I link to an article by two very long-term observers of water in New Mexico. They are factual, detailed, informed, careful, persistent, intelligent, public-minded people not motivated by private interests, money, power, or any ideology except public service. You need to hear what they say about your water.
T or C residents were clear, but city commissioners left it open whether the city will join the proposed private business/government alliance.
The Sierra County Commission balked on approving a joint powers agreement to create an alliance between government and private industries to seek funding for new infrastructure. The proposal goes to the Truth or Consequences City Commission next.
The resolution to Texas’s suit against New Mexico for failure to deliver Elephant Butte water will depend on New Mexico curtailing its overuse. What we, as a whole, agree to do is laid out in non-technical language in a linked article.
Copper Flat Mine's efforts to reopen over the last 15 years have been supported via resolutions passed by Truth or Consequences city commissions in the past and by the current mayor's passivity and "trust."
Copper Flat Mine will use tons of water, loads of electricity, will dump tons of damp tailings with lead, mercury, sulfates, nitrates and other contaminants as well as creating dust and air pollution with these same contaminants. A boom/bust operation lasting maybe 20 but probably 12 years.
On August 19, State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson denied the mine's application to transfer water rights for use at Copper Flat Mine. This article reports on the reasons for her decision and analyzes some consequences of her action.
This article is a long comment on Kathleen Sloan's analysis, "New Mexico Copper Corporation will still use a lot of water" (https://sierracountycitizen.org/new-mexico-copper-corporation-will-still-use-a-lot-of-water/).
270 jobs for maybe 20 years if copper prices don't fall in exchange for a polluted site for 100 or more years that will repel tourists and recreation seekers? Sounds like a trade-off a desperate third-world country would make.
Our President has created a "sovereign wealth fund," which considers all government holdings as assets, investments for return of capital. This business enterprise immediately turns the federal holdings from their original purpose of public service into assets to be used to make money. Public land is now an asset.
After 15 years of trying to get massive amounts of water to process low-grade copper ore, the company is turning to a "dry" processing method.
It's business as usual in this country. Since the country is now a business, we look at how planning is a necessary part of any business, and we conclude that what looks like chaos is actually planned (as Secretary Kennedy claimed), visionary, even with a 20% error rate.
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