Catron County Water Coalition

SAVE
YOUR
WATER RIGHTS

-------------

Sample letters are provided to give you inspiration, but please don't copy them - write your own letter and provide your own information and your own reasons for filing your protest. Please consider all letters provided here copyrighted.

If you think you've written a particularly good letter and others would benefit from viewing it, please send it to water@catroncounty.net. Thanks!

Letter 1 (provided by Ron Shortes, attorney & landowner in Catron County)
Letter 2 (provided by unknown person, supplied at December 4, 2007 Datil meeting)
Letter 3 (provided by John Alan Miller, MBA, J.D.)
Letter 4 (Interstate Stream Commission) [PDF download 70KB]

Letter 1 (provided by Ron Shortes, attorney)

(full name and mailing address)

(date)

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

FAX: 505-764-3892

RE: Official Protest against Application #RG-89943, Proposed Appropriation of Groundwater

Mr. Anderson:

[I / We] are opposedto the Application for Appropriation of Ground-water for proposed Well Application Number RG-89943. This Application by Augustin Plains Ranch, LLC proposes to drill thirty-seven (37) wells, all with 20-inch casing, and all approximately 2000 feet deep, to be located throughout an area of Catron County, both North and South of US Highway 60, from the Catron County/Socorro County line to near Datil, New Mexico, on land owned by Applicant. Augustin Plains Ranch generally lies within numerous sections of Township 1 South, Range 9 West, and Township 2 South, Range 9 West, N.M.P.M.

The Applicant further proposes to divert and consumptively use 54,000 acre-feet (more than 17 Billion gallons) of ground water per annum for domestic, livestock, irrigation, municipal, industrial, and commercial purposes to use, to include “providing water to the State of New Mexico to augment its capacity to meet the Rio Grande Compact deliveries to the State of Texas…at Elephant Butte Dam,” and "[offsetting] effects of ground water pumping on the Rio Grande in lieu of retirement of Agriculture" via a pipeline to the Rio Grande.

[I / We] , [reside on / own] ____________________________ [a ranch, a farm, land, a subdivision parcel] in Township _______ [North / South]; Range ______ [East / West], Section _____, more specifically described legally as follows:

[I / We] also have pre-existing, senior water rights for this property located at Township _______ [North / South]; Range ______ [East / West], Section _____, more specifically described legally as follows:

[I / We] have ________ [number of] wells or springs, the water rights for which have been established by continuous beneficial use since __________________ [closest approximate date since usage began].

[I / We] believe that the proposed Application for the taking of water by Augustin Plains Ranch, LLC will significantly, substantially and seriously impair or even destroy [my / our] pre-existing water rights. It has been suggested or implied that the removal of well water from a depth of over 2000 feet would not affect [my / our] existing senior water rights. [I / We] emphatically disagree with that statement. [I / We] feel that any deep-taking of such an extreme amount of water would ultimately have a profound effect on the water table and existing wells, as well as on surface water and the environment as a whole.

Therefore, if this Application were to be granted, [I / we] believe that removal of the groundwater to the drastic level stated in the Application (over 17 Billion gallons per year) would have a specific, substantial and profoundly negative effect on [my / our] pre-existing, senior water rights. [My / Our] existing water rights are essential to [my / our] use and enjoyment of [my / our] land, and to [my / our] livelihood, and to [my / our] rights to the fair market value of [my / our] property.

Secondly, [I / we] believe that taking the amount of ground water stated in the Application grossly violates any notion of water conservation, and would be detrimental to the public welfare of the State of New Mexico, as well as being detrimental to the environment, including wildlife, human and vegetation. [I / We] do not believe that this taking can be accomplished without a substantial loss of water from the existing water-table. It clearly will involve a very substantial loss (more than 17 Billion gallons per year lost) from of this water system and ecosystem. Obviously, this water is necessary for preservation of human life and enjoyment, as well as for preservation and support of wildlife, livestock and vegetation in this ecosystem.

This proposed project is detrimental to the public welfare of the citizens of Catron County and Socorro County, and is contrary to the conservation of groundwater in the State because the taking of 54,000 acre-feet of ground water (over 17 Billion gallons) per year from a depth of approximately 2000 feet will have a direct negative effect on the people who have existing wells North, South, East and West of the proposed wells' locations.

The proposed wells would also be detrimental to the public welfare and the environment of the area because they would also be near several ranges of mountains, in close proximity to the many natural springs near those mountains. These natural surface springs are a primary source of water for local wildlife, including elk. These natural springs would suffer a substantial negative impact by the removal of such a large volume of groundwater, and could dry up altogether.

As [I / we] [am / are] sure you are aware, the effect of the prolonged drought (which is expected to continue) in the region has severely reduced the amount of groundwater which has historically been available in the proposed area of this Application. In fact, numerous landowners throughout Catron County have already had to deepen their existing wells due to the falling water table, and some landowners have even been faced with having repeated "dry holes" drilled throughout the vicinity and surrounding area of the RG-89943 Application.

The taking of such an extreme amount of water from the underlying water system could likely create havoc on the existing water table, causing the current level for the water table to fall substantially upon the continuing removal of such a major portion of the underlying water supply for the region. The result of any significant drop in the current water level would be that [my / our] existing wells could "dry up", or that [I / we] would have to substantially deepen existing wells in order to get down to the lowered water table. Surface springs could dry up altogether, with a devastating negative effect on wildlife (including endangered species like the Mexican Gray Wolf or bald eagle) and livestock. Vegetation and forests, already heavily impacted by the bark beetle, would be further stressed as the water table falls, substantially increasing the already serious fire danger throughout the region.

[ I / We] also believe that approval of this Application would be a gross violation against the public good, and detrimental to the public welfare, not only for Catron County, but for the entire State of New Mexico, and would result in the irreparable loss of an irreplaceable resource (groundwater) which the State Engineer's Office is supposed to protect on behalf of the citizens of New Mexico.

It would potentially destroy [my / our] land and [my / our] use and enjoyment of [my / our] land, and would negatively impact the whole area, potentially changing this land from a semi-arid (but beautiful) part of the Southwest and Southwestern New Mexico into a barren desert, unable to support human life, or wildlife or livestock or vegetation.

This "taking" of this irreplaceable groundwater from the citizens of Catron County for the purpose of "providing water to the State of Texas" is totally and absolutely unjustified as some distorted notion of "the end justifies the means". It would usurp the pre-existing, senior water rights of an entire region of New Mexico.

The wanton destruction and sacrifice of the economy, culture and environment of one entire agriculturally-based area of New Mexico, which already has pre-existing, long-standing senior water rights in place, to favor an ill-conceived and speculative "scheme" to transfer the water away to another State, or even to another part of the State of New Mexico, is without any socially or morally redeeming value, and is completely contrary to the public welfare and the function of the Office of the State Engineer. You simply cannot justify destroying the agricultural interests of one part of the State to "save the agricultural interests" of the Rio Grande Basin, especially when the water would end up at the Rio Grande anyway without interference.

Water-use in a desert environment like New Mexico needs to be reasonable and well-thought-out, not flagrant. The water is just not there at the levels it was historically--prior to the rapid population growth which has been occurring throughout the area. As more and more people move into the State, and particularly into the more rural areas which used to have a lower population spread across the resource, water conservation should be the foremost responsibility of all citizens.

Please do not grant Application #RG 89943 for the Appropriation of 54,000 acre-feet of Groundwater (more than 17 Billion gallons per year) in the area described in the Permit Application on the Plains of San Augustin North and South of U.S. Highway 60 from the Catron County/Socorro County line to Datil, New Mexico. If you grant this Application, you will be betraying your public trust and the public welfare, and you will destroy both a way of life and an environment in Catron County and Socorro County that are unique and irreplaceable.

Thank you for your consideration of this protest against Application RG-89943.

(signature)

# # #

Letter 2 (note this letter may not provide enough detail to get the job done)

(Name)
(Return address)

(date)

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

RE: No. RG-89943

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

Having been made aware of the application by Augustine Plains Ranch LLC, for permit to appropriate underground water, I am requesting that this letter be considered my formal protest to issuance of a permit for such appropriation. This applicant proposes to drill 37 wells with 20 inch casings, approximately 2000 feet in depth on land in Catron County. This application also proposes to divert 54,000 acre-feet of ground water per annum for various purposes including providing water to the State of New Mexico to augment its capacity to meet Rio Grande Compact deliveries to the state of Texas.

The above named application is contrary to the conservation of water within Catron County and our State and is inconsistent with established senior water rights in this area.

Respectfully

Signature

# # #

Letter 3

John & Kristina Miller
Address
Phone

December 7, 2007

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

FORMAL PROTEST -- Against the application for UNLAWFUL Groundwater Appropriation -- #RG-89943

Legal action will be taken if the subject Groundwater Appropriation Application is approved. As a Datil, New Mexico property owner in Wildwood II estates, with pre-existing water rights, we see Augustin Plains Ranch, LLC's proposed Well Application Number RG-89943 as a serious threat to our water rights, and an illegal use (FAR in EXCESS of proper historical use) in this area.

An approval is an illegal disregard for the welfare of Catron County citizens, and a will be a violation of the lawful fiduciary duties required to be upheld by a public official. The removal of billion gallons of ground water per year will definitely damage our water rights, as well as the environment. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE NECESSITATING LEGAL ACTION.

Sincerely,

John Alan Miller, MBA, J.D.

# # #

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