Pete Domenici: “In the American West, we are frequently faced with the challenge of how best to allocate our scarce water resources…”

“In the American West, we are frequently faced with the challenge of how best to allocate our scarce water resources among numerous competing interests. There is no better example of this challenge than the one that has developed in the past six years in the Middle Rio Grande Valley in my home State of New Mexico. However, how this challenge was addressed is illustrative of what can be accomplished when people are willing to put adversity and divergent interests aside and work together to solve common problems. In 1994, the Fish and Wildlife Service listed as endangered the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow, a fish native to the waters of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The listing was followed by a five-year drought which began in 1999. The drought resulted in an insufficient amount of water to meet the needs of the Silvery Minnow and led several environmental groups to file the lawsuit Minnow v. Keys in Federal district court. After the district court issued a decision, the case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit which held that the Endangered Species Act required that water should be taken away from municipalities, farmers and industry in order to meet the needs of the Silvery Minnow. In a water-scarce State like New Mexico, the ruling rang out like a gun shot and created acrimony amongst those who are entirely dependant on water from the Rio Grande. In response, I established the Middle Rio Grande Collaborative Program in 2000.…”