Posted on 09/05/2003 7:00:35 AM PDT by SandRat
Environmentalists want Sen. John McCain to spend some of his political capital and stop legislation that limits Fort Huachuca's responsibility for water use surrounding the installation.
Critics of the proposal say it will kill the San Pedro - Arizona's last undammed, free-flowing river. They say the fort's expansion and accompanying growth around Sierra Vista will deplete the groundwater that keeps the river running.
But the measure's sponsor, Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., says it's unfair to hold the Army liable for water use beyond its direct control. He argues environmental regulations are threatening the fort's future.
Activists have been targeting McCain and plan to rally at noon today in front of his Downtown Tucson office. But McCain says he doesn't support Renzi's measure.
"Sen. McCain does not agree with the current language as passed by the House because it does not adequately protect the San Pedro River," McCain's office said in a statement Wednesday. "Sen. McCain is working on legislation that protects the river and acknowledges that the long-term viability of the river" is not just the responsibility of Fort Huachuca."
Environmentalists aren't satisfied with that. They say other senators often follow McCain's lead and they want the Arizona Republican to use his political clout to assure the bill will grant no exemptions to Fort Huachuca when it is sent to President Bush for his signature.
"Ultimately, only John McCain can stand in front of the forces Renzi represents and stop them to save the river," said Robin Silver of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity.
Renzi's measure has already passed the House but it wasn't included in the Senate version of the 2004 defense bill. McCain is a powerful member of the conference committee that works out differences between the two chambers of Congress. A measure similar to Renzi's was introduced last year by Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., who represents the area around Fort Huachuca, but it was defeated.
Environmentalists also have lobbied Gov. Janet Napolitano to oppose Renzi's measure and they've been successful on that front. The governor thinks Renzi's measure will undermine the work of a group of stakeholders in the region, spokeswoman Kris Mayes said.
The San Pedro begins in the mountains of Sonora, Mexico, and snakes north for 140 miles until it meets the Gila River in Winkelman. It supports cottonwood and willow forests that provide habitat for 345 species of birds, nearly half of North America's avian fauna, according to the Nature Conservancy, which has bought thousands of acres of farmland along the river and drastically reduced their pumping of groundwater.
The impact of Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista on the San Pedro has been fought over for years and the subject of several lawsuits, with environmentalists and many hydrologists charging that increased well pumping will intercept subsurface water before it reaches the river.
Others, including many Sierra Vista leaders, say the water fight threatens to shutter Southern Arizona's largest employer, which provides 11,580 jobs and $297 million in payroll.
A 2002 biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said 54 percent of the 64,655 people who live in the watershed are tied to Fort Huachuca, so the fort should be responsible for 54 percent of the area's water use, including consumption by private contractors, military families and others who don't work or live on the post.
Renzi's measure would stop the Army from being held liable for civilian water consumption off the 73,000-acre fort.
Environmentalists also allege that Renzi, a freshman lawmaker who represents Northern and Eastern Arizona, is trying to help his father, Eugene C. Renzi, a retired U.S. Army major general who is president of ManTech International Corp. The Fairfax, Va.-based defense contractor has done work with Fort Huachuca and has an office in Sierra Vista, according to its Web site. Renzi's office would not comment on that issue.
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