Blankenhorn’s Defense of El Prado Water and Sanitation’s Transfer

From the Desk of Tom Blankenhorn

Taos County Regular Commission Meeting
February 17, 2015

El Prado Water and Sanitation District Proposed Water Rights Transfer

In 2012, a prior Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to oppose the transfer of water rights from the Gallagher and Top of the World ranches, located north of Questa, to the El Prado Water and Sanitation District. After several hours of public testimony and nearly an hour in Executive Session, the current Commission voted 3-2 to withdraw the protest. I was one of the three Commissioners who voted to withdraw the protest, and I did so for the following reasons.

The El Prado Water and Sanitation District purchased the water rights in question because the State Engineer determined that the District needs water rights from the Rio Grande basin in order to satisfy the District’s water usage. The Gallagher and Top of the World water rights are in the Rio Grande basin and most of them have not been seriously used for agricultural purposes for decades. I believe that it is better for the water rights to be held by the El Prado Water District where they can be used to make up the District’s water deficit, then it is for those water rights to remain unused, and subject to purchase outside of Taos County

The water that is needed to serve the present and future customers of El Prado Water and Sanitation District has to come from somewhere. It currently comes from deep wells located within the community of El Prado. The hydrologists who worked on the Abeyta Settlement concluded that some of El Prado’s water production must come from deep wells closer to the Rio Grande in order to relieve the burden on the Rio Lucero and the Pueblo’s Buffalo Pasture. If and when the new wells are drilled, their effects on the Rio Grande and the waters of our valley will be monitored. The best science that we have available indicates that the deep wells closer to the Rio Grande will not significantly diminish the aquifer under our valley, nor the flow of the Rio Grande.

The functioning and reasonable future growth of the El Prado Water and Sanitation District is a good thing because it promotes water conservancy and water quality by providing services in lieu of a thousand individual wells and septic systems. Reasonable growth also allows for some economic growth that may provide a means of earning a living for our children and grandchildren.

Waging the battle to oppose the water rights transfer would cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the El Prado District and Taos County with very little chance of succeeding in front of the State Engineer. By allowing the transfer, the State Engineer would enable El Prado Water and Sanitation to get out of its deficit with the State Engineer and it would significantly advance the implementation of the Abeyta Settlement, which the State Engineer played a large role in crafting. In addition, the Abeyta Settlement includes 130 million dollars in Federal spending that would go into the development of wells and the pipes to transport the water. It is very unlikely that the State Engineer would deny the transfer regardless of the County’s opposition.

I believe that our best hopes for water lie in wise conservation using the latest technologies to prevent our water usage from outstripping its replenishment by nature. I also believe that the El Prado District can use the water more efficiently than it would be used by pivot irrigating arid land that has not been seriously farmed in decades, and that it is better to bank those rights within the District than to leave them on the market for potential sale outside of Taos County.

The Commissioners who voted to withdraw the protest were Fambro, Gallegos, and myself. Commissioners O’Donnell and Romero voted to continue with the protest against the transfer.

Taos Ski Valley TIDD (Tax Increment Development District)

The developer at the Taos Ski Valley is going to provide approximately $45 million dollars of public infrastructure and parks, including the extension of new electric, natural gas and fiber optics from Town into the Ski Valley. The TIDD will allow the developer to recoup that investment over a 25 year period by allocating a portion of the State’s, Village of Taos Ski Valley’s and Taos County’s increases in tax revenues coming from the project back to the developer. The State is pledging 50% of their increased tax revenues, the Ski Valley has pledged 75% of theirs and the County agreed by unanimous vote to commit 35% of the increase in its property taxes from within Taos Ski Valley as a result of the new development.

The development at the ski valley is projected to generate nearly 30 million dollars in additional tax revenues for Taos County over the next 25 years. Our commitment of approximately 6 million of those additional revenues is a demonstration of our partnership, and an acknowledgement of the benefits that this development can bring to all of Taos County.

The TIDD was overwhelmingly approved by the Taos Ski Valley voters this fall, and now must be approved by the House and Senate and be signed by the Governor. We are all optimistic that this bill can become law.