I believe the New Mexico Unit Fund has been raided by the legislature to fund ISC staff operations that for all other projects of like kind in the state should be funded out of the general fund. This is due to a questionable interpretation of the statutory language to mean the Legislature has this authority. The Legislature has raided several funds administered by the ISC to fund what should have been appropriated out of the General Fund. The Irrigation Works Fund and the Acequia Fund have been depleted to the point they are expected to run out of money in the very near future. This what the Legislature calls “sweeping.” As a result of the revenue downturns and overspending over the past two decades, appropriations depended on this method to keep state agencies operating.
The NM CAP Entity has had little to no control over what the ISC budgets or expends out of the Unit Fund, contrary to state and federal law. The federal (AWSA Sec. 212 (i)) and state (72-14-45) statutes state, “Withdrawals from the New Mexico Unit Fund shall be for the purpose of paying costs of the New Mexico Unit or other water utilization alternatives to meet water supply demands in the Southwest Water Planning Region of New Mexico, as determined by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission in consultation with the Southwest New Mexico Water Study Group or its successor, including costs associated with planning and environmental compliance activities and environmental mitigation and restoration.”
The New Mexico CAP Entity is the successor to the Southwest New Mexico Water Study Group
Attached is the most recent 2018 Unit Fund Report generated by the ISC. Also attached to that message was the document 2019 and FY 2020 AWSA projections. From that document are the updated dollars expended for the direct support of the CAP Entity, ISC and BOR and the non-diversion projects over the period 2012 to 2018 (See Table 4 on Page 10 and other expenditures breakdown on pages 9 through 14):
• The total amount received by New Mexico pursuant to the AWSA and deposited into the New Mexico unit fund since January 2012 was $54,240,000; the cumulative total expenditures for fiscal years 2012 through 2017 was $12,640,000. The value increase on the fund balance was $2,500,000. The 2017 fund balance was $44,100,000. $9,000,000 was received in January of 2018 with three more like payments in 2019 through 2021.
• Of the 2012 to 2017 expenditures of $12,640,000:
o The CAP Entity was budgeted $1,323.976 for operations from 2016 through 2018; *The CAP Entity was not operational until 2016. Table 5 shows the 2018 CAP Entity Budget was $700,00 and projected the FY 2020 budget at $791,000.00. Note not all that was budgeted was spent and any unexpended funds should have been returned to the Unit Fund.
o The Interstate Stream Commission has spent a total of $2,809,135:
$1,389,409 for operating expenses;
The New Mexico Unit engineering costs of $837,063;
Legal expenditures of $476,359;
Facilitation, website & other costs of $106,304
o $4,413,000 has been advanced to the Bureau of Reclamation to complete the NEPA process;
o $1,072,684 has been paid for non-diversion projects.
• $9.1 million was allocated to non-diversion projects throughout the four county region. Of that amount $4,247,050 is targeted to Silver City and Grant County.
• An additional up to sixty-two million dollars for diversions and storage projects will be lost if New Mexico does not go forward with construction of the New Mexico unit of the central Arizona project based on a December 2019 United States Secretary of the Interior record of decision.”
The Unit Fund has also funded nearly all of the BOR’s staff funding and EIS preparation over this period. This is also a historic departure from how BOR has funded similar projects. As Gerald Shultz, a retired employee of BOR, pointed out in a recent meeting, BOR used to do all of the engineering for these types of projects out of their own budgets. Many of the delays in getting the EIS completed have been the second guessing of the CAP Entity’s engineers by BOR engineers and environmental impact analysis contractors. This has launched multiple re-evaluations and adjustments to the proposed project by the CAP Entity.
If we lose the “up to sixty-two million dollars for the diversions and storage projects” that should be added to the false claim by the opponents that fifteen million has been wasted by the CAP Entity. If their claim is assumed as fact New Mexico will have “wasted” seventy-seven million dollars and likely the billions of dollars of economic benefit that 14,000 ac/ft per year could generate.
Due to the delays generated by opponents in acquiring the additional water since 1968 over 800,000 ac/ft has flowed into Arizona with no economic benefit to the region. Delaying project implementation is a standard tactic used by environmental activists. Delay, delay and delay until project proponents run out of funds and time to have the projects approved. Part of the tactic is to repeat questionable talking points to generate an atmosphere of controversy to sway public opinion and influence politicians who depend on environmental activists for election success.
I and others have pointed out repeatedly that one of the most exaggerated claims is that the Gila is the “last free flowing river in the southwest.” There are hundreds of diversions, including surface diversions, private wells, above, below and within the wilderness boundaries. The Town of Silver City is one of the significant diverters. Silver City is home and headquarters of most of the vocal opponents.
—Howard Hutchinson, Chairman of the San Francisco Soil and Water Conservation District
Alma, New Mexico
The whitewater river runner was introduced to and has been active on acquisition of additional water for Southwest New Mexico since 1973.
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