House Bill 200 proposes to remove federal statutory authority written into the Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA), signed into law in 2004, from the New Mexico Central Arizona Project (CAP) Entity. The entity is well documented as the successor to the Southwest New Mexico Water Study Group, named in the Act as the entity to consult with the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission on expenditures from the New Mexico Unit Fund. Federal money for the past 10 years has flowed into this unit account set up by the Legislature in New Mexico to pay for projects ONLY in Southwest New Mexico, as set forth in the AWSA.

HB 200 would give consultation and decision rights to the Water Trust Board, which has no representation from southwest New Mexico, so does not likely understand the needs of rural areas of southwest New Mexico. The members of the WTB board are politically chosen and not representative of the state as a whole.

A bit of history: In 1968, the four-county region, including Catron, Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties, lost much of its appropriated water rights as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Arizona v California.

The AWSA in the early 2000s was created by New Mexico Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman to make the southwest region of New Mexico whole from its loss of water rights for future economic development.

House Bill 200, which has passed the New Mexico Legislature by a partisan vote of 43-24, will take consultation rights as designated in the AWSA from the New Mexico CAP Entity and give it to a bureaucratic entity, the Water Trust Board, which, from everything I've heard from those who have applied for funding over the past many years, can take years and many dollars of preparation for applications to the WTB before they decide what projects should go forward. The Board's application process will be inaccessible to small rural entities.

Why should a board with no representatives from OUR region be named to determine what WE need? We need representation in Southwest New Mexico standing up for OUR rights to OUR water in the area.

The more than $15 million in expenditures that have been spent from the New Mexico Unit by the ISC over the years included many studies, contracted by the ISC, often with minimal to no consultation with the Entity and its predecessors and members. Plus the millions spent with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on a NEPA process that was terminated by the ISC right before a environmental impact statement was due to be issued.

When Gov. Bill Richardson mandated that a "stakeholders group" be set up to come to "consensus" on a project, the ISC required that members of the group be put through "courses" of consensus building and how to work together without conflict. What a phenomenal waste of time. This writer/editor chronicled all of them.

Don't believe the misinformation you hear about a bunch of "bumbling idiots" on the NM CAP Entity.

All of the members are proven business owners fighting for their water rights to develop the area into a more robust agricultural area or are elected officials, with an ISC non-voting member also on the entity board.

The AWSA water, which even with exchange costs is inexpensive compared to buying up water rights, would help provide local food to local residents and restaurants, and the farmers and ranchers could also export produce and cattle to other areas, enhancing the state's coffers.

As has occurred throughout the West, agriculture uses the water rights to develop an area. As industry and manufacturing move into the thriving economy, often the water becomes available to municipalities and other entities to support their communities.

The members of the NM CAP Entity are working for their future, as well as the future of their children and the future residents who move into what has the opportunity to turn into a bustling economy in southwest New Mexico.

Some of the legislators are lawyers, do they really want to violate a federal statute? Seemingly that is their direction. They only appear to follow the laws with which they agree.

—Mary Alice Murphy