SAVE

YOUR
WATER RIGHTS

Catron County Water Coalition

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THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT A NEW PROTEST HAS NOT BEEN SET BY THE STATE ENGINEER'S OFFICE YET

YOU MUST SUBMIT AN ORIGINAL AND TWO COPIES (3 TOTAL)

SEND YOUR LETTER CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

Note that the legal notice for the amended application submitted by Augustin Plains Ranch LLC should occur on or about June 16, 2008. When the new date for protest submissions is published, the info below will apply.

Mail: the Office of the State Engineer, 121 Tijeras NE, Suite 2000, Albuquerque, NM 87102-3465

Fax: 505/764-3892 provided the original is hand-delivered or postmarked within 24 hours after transmission of the fax.

But that's not all!

Follow-through is crucial! Working together in an organized fashion, we have a better chance of success. It is imperative after we each have filed our protests that we then work together to keep on top of this issue. This means keeping in touch with the Water Coalition, forwarding any information you learn of about water issues to the Coalition, and being willing to work with the Coalition in a solid front to protect our water rights. Sometime subsequently (it could be months), people will need to appear at the pre-hearing (see below) and speak out (administrative cost to do this is $25).

Science and law will be needed to fight this! Join with the Catron County Water Coalition or join some other group – or hire an attorney and a hydrologist on your own!

Whatever you do, make sure it is effective! Other forms of public pressure, such as phone calls, petitions, emails, letters to editors, contacting of legislators, etc. will be helpful - but FIRST as many protest letters as possible must be filed! The protest letters are the first legal steps to take, so please be sure to file your letter before you do anything else.

The process - or what happens next?

The process for protested applications works as follows:

1. An application is filed with the OSE.
2. The applicant must publish a notice in a newspaper(s) of the OSE’s choosing, to ensure enough coverage. In this case, the legal notice was published in more than just the Mountain Mail. There was an additional paper or two in the Reserve and Silver City areas. The Deming office of the OSE has been receiving comments, too.
3. After the three weeks of public notification in the newspapers, there is an additional 10 day protest period during which written protests can be accepted.
4. Once the protest period closes (for Augustin Plains Ranch LLC protests, the original date was close of business, December 17,2007), all comments are documented, packaged, and sent to the OSE Litigation Office in Santa Fe. It is at this point that the OSE actually begins consideration of an application.
5. If a protest is filed (as in this case), the Litigation Office will contact the applicant and protestants and arrange a pre-hearing to set up timelines, etc. (It can be weeks to months before the pre-hearing date is set, depending on the various circumstances).
6. When the hearing is held, the OSE is called in as an expert witness, and presents the State’s case, including considerations such as water rights, impacts, hydrology, and local issues. Usually, the OSE witnesses will be the staff member handling the application and a supervisor as a backup. The case decision is made by the Hearing Examiner, who is appointed by the State Engineer. Members of the public who speak are expected to follow rules of evidence, as in court. You will need evidence and documentation! If you do speak, please work with Coalition attorneys so you can present the strongest possible case.
7. If the protestants do not like the outcome, then the case can be appealed to District Court.
   

Thanks go to Dara Parker, Field Representative from the Office of U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, for providing most of the above information about the process.

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contact: water@catroncounty.net  (575) 773-4835