Friday, November 7, 2014

COURT DECLINES TO JUMP IN THE WATER, DROUGHT UPDATE

From Albuquerque Business First

The New Mexico Supreme Court has denied a

motion to dismiss an application for a massive

water project proposed by Augustin Plains Ranch LLC.

The motion was filed last month by the New Mexico

Environmental Law Center on behalf of a couple living

in western New Mexico. They claimed that the application

filed by Augustin is identical to one rejected by

the state engineer several years ago.

Read the entire article here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2014/10/30/state-supreme-court-wont-stop-massive-water.html

Carol and Ray Pittman

"We continue to fight the water miners' efforts

to take the water from the Augustin Plains

basin. It is important to understand that the

refusal of the Supreme Court to hear our

petition, while it was a disappointment, does

not mean that we are out of options."

"Remember that Bruce Frederick

has to fight this battle for us on the

basis of legal technicalities,

as the water miners have provided no

substantive information. The applications,

both new and old, fail to meet the requirements

of the law. Submitting a "new" application is a

game being played by the Augustin Plains Ranch.

And we need to stop the game."

Carol Pittman

And here's an article from the Socorro Defensor Chieftain:

Supreme Court side-steps water grab issue

by John Larson | November 6, 2014 | Filed under: News

The New Mexico Supreme Court last week chose not to

consider a petition filed by Ray and Carol Pittman of Datil to

order the Office of the State Engineer to dismiss an application

from San Augustin Plains Ranch LLC.

As outlined in its application, the company’s plan is to pump

54,000 acre-feet of water per year from the San Agustin

aquifer and transfer it by pipeline to sell to communities as far

north as Rio Rancho.

The Pittmans had asked the Supreme Court to determine

whether public water shall remain open to appropriation for

beneficial use or whether public water can be monopolized by

speculators, not for their own use, but for profitable sales in

future markets.

The petition for the writ of mandamus was filed by New Mexico

Environmental Law Center attorney Bruce Frederick for the
Pittmans on Sept. 22.

In the petition, the Pittmans argue that a second application
filed by the company this summer is “identical in all material
respects” to its original application filed in 2007, which was
denied by the state engineer.

Frederick said the court may have rejected it because of a

separation of powers issue.
“We’re still in limbo,” Frederick said.
“The application is still sitting there in the state engineer’s office.”
Frederick said the state engineer must reject the 2014

application for the same legal reasons that he denied the 2007
application.

Carol Pittman said she and her husband still have recourse.
“We are going to back to the court of Judge Reynolds, who has

already denied the current application, and ask him to enforce
it,” Carol Pittman said. “We won’t give up until we absolutely
have to.”

The drought monitor is important for numerous

reasons. But in the San Augustin case it's helpful if

the foreigners can't use the drought to promote their

cause. It's scare tactics - not unusual for mafia types.

A Storm Across the Valley, Tim Cox

Long Range Precipitation/Drought Outlook
The official NOAA Climate Prediction Center
outlook for New Mexico precipitation during
November 2014 favors above normal
precipitation over much of the state. The
outlook from November through January 20
also leans toward better chances of above
normal precipitation, especially across
southern New Mexico.