Saturday, August 23, 2008

Company seeks deeper wells

Argen Duncan El Defensor Chieftain Reporter, aduncan@dchieftain.com

The company seeking permission to pump 17.6 billion gallons of water a year from under the San Agustin Plains has published notice of their approved amended application.

The amendments propose drilling the 37 wells up to 3,000 feet deep, instead of the previous 2,000, and add to the list of proposed places of use. Any areas within Socorro, Catron, Sierra, Valencia, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties that are in the Rio Grande Basin are listed as proposed places of use, as is the Catron County land belonging to the company, Augustin Plains Ranch LLC.

"They clarified it, really," said Jess Ward, District 1 supervisor for the Office of the State Engineer, about the proposed places of use.

The wells would be on property owned by the company.

The amendment arrived at the State Engineer's Office on May 14, and was approved for publication Aug. 7.

Protests to the application can be filed with the State Engineer not later than 10 days after the last publication of the notice, which is Wednesday, Aug. 27, for the Chieftain and Thursday, Aug. 28, for the Mountain Mail. Any protests filed against the original application roll over to the amended one, and so don't need to be re-filed.

Ward said he is expecting more protests in addition to the approximately 480 that have already been filed against the original application, which was made public last year.

According to the legal advertisement, the 54,000 acre-feet of water per year is to be diverted and used for domestic, livestock, irrigation, municipal, industrial, commercial, environmental, recreational, subdivision and related, replacement and augmentation purposes.

The application proposes providing water by pipeline to supplement or offset the effects of current uses and for new uses to decrease stress on the Rio Grande Basin water supply. Any impairment of existing rights in any basin caused by the pumping would be replaced or offset, according to the notice.

Also, the applicant proposes irrigating 120 acres of land within a 1,290-foot radius of each well, for a total of 4,440 acres in Augustin Plains Ranch land.

"We're definitely going to have a hearing on this matter," Ward said.

The hearing will be administrative, he said, something like a court proceeding. Only the applicant, protesters who have paid their protest fee and representatives from the Office of the State Engineer, who will have a study of their own, will be allowed to present evidence.

The hearing officer is to examine the evidence and make a recommendation to the State Engineer, who will take action on the application. For approval, Ward said, the proposed water use must not impair existing water rights, public welfare or water conservation.

The schedule and deadline for exhibits will be set at a pre-hearing, Ward said. He said the number of protesters would lead to a longer process, but he didn't have an exact timeline.

"At this time, we just don't know," Ward said.

The pre-hearing is to take place after his staff sorts through the protests, collects names and addresses, and recommends a hearing to the litigation unit. Then, State Engineer's employees are to set a pre-hearing date and notify the protesters and applicant.

Pre-hearing participants will have input on the date of the hearing, Ward said.

Objections or protests can be mailed to the Office of the State Engineer, 121 Tijeras NE, Suite 2000, Albuquerque, NM 87102. Protests can also be faxed to 505-764-3892, as long as the original is hand-delivered or postmarked within 24 hours of the fax transmission.

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