Taos County Milestone

Predators Beware!

Save the Water

Let Oct. 26, 2010 be remembered as the day Taos County Commissioners stood up and grabbed destiny around the neck. By passing an ordinance to establish an advisory committee to keep track of water transfers and warn them if protests against the loss of natural resources are necessary, the commissioners—unanimously—took a giant step forward into the future. Chairman Dan Barrone, commissioners Andrew Chavez, Nick Jaramillo, and Larry Sanchez are to be congratulated. Behind the scenes, Bruja Butchie Denver, Curandera Kay Matthews, and attorney Simeon Herskovits, who recently made the Las Vegas, Nev. water mob say “ouch,” lobbied for the passage of an ordinance that implements the Taos Regional Water Plan’s Public Welfare Statement.

Further in the back row was water maven Ron Gardiner, who. lo’ these many years, has been whispering to commissioners and legislators, writing white papers, conspiring with those who will listen—like former county chair Charlie Gonzales and Senator Carlos Cisneros—to preserve and protect the lifeblood of Taos County, northern New Mexico, and the long and winding Rio Grande itself. And, of course, you will remember, when the facts become legend and you write the legend, how grants from the Healy Foundation also supported this long and torturous process, which is not unlike watching Giants baseball.

Sure, Abeyta—Taos Pueblo settlement experts, Palemon Martinez and Steve Trujillo worried, they said, that commissioners might draw attention to the fabled forty-year old negotiation with the Town of Taos, El Prado Water and Sewer District, 12 Mutual Domestic water systems, and Taos Pueblo. But as Herskovits pointed out under questioning by commissioners, Manager Adam Baker, and County Attorney Barbara Martinez, the ordinance does not threaten but complements and supports the “Settlement.” Currently, the $100 million “Settlement” (and then some) languishes in Montana Senator Max Baucus’s committee with a “hold” on it. The community will gain more insight on the speculative results of the Settlement after the elections.

But as Charlie Gonzales pointed out, the privateers are coming and the county acted just in time—prior to a gubernatorial contest that could change everything. A decade ago, the notorious Tom Worrell bought Top of the World, north of Cerro and Questa, for its water rights and promptly turned and sold about 1500 acre feet to Santa Fe. But, thanks to Kay Matthews and others, who filed protests, and policy decisions by the Office of the State Engineer that prevents transfers below the Otowi gauge at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Chama, the water rights transfer has yet to be approved. At the time, Matthews voice was the lone canary in the mine. She made a presentation years ago at the County, which shocked commissioners, other public officials, and the public at large, which didn’t know about the attempt to literally sell county lifeblood down the river.

When the Public Welfare Statement was presented a couple of years ago to the County by citizens after many public meetings, the usual Abeyta folk, representatives of El Valle, Questa, and others showed up to quibble and deny, worried as much about commissioners hijacking their alleged authority as they were about losing their community chops as water mavens. Finally, the commissioners yesterday, voted to keep an eye—officially—on not just Taos Valley Acequia Association’s 55 acequias and Taos Pueblo’s historic rights to their water shed but acknowledged their broader responsibilities to another 150 acequias in the County, including Picuris Pueblo, the confluence of ground water and surface water effects on farming, the environment, and development. Regardless of your local interest, if transfers occur, historic well drilling rights for water to support residential construction will also go south.

Water issues must be considered in a holistic manner. Surface and ground water flows reflect natural and man-made relations that are as complex as they are necessary to the public health, safety, and welfare of the community. Whether you are maintaining an acequia, drilling a well, fishing the Rio Ground, drinking water or using it to wash your car, you are connecting with your neighbor in obvious and mysterious ways. Man-made rules and regulations frequently clash with natural boundaries and the fertile regeneration of Mother Earth when it comes to what some traditions refer to as God’s own tears.

In the movie Casablanca, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), at a turning point in the film, says to Rick (Humphrey Bogart), “Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win.” That’s the way we felt yesterday after the commissioners passed the ordinance. Regardless of who wins on Election Day, Taos County is prepared to preserve and protect the community’s water.

Addendum

The commissioners passed a resolution calling on the Public Regulation Commission to review KCEC’s proposed rate increase. Among other issues, Commissioners brought attention to the Coop’s lack of transparency, realistic in-house cost cutting, high rates of compensation for management and trustees, and the current downturn in the economy as reasons for their support of a protest.

One might disagree with the commissioners, when they quibble over issues like the homeless shelter, La Martina’s, or even the Outlaw Garage. But on the really big issues—Miranda Canyon, Public and Private Water Sources, and Electric rates affecting the entire community—the commissioners have responded as true blue public servants. And for once, the timing is perfect.

Now, about the Spring Ditch and Acequia Sanchez, victims of urbanizationthe Town of Taos: Que Pasa, mis amigos?