Thursday, August 29, 2024
Order Confirms Another Water Win for NM
Reserve, NM —On Friday, August 23, Judge Roscoe Woods of the 7th Judicial District entered a final order that the New Mexico State Engineer was correct in denying an application to mine and hoard tens of thousands of acre feet of water per year of San Agustin Plains groundwater.
The water transfer application was submitted by Augustin Plains Ranch (APR) LLC, a New York-based company owned by Italian billionaire Bruno Modena. This is yet another water win for New Mexico.
The judge’s decision was based on the fact that the application is speculative—ruling that APR failed to point to any end users that would rely on the water. New Mexico state law does not allow anyone to hoard water for someone’s hypothetical future use.
On April 5, in a standing-room-only courtroom, nearly one hundred community members heard the arguments of several attorneys awaiting a ruling on APR’s request to pump 54,000 acre feet per year of groundwater from the San Agustin Plains, a closed groundwater basin (meaning the basin has no outlet ) and the basin is not recharged by perennial streams. A closed basin will not be recharged or replenished and once the groundwater is pumped out the basin will be dry. …
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