.
FOREIGN WOULD-BE WATER THIEVES
TURNED DOWN!
TURNED DOWN!
"TELL THE GUMBA NO AGUA"
BUMPER STICKERS CREDITED FOR
AIDING IN DECISION!
.
The following info was released yesterday by the
New Mexico Environmental Law Center.
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State Engineer Denies Augustin Plains Ranch
Groundwater Application
Groundwater Application
San
Augustin Plains community members were overjoyed by the State
Engineer's denial of the most recent iteration of Augustin Plains
Ranch’s application to mine 17 billion gallons of water annually.
We have been saying it for years:
Augustin Plains Ranch’s application for withdrawal of 54,000 acre feet
per year of groundwater is speculative. On August 1st, the State
Engineer agreed and denied the ranch's application to withdraw
groundwater from its property near Datil.
Speculation
means, simply, that an applicant has not clearly and specifically
stated "the purposes, places of use, or amounts of use" for the water
they are applying for, including details on how the water would be
delivered to any users.
The Law
Center and our clients convinced the State Engineer to deny the Ranch's
first application in 2012 and we also won on appeal in state District
Court in early 2013. Since then, the Ranch has filed multiple
applications, corrections and modifications.
This
has been a critically important fight for us and our clients. A bad
decision would have set a precedent that could dry up rural communities
throughout New Mexico.
Read More: See the Augustin Plains Ranch page on our website and read the State Engineer's Report and Recommendations
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