the academics above. Neither the Town nor local acequia associations have responded to cries for help to save these historic ditches from drought wrought by developers. Their constitutional rights have been abrogated by politicos, enviros, and ‘good faith bad-conscience” neighbors. Dave Rael and Big Geno Sanchez are the lonely organizers in their battle for justice.

Confession

This curmudgeon, disgusted by Tea-Party financiers and their Republican supporters (not to mention Dimo Vendidos) voted early, held his nose, and pulled the lever for the Demos. Don’t sell out your principles “to protect and preserve community.” Republican extremists would deregulate the privateers and have joined with radical judges, who called corporations “persons,” and also supported a judicial coup in 2000 to elect a president, which created the current disaster. Now they want to extend tax breaks for the wealthy.

The Democrats can be fairly criticized for stealing some of the money but the Republicans want it all. The inequality of the wealth gap, which is driving the anger in this country, is the product of Right-wing extremism and propaganda. Indeed, the Republicans would undo the social security system and take away Pell grants for poor college students.

Regardless of local envidia-ridden politics, the national and statewide Republican juggernaut threatens to undermine the principles of social democracy, as practiced historically and currently, aqui en Taos—except by the 9 members of the KCE Coop (who are led by a Republican Pres. and CEO). The TMS board may have inadvertently raised property taxes, due to “I don’t know.” But  “Los  9” at the Coop  raised electric rates on purpose to pay for the voluptuous sins of the past decade.

Letters

Bill: 

Good for you for voting a straight ticket.  Thank you for helping my family keep our water and our rights (domestic partnerships). Thank you for helping avoid redistricting to a red state and not making me drive to Farmington to ask for help in Taos.  Thank you for giving medical marijuana a chance (had a brother who died of a brain aneurism, weed was the only relief prescribed by a doctor).  Thank you for helping working moms (and dads) with child daycare programs.  Thank you for public schools having a chance ( I attended public schools in Taos).  Thank you for helping desperate New Mexicans (many in my family) avoid payday loans.  Thank you for keeping us out of jail (especially some of us who have no papers). Thank you for being true, you and blue.

Trudy