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Govt Grabbing Water Again: Sues New Mexico for Water Rights
Maggie's Notebook ^ | 8-1-12 | Maggie@MaggiesNotebook

Posted on 08/01/2012 9:52:01 AM PDT by maggiesnotebook

The U.S. Government is suing New Mexico for perceived damages in a groundwater case, and the prize is control of the state's water. In May 2011 we learned that the EPA was beginning to change the way America's waters are controlled, and that control was to be extended to your ponds and puddles. Happening now in New Mexico:

The lawyers told the committee [New Mexico Legislature Water and Natural Resources] the U.S. government is apparently trying to take over legal management of the state's water supply. The federal government has asserted claims for damages to groundwater in a natural resource damage case in New Mexico involving Chevron/Molycorp. The claim seeks for those damages to be awarded in the form of future water rights management. Source: Las Cruces Sun
There is no better way to control "The People" than to control their water.

This is the work of Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. In a letter to them from the Western Governors' Association:

"...The ramifications of such legal position extend to the very heart of the Western states exclusive ownership and/or management and control of the groundwater resources within their respective boundaries."

Jay Stein, a lawyer representing the city of Las Cruces, who has filed as an intervener in the case, said the outcome of the hearing could potentially affect the city's water supply.

"In the pending water rights adjudication in state district court, here in Las Cruces, the court has turned to the United States' claims. Foremost among these is the issue of the United States' claims to "groundwater' or to "project water in the ground,' as they have termed it.

These claims are not supported by any actual beneficial use of groundwater. Nor are they supported by state law which governs proceedings in the adjudication.

"These water claims are unqualified but potentially could amount to hundreds of thousands of acre-feet per year."

New story, same old song.

Investor's Business Daily, April 2011:

This is not about clean water any more than cap-and-trade is about climate change. It's about increasing government power over our every aspect of our lives. The power to regulate is the power to destroy, and part of the administration's goal of raising energy prices to the point green energy looks acceptable if not attractive. IBD

The Environmental Protection Agency also released its guidelines for expanding federal power over the nation's waterways, ponds and puddles. IBD

From an earlier article of mine:
 One of the reasons for the 1967 War [Middle East against Israel] was the Arab nations’ cutting off irrigation water to Israel. No crops no food. Throughout history, tyrants have taken the people’s water and restricted its use. It is a technique that brings a people to their knees or their graves. We can live without electricity but we cannot live without useful water. Our water is a matter of Liberty...

In 2007 the EPA and the Department of the Army “clarified” the definition of “Waters of the United States,” as such:

● All waters which are currently used, or were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide

● All interstate waters including interstate wetlands

● All other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, the use, degradation or destruction of which could affect interstate or foreign commerce including any such waters:(i) Which are or could be used by interstate or foreign travelers for recreational or other purposes; or

(i) Which are or could be used by interstate or foreign travelers for recreational or other purposes; or

(ii) From which fish or shellfish are or could be taken and sold in interstate or foreign commerce; or

(iii) Which are used or could be used for industrial purposes by industries in interstate commerce;

● All impoundments of waters otherwise defined as waters of the United States under this definition;

● Tributaries of waters identified inparagraphs (s)(1) through (4) of this section;

● The territorial sea;

● Wetlands adjacent to waters (other than waters that are themselves wetlands) identified in paragraphs (s)(1) through (6) of this section; waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of CWA (other than cooling ponds as defined in 40 CFR 423.11(m) which also meet the criteria of this definition) are not waters of the United States.

Then there is this notation at the bottom of the list:
Waters of the United States do not include prior converted cropland. Notwithstanding the determination of an area’s status as prior converted cropland by any other federal agency, for the purposes of the Clean Water Act, the final authority regarding Clean Water Act jurisdiction remains with EPA.
At this same time, former Democrat Senator Russ Feingold tried to abscond with the water in your praire potholes:
25) WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES- The term `waters of the United States’ means all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds, and all impoundments of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters, or activities affecting these waters, are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution.’.
Of the Feingold legislation, Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK) said this:
House Agricultural Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., says the expanded EPA guidelines would let the government “regulate essentially any body of water, such as a farm pond or even a ditch.” A bipartisan group of 170 congressmen wrote a letter to the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers urging them not to issue the expanded guidelines.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said in a statement that the guidelines “take an overly broad view of ‘waters of the U.S.’ It would serve as a road map for EPA and the Corps to designate nearly all water bodies, and even some on dry land, as subject to federal regulations that dictate land-use decisions.”

The Government wins some and they lose some. If they can't get it done through legislation, they try it through a lawsuit. Countless coal mines have been shutdown due Government claims that they are negatively affecting water resources, even when the claim has been proven to be untrue. It is no small matter. Our waters are among our most precious sources of liberty. Original Source of this story Fox News.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: 10thamendment; govtgrabbingwater; govtsuesnewmexico; newmexico; statesrights; water; waterrights

1 posted on 08/01/2012 9:52:05 AM PDT by maggiesnotebook
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To: maggiesnotebook
UN Agenda 21 at work to destroy you.
2 posted on 08/01/2012 9:55:44 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the collectivists.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

BTTT


3 posted on 08/01/2012 10:05:40 AM PDT by HiJinx (He who controls the water, controls life.)
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To: maggiesnotebook
Time to look up the legislation that admitted New Mexico to the Union. There's gotta' be something in there that recognizes previous property rights ALL THE WAY BACK to 1598 when La Luz and Santa Fe were founded.

I'm pretty sure both towns have most of the water rights (in the ground or on top of it) in that state.

The US government will lose in court!

4 posted on 08/01/2012 10:18:00 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: maggiesnotebook

Almost exactly the L.O.S.T. UN Treaty


5 posted on 08/01/2012 10:30:58 AM PDT by Foolsgold (L I B Lacking in Brains)
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To: maggiesnotebook
Arguing water rights in a federal kangaroo court is a moot point. The current president and his administration have shown a total disregard of constitutional law, and their actions as of late bear that out. This deal with water rights is just another method the feds are trying to use to gain control of the population. Everything that obama and his leftist cronies have done over his term are focused on destroying the infrastructure and economy so the can build it in their own image. It happened to the Russians, it happened to the Germans, its happened innumerable places where certain people crave power over others, and it can happen here.
6 posted on 08/01/2012 10:47:20 AM PDT by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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The U.S. Government is suing New Mexico for perceived damages in a groundwater case, and the prize is control of the state's water. In May 2011 we learned that the EPA was beginning to change the way America's waters are controlled, and that control was to be extended to your ponds and puddles.

Control, control, control..............the ultimate agenda of any government. Unless it's nipped in the bud, we will lose all our freedoms because some bumbling east coast bureaucrat looking for brownie points want to be in control.

7 posted on 08/01/2012 2:59:52 PM PDT by Sarajevo (Don't think for a minute that this excuse for a President has America's best interest in mind.)
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To: maggiesnotebook

There is a case that has been taken to the Supreme Court, or is at least at that level, that seeks to turn over control of ALL water in the state of WA to the Indians. The environmentalists started this, encouraging the tribes to push for more and more control of wetlands and streams and finally wells, and finally control of all water that is not specifically deeded by the state in contracts that pre-date the Indian treaties. The lefty Greens were even doing the legal work for the tribes, until they realized that the tribes intended to take this very seriously and that it would be a terrible election issue for the Greens if the tribes won. The lefty legislators even passed regulations that said that (in some districts) it is illegal to place cisterns or rain barrels on your own property to catch the rain, without a permit from DNR and the dept of resources. The reason they gave was that if that rain were allowed to fall freely on the ground, it might run off, onto someone else’s property and wouldn’t be your water any longer.

The tribes lost in court, and in the court of appeals. They are now at the Supreme Court level. My guess is that Obama didn’t want this to go any further this year, not in an election year.


8 posted on 08/01/2012 3:03:42 PM PDT by Eva
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To: maggiesnotebook; LegendHasIt; Rogle; leapfrog0202; Santa Fe_Conservative; DesertDreamer; ...

NM list PING!

I may not PING for all New Mexico articles. To see New Mexico articles by topic click here: New Mexico Topics

To see NM articles by keyword, click here: New Mexico Keywords

To see the NM Message Page, click here: New Mexico Messages

(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for anyone to use. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)

9 posted on 08/01/2012 6:04:27 PM PDT by CedarDave
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To: maggiesnotebook

Thanks Maggie.

Damn Feds.


10 posted on 08/01/2012 6:37:31 PM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: TEXOKIE

Agenda 21 at work in New Mexico


11 posted on 08/01/2012 7:40:50 PM PDT by DLfromthedesert
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To: Jeff Head

Ping to an item of interest. I’m a former resident of the state of NM, and have lots of friends and family there.


12 posted on 08/01/2012 8:53:04 PM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: LegendHasIt

Thank you for reading!


13 posted on 08/02/2012 4:59:35 PM PDT by maggiesnotebook
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To: Eva

I believe the Clean Water Act also claims your rain barrel.


14 posted on 08/02/2012 5:01:13 PM PDT by maggiesnotebook
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yes it is. I live in the most conservative state from sea to shining sea, and my city of Tulsa - the most conservative city in the state, is burdening us with Agenda 21. We are the ONLY city in the state doing so.


15 posted on 08/02/2012 5:04:16 PM PDT by maggiesnotebook
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To: maggiesnotebook; All

If you want to be on or off the Agenda 21 ping list, please notify me by Freepmail. It is a relatively low volume list in which we have been exploring the UN Agenda21 and related topics. We have collected our studies with threads, links, and discussions on the Agenda 21 thread which can be found here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2738418/posts

NEW ACTION THREAD:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2861644/posts

Post 128 of the Action Thread is a summary of the history of Agenda 21, “what they are doing”, “what to do about it” and a good bibliography for further reading.


16 posted on 08/03/2012 7:59:03 AM PDT by TEXOKIE
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To: maggiesnotebook

UN Agenda 21 so the evil empire can control where you live. We will soon be in city block houses or FIMA camps for reeducation.


17 posted on 08/03/2012 8:04:56 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Corollary - Electing the same person over and over and expecting a different outcome is insanity)
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To: maggiesnotebook

The lack of consistency in the interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations is going to be their undoing. While the water grabbers are forbidding catching the rain water in the drier regions, they are forcing people and businesses to build ponds everywhere in my county, under the guise of preventing polluted storm water from reaching the streams and rivers.


18 posted on 08/03/2012 8:06:20 AM PDT by Eva (Eee)
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To: maggiesnotebook

UN Agenda 21 so the evil empire can control where you live. We will soon be in city block houses or FIMA camps for reeducation.


19 posted on 08/03/2012 8:08:39 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Corollary - Electing the same person over and over and expecting a different outcome is insanity)
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To: maggiesnotebook

New Mexico’s water rights are a mess. The last thing we need is the federal government making a bigger mess out of things. If it isn’t Texas trying to get our ground water, it is the commies at EPA.


20 posted on 08/07/2012 5:52:59 PM PDT by pallis
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