The next round with the foreigners is now scheduled:
Thursday, November 12, at 1:15 pm
Socorro County Courthouse
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We'll have more up about the issue at hand -
the who-what-why - but basically it's a legal strategy
by the enemy: trying get an earlier decision
that ruled in the good guys' favor
to be set aside. It's legal wrangling. This is NOT a hearing on their latest application.
More coming.
* GOOD NEWS! Some members of the New Mexico Legislature's Interim Committee on Water and Natural Resources have all made recent statements questioning or outright opposing the WATER GRAB. Eileen Dodds of the Water Coalition got some terrific information at their Aug 31-Sept 1 meeting. We'll have some quotes and more in our next posting.
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Drought Fears Subside - LLC Shuts Up!
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Compare the above to the situation
in July of 2013 - 27 months ago.
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At this point in 2013, and for months and
months following, the foreigners kept up the
salesman's spiel that only NEW sources of
water would save us from the drought,
such as, or most especially, the aquifer they want to tap, the San Augustin Plains aquifer.
Our only hope was to welcome the
thieves and end up buying what was ours
to begin with. What bullshit.
There were other new sources of water,
and so we tapped into these other "reserves"
one might say. Keep the devil out of here.
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They've now shut their traps about drought. We pray further that they'll eventually shut up about all of it, and stay in (or go back to) their homelands, where fraud, theft, and lying must be typical national pastimes. At least among the high and mighty.... at least (or especially) when it involves Americans. It certainly appears as such.
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.”
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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.
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A Storm Across the Valley, Tim Cox
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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.
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1 Month Precipitation CPC Outlooks
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3 Month Precipitation CPC Outlooks
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ON THE RIO GRANDE - SAN ILDEFONSO, 1905, Edward S. Curtis
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Below is
an animation of the weekly U.S. Drought monitor for
2014 (through early
October) across the United States. Note
how the drought worsens over New
Mexico through most of
May before improving from late May through this
summer.
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11/16 The Sangre de Cristo Range in Colorado and New Mexico,
as well as the San Juan Mountains further west, all got their first major blast of winter this week.
The Rio Grande snowpack is off to a good start.
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STOP THE WATER GRAB!
“There can never be any real freedom on earth
as long as people try to exert ownership over
the natural resources of the world.” Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
A
ranching family is asking the state Supreme Court to weigh in on a
fight over a $600 million proposal that calls for piping billions of
gallons of water from rural western New Mexico to more populated areas
of the drought-stricken state. Attorneys for Ray and Carol Pittman filed a motion Monday asking the
court to order the state’s top water official to reject the latest
application by Augustin Plains Ranch to pump and pipe water to
supplement dwindling supplies in the Rio Grande Valley. The commercial venture’s previous application was rejected two years
ago. It was one of the most contested filings in the history of the
state engineer’s office, and critics also have raised concerns about the
latest application. The court filing argues the application seeks to appropriate about
17.6 billion gallons of water a year but fails to indicate how or where
the water will be used. “By keeping the intended use vague, the ranch hopes to speculate in
future water markets and ultimately sell to whoever the highest bidders
may be in seven counties,” said Bruce Frederick, an attorney with the
New Mexico Environmental Law Center, which is representing the Pittmans. Frederick said that under state law, the state engineer has a duty to
dismiss applications that fail to state a purpose for the water or an
end user. The state engineer’s office is reviewing the latest application but has yet to make any decision. Officials with Augustin Plains Ranch said the court filing is an
attempt by opponents and special interests to block what would be a
public process if the state engineer grants a hearing on the
application. “Their desire to use the court to circumvent the state engineer
before that office has had a chance to do its job puts the cart before
the horse and wastes time and money,” said Whitney Waite, a spokeswoman
for the ranch. She said the latest application is more specific than the last one
and includes information about the feasibility of the project, technical
details and demand for drinking water.
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And here's a more detailed account from the
New Mexico Environmental Law Center:
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Residents ask state Supreme Court to rule in Augustin Plains water grab case
Santa Fe, NM — Today, a retired couple from western New
Mexico asked the state Supreme Court to order the State Engineer to
dismiss a massive speculative water appropriation application from
Augustin Plains Ranch, LLC (“APR”).
In their petition for a writ of mandamus, filed by attorney Bruce
Frederick of the non-profit New Mexico Environmental Law Center, Ray and
Carol Pittman state that a second application filed by APR this summer
is “identical in all material respects” to the application that APR
filed in 2007. The 2007 application was denied by State Engineer Scott
Verhines and a District Court after five years of litigation. Just like
the 2007 application, the 2014 application seeks to appropriate 54,000
acre-feet of water per year (afy), but fails to indicate exactly how or
where the water will be used, as required by the state Constitution. “By
keeping the intended use vague,” said Frederick, “the Ranch hopes to
speculate in future water markets and ultimately sell to whoever the
highest bidders may be in seven counties.”
Under state law, the State Engineer has a non-discretionary duty to
dismiss applications that that fail to specify any particular purpose or
place of use of water or end user. Courts use writs of mandamus to
compel recalcitrant government agencies to perform clear duties required
of them by law. In this case, the Pittmans petitioned the state Supreme
Court to “order the State Engineer to promptly reject [APR’s] 2014
application.” “The State Engineer must reject the 2014 application for
the same legal reasons that he denied the 2007 application,” said
Frederick.
The Pittman’s efforts come in response to legal maneuvering undertaken
by APR and the State Engineer this summer. The Pittmans along with 80
neighbors eventually persuaded the State Engineer and a District Court
to deny APR’s 2007 application because it was ‘vague, over broad, lacked
specificity, and the effects of granting it cannot reasonably be
evaluated.’[1] APR then appealed to the Court of Appeals, where the case was fully briefed.
INTERVIEWS, IMAGES and EXHIBITS ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST Contact:
Bruce Frederick
Staff Attorney
New Mexico Environmental Law Center
505-989-9022, ext. 21 bfrederick@nmelc.or nmelc.org
The battle between the forces of light and those of darkness
is a subject/theme that's been explored by artists of all types - painters, musicians, writers, and now even television and film creators -
for as long as man's mortal mind has been aware of
spiritual realties that exist here on earth.
The battle is ancient, real, and ever-changing. And of course, the most well known soldier in the war against the forces of darkness, at least as far as Judeo/Christian mortals are concerned, is Saint Michael the Archangel.
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How fitting that today (9/29) we celebrate the feast day
of Saint Michael the Archangel, the protector and patron of the people of Socorro and the local region -
(San Miguel, Spanish for St. Michael).
The Socorro County Commission has
come out AGAINST the WATER GRAB.
"The fearlessness and fidelity of this mighty champion
roused
the faithful Angels, who rallied to his standard, repeating with
one accord: "Who is like unto God?" Then followed that
tremendous
battle between the good and the bad Angels which
St. John describes in
Revelation: "And there was a battle in
Heaven: Michael and his Angels
battled with the dragon, and
the dragon fought and his Angels. And they
did not prevail,
neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And
that
great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, he who is
called
the devil and Satan, who led astray the whole world" Revelations 12: 7-9
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San Miguel Mission in Socorro. Below, a whimsical wood carving of the saint from northern New Mexico.
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St. Michael the Archangel, illustrious leader of the heavenly army,
defend us in the battle against principalities and powers, against the
rulers
of the world of darkness and the spirit of wickedness in high
places.
Come to the rescue of mankind, whom God has made in His own
image
and likeness, and purchased from Satan's tyranny at so great a
price.
Holy Church venerates you as her patron and guardian.
The Lord
has entrusted to you the task of leading the souls
of the redeemed to
heavenly blessedness. Entreat the Lord of peace to cast
Satan down under
our feet, so as to keep him from further holding man
captive and doing
harm to the Church. Carry our prayers up to God's throne,
that the mercy
of the Lord may quickly come and lay hold of the beast,
the serpent of
old, Satan and his demons, casting him in chains into
the abyss, so that
he can no longer seduce the nations.
Corporation believes new application will get them all the water. Um, not so fast...
The Augustin Plains Ranch LLC water
grab case began because the Ranch, which is owned by an Italian billionaire, seeks to monopolize 54,000 acre-feet of water (enough to supply half the needs of Albuquerque) to sell to the highest bidder. Thanks to you, we were able to fight them. "We led the effort to demonstrate that the application was unconstitutional," said Staff Attorney, Bruce Frederick. Based on our arguments, the State Engineer and a District Court Judge denied the Ranch's application. The Ranch appealed.
However, it appears the State Engineer is now working with the Ranch to deprive our clients of their day before the Court of Appeals. The State Engineer has accepted a second application from the Ranch. Although this second application is substantially identical to the first, the Ranch and the State Engineer convinced the Court that the Ranch's appeal was moot. The Court dismissed the appeal, sending us back to square one. With your support, we will fight the Ranch's second application. We'll keep you apprised of the next steps. Stay tuned.
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Editor's Note: The Court apparently said nothing about how their decision was reached, and gave no indication about where they stand here. Not unusual. But get ready for a whole new fight on the new application from the Modena lawyers. This batch of Eurotrash has deep pockets, and surely they've been spreading cash around Santa Fe. Scum draws scum. Evil feeds on evil. The next round will probably get a lot nastier that the first go-round. A den of thieves. Robbers. Santa Fe - Holy Faith. Faith in what?
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Michel Jichlinski, Project Director for
Augustin Plains Ranch LLC
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People are going to need some fortitude, tenacity,
imagination, guts, and especially wisdom
if they're going to stand any chance here. Say a prayer, then go put on your game face boys and girls.
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