By: Susan Montoya Bryan
ALBUQUERQUE >> The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Texas can proceed with its lawsuit against New Mexico over management of the Rio Grande.
Texas contends that groundwater pumping near the Texas-New Mexico border has resulted in Texas farmers and residents being deprived of Rio Grande water.
The dispute's complex history focuses especially upon farmers in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, which delivers river water in Doña Ana County and southern Sierra County. Many growers have been anxiously wondering whether the high court would give a green light to the case.
There's a lot of uncertainty about the direction the case could go and about the ultimate result, said Gary Esslinger, manager of the 8,500-member irrigation district.
"I really don't know what the outcome will be," he said. "It's really unfortunate we're in this predicament. We'll just have to see."
Thorny debate
New Mexico argues that downstream users are getting what's required under a compact between the states and that the Supreme Court should have let lower courts consider the dispute.
New Mexico Attorney General Gary King said Monday he was not surprised by the court's ruling.
"I am confident that the court takes such state-to-state disputes very seriously, and we look forward to being able to tell New Mexico's side of the story and to have our day in court," King said.
The Supreme Court gave New Mexico 60 days to file a motion seeking the case's dismissal. Texas would then have an opportunity to respond.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality first asked the Supreme Court to weigh in more than a year ago, alleging that New Mexico was violating the 1938 Rio Grande Compact that governs how water is shared by Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.
EBID officials have said the Supreme Court dispute puts the irrigation district in awkward position. That's because, for groundwater purposes, EBID is squarely under New Mexico authority. But for river water regulation, it's lumped in with Texas under the Rio Grande Compact.
It's that arrangement, Esslinger said, that may prompt EBID to try to intervene in the new Supreme Court case as a third party, independent from New Mexico or Texas.
"We'll not necessarily be taking New Mexico's side or taking Texas' side," he said.
EBID officials have blamed the Texas action in the Supreme Court on a separate federal lawsuit brought by King, who challenged a 2008 water-sharing agreement between EBID and its irrigation district counterpart in El Paso County.
EBID officials have said they don't believe Texas would have filed the action, if King hadn't filed his.
Esslinger said he believes EBID is well-positioned to argue its case to the Supreme Court because the 2008 agreement has guaranteed that farmers in Texas are getting their share of river water.
"We think that it's working," he said. "We're going to continue to stand behind that position."
King argued that the agreement unfavorably changed the allocation of water for his state.
EBID officials have said the agreement was aimed at heading off a legal battle between the two states that could ultimately harm Doña Ana County farmers by cutting off their right to use groundwater.
Drought persists
Nearly all of New Mexico has been mired in drought for the past several years, leaving stretches of the Rio Grande dry at times and reservoirs along the river at record-low levels. Without any promise for moisture this winter, farmers are still making hard choices about whether to grow staple crops such as chile, onions and pecans.
Those farmers who made it through last year had access to wells for irrigating because there was not enough Rio Grande water left for New Mexico. This year, irrigation officials have yet to make predictions about how much water might be allocated.
