The Monument, The Rio Grande, Sam and Trudy

Sam’s Beauty Spot

Last night, Tuesday, Jan. 28, Taosenos met for the first BLM public scoping meeting on the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument (Monument) aimed at developing a Resource Management Plan (RMP).

Coincidentally, the BLM issued a press release saying “the BLM has decided to defer all 16 parcels from leasing in the October 2014 lease sale” affecting “13,300 acres of Federal mineral estate underlying mixed surface ownership in the vicinity of the community of Cebolla” in eastern Rio Arriba County. For now there won’t be any “fracking” in Rio Arriba County just up and over the pass from Tres Piedras. The BLM will require a further study taking at least two years out of its San Juan Farmington Field office. Sam DesGeorges signed the notice to the public.

In terms of the “Monument,” mineral extraction, sand and gravel operations, and fracking will be forbidden. As for grandfathered uses, perlite mine north of TP or current sand and gravel operations northwest of the Bridge, I am personally unclear.

A friendly and SRO crowd greeted BLM Field Manager Sam DesGeorges last night at the meeting in the Sagebrush Convention Center. The 242,000 acre Monument includes corridors for wildlife, birds and animals, cultural sites, petroglyphs and pit houses, traditional uses, wood gathering and grazing, as well as exhibiting some of the most geologically complex formations (above and below ground) and beautiful landscapes, which folks visit each day in increasing numbers.

We must be careful lest “we love it to death” as Brian Shields said of the Monument, or as Taylor Streit said, let’s look out for “the critters.” A Pilar resident noted how the popularity of the campsites along the river and low water increased the number of visitors, which meant more interaction with wildlife sites, not always to the benefit of the north-south flyaway corridors or east-west migrations of larger animals. Not all animals adapt so well as the Bighorn Sheep, which frolic in the Gorge the way small children jump back and forth in and out of acequias.

Energy consultant Bill Brown noted the threat posed by Tri-State, the Coop energy behemoth, which is researching a potential power line corridor along the western edge of the Monument, while seeking (possibly) to sell electricity to the lucrative California market. As Brown pointed out, Tri-State’s business model is out-of-date. New micro-grids are expected to sustain future energy needs as communities, including greater Taos seek to satisfy their appetites for electricity with help from the sun and wind. Indeed, Renewable Taos and Brown say Taos could be self-sufficient by 2020, given the right investment and energy strategy.

Even as I post this piece, Taosenos are gathering in Santa Fe at the PRC to protest against a Tri-State rate increase at the PRC. Historically and currently, Taosenos are at their best when they find either a common foe like Tri-State or a common purpose as in the Rio Grande del Norte Monument.

Trudy’s Heartache

Among the whispered asides last night and according to my text messages yesterday there is a spectre haunting Taosenos: the threat to water resources. Due to increasing use of water from the Rio Grande by upstream irrigators in the San Luis Valley, the amount of water flowing in the Rio from Colorado has decreased, causing temperatures to rise, shorting rafters and creating threats to fish and other species.

Meanwhile, Gov. Martinez kicked New Mexico water maven Trudy Healy off the Water Trust Board yesterday, confirming suspicions that this Gov. wants to use most, if not all the Water Trust Board money, to fund the Ute Pipeline and other new unnamed projects.

Healy, a public member and holistic thinker on the Water Board, has represented surface and ground water users, acequia parciantes and environmentalists, says the Governor’s new, if poorly defined, plans for New Mexico are “dangerous.”

The Healy Foundation, thanks to Trudy’s husband Ed, funded aquifer mapping both for Taos County and throughout the state. The Foundation funded courses at NMSU for regulators and inspectors as well as specific community acequia and watershed restoration projects and a film called “The Water Haulers,” which helped persuade Congress to fund the Navajo-Gallup water project.

For ten years Trudy Healy served on the WTB, as treasurer and on the project review committee, which vetted and funded community water projects in phases. The Water Trust Board program began under Gov. Richardson. Healy, a Richardson appointee, who was confirmed repeatedly and unanimously by the NM Senate, said a “flunky” signed the letter dismissing her yesterday. “At least Gov. Richardson signed his own letters,” she said.

According to Friction research, Scott Verhines, the state engineer, is the proverbial “fox in the hen house.” Though he has allegedly placed his stock in “Occam engineering” in a blind trust, the firm is responsible for guiding the Ute Pipeline project, which aims to drain a lake in favor of developing real estate in southeastern New Mexico, due to the area’s dependence on the diminishing  Ogallala aquifer, according to news reports.

Recently, a judge ruled that New Mexico could be sued by Texas, which state wants more water from the Rio Grande, and which decision, consequently, threatens New Mexico irrigators dependent on ground water pumping. In other words, Texas wants New Mexico to send more water from whatever source down the Rio Grande.

The movida announced by the Gov., see Journal excerpt below, appears to be an attempt by the Gov. and Verhines to generate $112 million in new funds from the state aimed at supporters, including the Ute Pipeline project and at redirecting funds away from traditional New Mexico communities. The losers include a myriad of small water trust board projects already in “process” and being “phased” in toward completion throughout New Mexico.

Here’s an excerpt from the Jan. 28-29 Editorial:

“Gov. Susana Martinez has opened the floodgates to competition for precious water project money, asking lawmakers to approve $112 million in capital outlay money for water initiatives in the 2014-15 fiscal year, which begins in July.”

“However, lawmakers are balking at the idea of approving a pot of money without knowing what it’s likely to be spent for.”

According to Healy, the Governor does not understand water or the duties of the Water Trust Board, which she called “a beautiful thing” because the board possesses the expertise and the ability to implement projects throughout the state in a balanced and holistic way.

It sounds like Colorado is after our water in the north and Texas in the south. And you can bet California, Arizona, and Nevada want to cut off the San Juan-Chama water from the Colorado that helps feed the Rio Grande. This means that Taos is at the nexus of the not so new civil war for water in the west.