Commission awards contract for further study of Gila dam

Critics argue funds for mounting costs might be better spent on other things

ALBUQUERQUE — State regulators continue to direct more money into engineering studies of how to dam the Gila River even as opposition to the project grows among some state lawmakers and environmental groups.

The Interstate Stream Commission on Friday approved a $150,000 contract with Occam Consulting Engineers Inc., a company operated by former New Mexico State Engineer Scott Verhines, for further analysis to support the proposal to dam one of the last free-flowing rivers in the West.

As state engineer and a member of the Interstate Stream Commission, Verhines voted in 2014 in favor of the concept of damming the river in southwestern New Mexico. An attempt to reach him for comment wasn’t immediately successful.

The commission on Friday also voted to approve $100,000 for another engineering firm to work with the Gila Basin Irrigation Commission — a group representing irrigation ditches — to engineer and design other possible dams and improvements to existing irrigation structures on the river.

Critics of the project have questioned whether the money being spent on the project would be better used elsewhere. The Gila dam project would cost nearly $43 million and benefit up to 100 irrigators, according to the head of a group overseeing the project. State documents show it would irrigate over 9,000 acres.

The prospect of damming the Gila stems from decades of interstate litigation and congressional action over how to allocate the waters of the Colorado River system. The Gila, which flows from New Mexico into Arizona, is a tributary of the Colorado.

Congress in 2004 established a pot of money, now standing at about $90 million, that could help New Mexico build a dam to take up to 14,000 acre-feet of water from the Gila River or be used to fund water conservation projects in the area. An acre-foot is about 325,000 gallons.

The Interstate Stream Commission has spent nearly $13 million on the project so far, much of it for engineering and legal work.

A group of local government entities in southwestern New Mexico is directing the dam project and reports to the commission. The group is known collectively as the New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity. Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of the group, said Friday that the Gila dam project is intended to allow New Mexico to get its full share of water rights.

“We’re pursuing it because in the 1968 adjudication, there was water rights taken away from New Mexico,” Gutierrez said. “We feel that that water continues to be marketed in Arizona, and why wouldn’t we make use of what is a declining resource in our area or statewide? There are continuous battles for water in New Mexico, and now we have a congressional act that allows us to retain some of that water. I wouldn’t know why anybody would oppose that.”

With regard to the number of people who would benefit from the project, Gutierrez said, “Anytime that you do an agricultural project, there are only a limited amount of owners. It doesn’t matter if you are on the Rio Grande, the Pecos or even in the Gila, certain landowners farm. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t add economic benefit to the surrounding communities. You can see in the Rio Grande area, it adds billions of dollars to those large municipalities. We don’t have that in southwest New Mexico, so even a fraction of economic benefit would be extremely beneficial.”

Although it remains undecided where a dam could be built on the Gila, the project nonetheless faces a Dec. 31, 2019, deadline to pass federal environmental review. State officials maintain that dam construction by the Gila Basin Irrigation Commission wouldn’t be subject to federal environmental review.

Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, is sponsoring a bill in the New Mexico Legislature that would defund the Gila dam project and direct money to water projects elsewhere in southwestern New Mexico. Similar legislation is pending in the House.

In an interview this week, Morales said he’s been opposing the Gila dam project in recent years because there’s an immediate need for other water projects in the area.

“Growing concerns have taken place as far as how much money has been spent in legal fees and how expensive a diversion project could be, and then at the expense of projects that we could move forward right now to create jobs and to have a real benefit for thousands of residents of southwest New Mexico,” Morales said.

Morales said he believes other lawmakers also are starting to take a harder look at the Gila dam project. “As time has gone on, and there’s been no movement or even a definite plan in place, I think that more skepticism has grown …” he said.

Gutierrez said $9.2 million for local projects has already been allocated out of the $90 million. He said he regards the pending state legislation targeting the dam project as a message that state lawmakers want to see more benefit to communities.

Norm Gaume, a former Interstate Stream Commission director, has sued the commission over its handling of past engineering contracts on the Gila project in recent years. A judge sided with him and voided two contracts after finding that the commission violated the state Open Meetings Act in awarding them.

Topper Thorpe, the commission member who chaired Friday’s meeting, refused to allow Gaume to address the commission. Gaume had submitted written comments questioning the viability of the dam project and saying he found it ironic that Verhines’ company stood to get a contract on it.

Gaume has complained to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office that Thorpe had a conflict in voting for an earlier engineering contract for the Gila project because his family owns property that would get water if a dam were built. Thorpe declined comment Friday on Gaume’s complaint and declined to say whether he would benefit from a dam on the Gila.

Allyson Siwik, executive director of the Gila Conservation Coalition, said this week it’s disappointing that the Interstate Stream Commission and the New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity continue to push the Gila project.

“They want to spend $50 million to build a huge, concrete diversion dam across the river to divert water to about 50 local farmers and spend over $17 million on more consultants, lawyers and studies,” Siwik said. She added that many other, shovel-ready water projects could use that funding to provide clean drinking water and a long-term water supply for tens of thousands of people.