(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.
After hot debate, county backs anti-diversion bill Written by Geoffrey Plant on March 15, 2021
Copious time was again spent on the Gila River diversion group’s fate at last week’s regular meeting of the Grant County Commission.
Discussion at the Thursday meeting was dominated by arguments for and against a nonbinding resolution in support of legislation that seeks to place the state Water Trust Board into the role currently played by the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project, advising the state on how $80 million in water project funding
should be spent throughout Grant, Catron, Hidalgo and Luna counties.
Bill to sideline diversion group passes committee Written by Geoffrey Plant on February 17, 2021
A bill that seeks to sideline the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project received a “do pass” recommendation by the state House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee on Saturday in a 5-3 party-line vote.
Committee member and District 15 Democratic state Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil attended Saturday’s hearing but did not cast a vote regarding House Bill 200.
District 50 N.M. Rep. Matthew McQueen, sponsor of the bill, titled “Water Trust Board Projects and NM Unit Fund,” explained the proposed law’s purpose to the committee, which met virtually via Zoom due to the pandemic, by telling them why he wanted to use a different title for the legislation.
February 12, 2021
Gila diversion group asserts primacy as legislation threatens Written by Geoffrey Plant on February 12, 2021
With a proposal in Santa Fe threatening its very existence, the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project the group that was formed in 2015 to build the ultimately unsuccessful Gila diversion project is having to defend the role it could play when it comes to administering the more than $80 million in the N.M. Unit Fund.
The massive pot of money is destined to be spent, per the 2004 federal Arizona Water Settlements Act, either on a ※New Mexico Unit,” i.e., a surface water diversion, or on ※other water utilization alternatives to meet water supply demands in the Southwest Water Planning Region of New Mexico.”