Judge Roscoe Woods, Seventh Judicial District Court Judge,
denied the application from the Augustin Plains Ranch LLC to pump
54,000 acre feet of water a year from the San Agustin Plains basin at
the Catron County Court house this morning, April 5, in Reserve, New
Mexico.
There was standing room only with over one hundred people
present at the hearing in protest as lawyers shared their arguments for
almost five hours.
The State Engineer, the Carol Pittman protestants group,
the Catron county board of commissioners and the community protestants
argued the application was speculative, had no commitments from an end
user and lacked an imperative necessity for the water, among other
arguments.
In their defense, the Augustin Plains LLC’s lawyer argued
there was a demand, a thorough proposal of plans and listed six counties
as the targeted end users of the water.
The San Agustin Basin, about fifty miles west of Socorro,
supplies water to northwestern Socorro and northeastern Catron County.
The first drilling application was submitted by Augustin Plains Ranch,
LLC in 2007.
*Editor’s note: a detailed article will be available pending a written order from a judge.
STOP THE WATER GRAB "Since water is vital to life, shortages can foster severe crises including the following four categories of water wars: [1, 3, and 4 do not apply here but 2 DOES!]
2. The wars for entrepreneurial control: These wars are evidenced by transnational corporations purchasing water companies and resources around the world. Since these companies are in business for profit, once they have a monopoly on a system the price of water usually escalates. For example, in the years following the privatization of water services in Britain, the price for water increased an average of 67 percent and in some areas up to 450 percent. People who couldn’t afford to pay their bills had their water shut off. This resulted in a sixfold increase of dysentery." William Marks in The Holy Order of Water
LAW #7 of the ELEVEN LAWS OF WATER Fight to free our water. Fight to keep our water pure, and fight to keep water reserves free and open to all. Never allow natural arsenals of water to be privatized. Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
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.
When we last spoke with you: The state engineer’s office had given the Augustin Plains Ranch LLC until the
end of the year to provide more specifics on what type of water rights
would be developed, how the water would be used and what municipalities
or industries would benefit.
The foreigners, even with all of their legal-beagle trash working full time, couldn't come up with diddly-doodle, and so they LOST Round 2. Now they have another "revamped" application submitted to the state engineer. Round 3 will start up as soon as the state engineer posts official NOTICE of the new application in the local papers.
Our foreign operators seem unable to get a "taker" for the agua who will sign on the dotted line. That's not surprising really. Even the dimwits in Rio Rancho would be, could be, should be....hesitant about getting involved in un-American, anti-American crap like this. If the Modena Organization is encouraged in any way, you can be sure the Veterans groups and pro-Americans across the state will be screaming bloody murder, when all the facts come to light. And well they should. According to law:
New Mexico water belongs to New Mexicans....
PERIOD! Not to a bunch of foreign thieves
who hide behind lawyers and scumbags like their Project Director, Michel Jichlinski, whose firm got caught red-handed stealing millions and millions of American tax dollars on war zone contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. These people are dangerous.... these people are pigs.
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STOP THE WATER GRAB! “If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment.” Confucius
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.
