NEW MEXICO FEDERAL LANDS NEWS by Frank Dubois
Agua, Agua…not everywhere
Worst Drought in 1200 Years
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UCLA study says our megadrought is the worst in 1200 years. They define a megadrought as a drought that lasts two decades or longer. The study found we are in the driest period since 800, surpassing the 1500s megadrought. We have to look no farther than the Colorado River Basin and the seven states that signed the 100-year-old Colorado River Compact (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, California). Water managers from those states divvied up what they thought would be 15 million
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MAY 2022
acre feet they could annually divert from the river. Since 2000 however, the river has only delivered an average of 12 million acre feet. The result has been a huge draw down of water from Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Those two reservoirs, which were full back then, now stand at one-third and onefourth of capacity. The question now is how are they going to allocate with 3 million acre feet less? Somebody is gonna get hurt.
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It will profoundly affect everyday farming and ranching activities through increased permitting requirements;
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Unclear rules could lead to potentially unlimited jurisdiction, including the unconstitutionally vague significant nexus test;
WOTUS
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The expansion of federal jurisdiction exceeds limitations set by Congress;
he American Farm Bureau Federation, along with 21 other ag organizations have requested that EPA withdraw their proposed Waters of the United States regulation, citing jurisdictional issues and lack of stakeholder involvement. The Farm Bureau says, “We need rules that are clear and can be interpreted by farmers without spending thousands of dollars on legal fees. We had that with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. The proposed new rule threatens to take us back to vague and complicated regulations that will keep farmers from growing the nation’s food while protecting the environment.” Some of the concerns expressed in the letter are:
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The proposed rule exceeds the scope of the federal government’s authority
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What this all boils down to is power. He who controls the water also controls the land. Will it be individuals and the states or will all this power be wielded by the feds.
Political Science
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he White House has announced a new initiative they call the Rural Partners Network. Its purpose is to “transform how the federal government partners with and delivers economic opportunity for rural communities across the United States” and
