A little over a week ago I posted an item about the deep (> 2500 feet below land surface), brackish ground water resource west of Albuquerque and the fact that the New Mexico State Engineer, John D'Antonio, does not have the authority to regulate it. I had also posted an item in August 2008 about this same issue and the potential mess that could result from the regulatory vacuum.
Well, it looks like that mess is here.
John Fleck alerted me to the original article in the Albuquerque Journal. Now, he's posted Sean Olson's recent article (you will have to register but you can read it gratis) in the same paper about disputes over 'ownership' of the rights to this resource in the Rio Puerco Basin west of Albuquerque.
Even though the State Engineer does not issue rights to this water, land ownership or permission to drill from the landowner must be secured before someone can drill a well to tap this deep water. Note that the State Engineer does have the authority to ensure that all new wells are environmentally sound and will not adversely effect water shallower than 2,500 feet,
John Fleck quoted this excerpt from Olson's article:
SunCal Cos. is now claiming sole ownership of brackish water beneath its West Side property, a claim Atrisco Oil and Gas made in July.
In an application to the Office of the State Engineer filed late last month, SunCal claims it retains all water rights on its land under an agreement with Atrisco signed in December 2006. The agreement was part of a $250 million deal for SunCal to buy the land formerly held by the Atrisco land grant heirs in its corporate successor Westland Development Co.
Atrisco CEO Peter Sanchez said New Mexico water law is clear that the water source belongs to Atrisco.
“I think their claim is an example of some of the confusion right now due to the lack of law and jurisdiction over these issues,” Sanchez said.
SunCal wants to drill up to 46 wells between 2,500 and 10,000 feet deep; Atrisco wants to drill 35 wells.
Sanchez is right, and the New Mexico legislature needs to step up and fill the void that exists. But it is funny than SunCal is filing an application for a right to water the State Engineer does not regulate.
There are more areas in New Mexico with deep brackish ground water that will just become more valuable as time goes by. The State had better get its act together.
Always plenty of water blog fodder in the Land of Enchantment, and I suspect things will just get more interesting.
"Every calculation, based on experience elsewhere, fails in New Mexico." -- former Territorial Governor Lew Wallace, 1878
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