The controversial Gila River diversion project has entered a “closeout” phase. With no discussion, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission on Wednesday approved several line item transfers within the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project’s 2021 budget, as well as a closing budget for the 2022 fiscal year to pay for a final annual financial audit of the group. The N.M. CAP Entity’s executive director, Anthony Gutierrez, addressed …
(Daily Press File Photo by Geoffrey Plant)
In this Sept. 1 file photo, the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project meets at the Grant County Administration Building. Seated, from left, are Allen Campbell, Howard Hutchinson, Bucky Allred, Vance Lee and Ty Bays. Executive Director Anthony Gutierrez is standing.
The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission
last week voted to defund the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project, the organization that was tasked in 2015 with planning and constructing the proposed Gila River diversion project known in federal statute as the “New Mexico Unit.”
The ISC, which serves as the Entity’s primary fiscal agent, also voted to “prepare a resolution to withdraw the ISC from membership” in the diversion group, which is otherwise made up of 14 ditch associations, soil and water conservation districts, municipalities and the counties of Grant, Luna, Hidalgo and Catron.
April 7, 2021
Barring lawsuits, decision on diversion group’s fate nears Written by Geoffrey Plant on April 7, 2021
A new state law that’s set to take effect July 1 requires the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission to consult with the New Mexico Water Trust Board before it allocates any of the $80 million remaining in the N.M. Unit Fund to eligible water projects in the four counties of Grant, Hidalgo, Catron and Luna.
That’s an advisory role that had belonged to the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project, and it’s one the Entity may be prepared to fight over.
Gov’s signature sidelines Gila diversion group Written by Geoffrey Plant on April 6, 2021
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 200 into law Monday. Titled “Water Trust Board Projects and N.M. Unit Fund,” the law, which was passed by the Legislature during its regular session, assigns the advisory role over how $80 million reserved for water projects in southwest New Mexico is spent to the N.M. Water Trust Board, while simultaneously prohibiting the money from being spent on a Gila River diversion.
The New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project, formed in 2015 to design, build and operate a series of diversions with which it intended to capture up 14,000 acre-feet of surface water annually under the terms of the 2004 federal Arizona Water Settlements Act, had tried in fits and starts to recast itself in the advisory role since the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission voted to defund its diversion project las