Commissioners Vote 3-2 to drop protest against El Prado Transfer

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future were in the Taos County Commission chambers. The elected ones voted three to two to drop the protest against El Prado Water and Sanitation District’s (EPWSD) requested transfer of 250 acre feet of water from the Gallagher Ranch in northern Taos County, up there in the area of Sunshine. Former Questa mayor Esther Garcia spoke against permitting the transfer, noting the need for water and water rights by Questenos and their vecinos up north in Cerro, Costilla, Amalia, etc.

But the current mayor of Questa, also a commissioner, Mark Gallegos, voted with the Taos boys, Blankenhorn and Fambro to drop the protest against a third good old boy, the District’s John Painter. Commission chair Blankenhorn spoke persuasively as if the defendant’s attorney, offering him leading questions and soft balls, which the Painter hit out of the park. I mean it was all so “pragmatic.”

Commissioner O’Donnell cross-examined Painter and Commissioner Romero spoke in favor of the Plaintiff and “Public Welfare” committee, preaching cooperation. Both Commissioners voted to continue the protest despite the cost, due to the importance of maintaining the welfare of entire county the in terms of mitigating the risks of impairment and in favor of conserving watersheds and water sources.

But, when you measure the risk of litigation against the potential dollars, some $130 million, which will begin flowing into the mouths of thirsty Taosenos from the federal mammary glands, well, what can you do. Hey, Painter’s “District” is helping Charmin’ Joey jump-start the airport expansion contract, which is worth another $24 million in federal funds to Taosenos. I mean these Taosenos know how to lobby the feds what with ten million here and ten million there all adding up.

You can see Barrone, Bellis, Blankenhorn, Fambro, and Gallegos all wound up in a cabal aimed at the good of the community. Oh, yes, the good old boys (I use the term affectionately and figuratively) can see where the Town of Taos toaster is and how their bread will be buttered. And what’s wrong with investing capital in growth? Isn’t the billionaire planning to invest hundreds of millions in Taos Ski Valley? And shouldn’t we get the airport up to speed?

Sure, retired district judge, Peggy Nelson made the point that the Gallagher Farm “paper water rights” entitled the EPWS District to “dead water.” And she asked if the commissioners and the District wouldn’t be better served by “real water” rights. It’s a house of cards,” she said. But  the Painter drew a picture of the District’s need for “main-stem” water rights on the Rio Grande and reiterated his mantra and blamed the Office of the State Engineer’s demands for the district’s plight.

Alas, my friend, nobody spoke in favor of the fish or fishery or the impairment of the Rio Grande.

The EPWSD serves about 1100 people with 380 meters, according to Painter and Manager Christine Martinez. The District’s balance sheet, posted on the state auditor’s web site, shows about $11 million in total capital assets, and about $2.2 million in liabilities, adding up to a net worth of $7.3 million, taking depreciation into account, etc.

Painter assured O’Donnell that the District was in good shape financially. According to the balance sheet the District has about $2.1 million invested in water rights. Recent reports suggest the District needs about 100 acre-feet of water rights to serve its current residential and commercial members. Yet, the EPSWD, according to Painter, himself paints a picture of needing some 525 afy (acre feet per year) within forty years.

So the District is preparing for 2055, more or less.

Today, the District’s annual operating revenues, charges for services (meters) add up to $ 256, 167 for water, according to their balance sheet. (Caveat: as operator of a small trailer park with 5 meters, I am responsible for 1.3% of the District’s meters, according to the stats!) Now, you might ask yourself, based on this tiny stream of income, how the District became so mighty and why the tail of the district is wagging the dog in Taos Valley?

Everything is about “more or less” when it comes to the Abeyta-Taos Pueblo Water Settlement, including the analysis of geologic layers that lie below the surface of the Taos Valley, some of the most complex geology in the world, according to Chris Pieper, who quoted New Mexico Tech’s well-known expert, Paul Bauer.

TVAA’s 54 acequias, Town of Taos, and EPWSD, as well as the 11 Mutual Domestic Water Consumer Association (MDWCA) needed to reach an agreement with Taos Pueblo, which aims at conserving the Buffalo Pasture east of El Prado and along the foothills of the Sangres. This means they, the signatories, must drill a series of  18 (?) mitigation wells for storage and recovery systems or as sources that will not impair surface water upstream. It’s a kind of shell game forced by the Pueblo on the signatories,  lest the indigenous ones grab all the rights they are historically entitled to.

So the District must now drill deep wells, like the Town’s test well at the airport of some 1700 feet, then pump the water up and back along the Highway 64 corridor to the District’s residents, instead of using the El Torreon well right there next to the district headquarters at El Torreon, adjacent to Fred’s El Meze restaurant, which will be capped per agreement with Taos Pueblo.

A so-called “cat napper,” Stella Gallegos, one of the El Salto “Rip Van Winkles” appeared along with cohorts yesterday and revealed that the El Salto MDWCA members had been duped by a fellow board member, who had signed off on Abeyta. This is a frequent complaint made by parciantes and persons affected by the agreement, who were purposely kept in the dark, due to their trust and/or distaste for folks like TVAA’s Palemon Martinez, as much despised as praised, for his decades-long devotion to the 40 years or so of the legal fracas.

Nobody has been more vocal or tenacious than the parciantes on the Spring Ditch, who are fighting the Town of Taos tooth and nail due the town’s “impairment” of their source because of Water Well No. 5 and the back-door permitting of Cody West’s Central Station behind La Belle cleaners. Both Jerome Lucero and David Rael denounced the Town and TVAA for either their back-door assault or front-door refusal to support the impaired ditch. But they are in the minority, like cat napper Stella of El Salto.

“It’s a done deal,” she lamented.

Oh, yes, “deception” and “double-dealing” will occur when millions of dollars are at stake in the water wars. In Painter John’s defense, he’s a veteran of “lost opportunity.” He knows the County, long ago, thanks to the Tres Ritos Association, lost a chance at 29,000 acre feet of San-Juan Chama Water, according to the late Rudy Pacheco. Similarly, Fast Fred and Slick Gus from the Town of Taos refused to negotiate and buy some 1500 acre feet or so of Top of the World Water Rights when they could have gotten the water cheap.  And even the District itself, as Painter John noted,  got out-maneuvered by Tom Worrell, who bought and sold said Top of the World water rights to Santa Fe County.

Now John is fighting back against sleepy Taosenos.

Ironically, John said yesterday that the District bought the Gallagher Farm from Fred Fair and Donald Rumsfeld (John’s longtime El Prado neighbors). How Fair and Rumsfeld managed to get the Gallagher Ranch into the Red River adjudication process is unknown, since the farm, historically, rarely grew anything, according to Peggy Nelson’s anecdotal remarks yesterday. But when you’ve got a mild mannered Canadian smuggler fronting for a neo-con torture specialist, well, you can only imagine how easy it was for the “Donald” to pick up a million bucks from the rubes in Painter John’s District.

Better late than never.

Oh, yes, Taos is and always will be at the center of the Universe when it comes to one degree of separation between the dark side and the enlightened ones. If you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas. And some of the protesters have come too late to the table. The dinner bell rang for you but a long time ago.

By the way, the Bellis/Barrone administration erected another unnecessary metal traffic sign just past the entrance to the historic Plaza yesterday, adding to the visual clutter. They will plead “public safety,” the rationale of every bureaucrat.  But why is this administration so intent on creating more scars and visual blight in the wake of their alleged support for Historic Preservation?

No wonder the support for Councilor Cantu’s alleged vendetta is growing.