WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Pecos River Needs Rights to Its Own Water, Lawsuit Provides an ''Invitation to Solutions''

Lawsuit alleges that the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have each violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to utilize their full discretion to provide adequate flows for the endangered Pecos bluntnose shiner
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Santa Fe, NM - Federal and state water managers have failed to live up to promises to create changes in water management sufficient to protect the Pecos River and the endangered Pecos bluntnose shiner accordingto a lawsuit filed in federal court this week by WildEarth Guardians. The lawsuit alleges that the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have each violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to utilize their full discretion to provide adequate flows for the endangered shiner.

First listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1987, the shiner’s population has declined precipitously over the last four years to its lowest levels in fifteen years. The primary reason for the species’ recent decline is that water managers have repeatedly allowed river drying and extremely low flows, in violation of the terms of a water plan issued in 2003.

“We believe this species could be on the brink of extinction and that’s why we’re taking this action,” said John Horning WildEarth Guardians’ Executive Director. “At the same time we know that a firm commitment to solutions on the part of all parties can not only prevent that fate, but also result in the species’ eventual recovery,” he added.

WildEarth Guardians believes that the solutions that can create more water that have been talked about for years need to happen now. Those solutions include: 1) creating a large enough ‘fish conservation pool’ in upstream reservoirs; 2) further modifying large volume block water releases to the Carlsbad Irrigation District to decrease the loss of juvenile fish and eggs and increase the longevity of flows in the river; 3) increasing water leasing agreements with farmers in the Fort Sumner Irrigation District to decrease farmers’ diversion demands and; 4) acquisition of various ground and surface water rights by the State of New Mexico and the Bureau of Reclamation and the dedication of those rights to the Pecos river.

The lawsuit claims that the federal water management agencies are not only jeopardizing the continued existence of the species but also failing to recover and conserve the species as also required by the Endangered Species Act. “We need to stop thinking that emergency room, crisis management is a sufficient goal for endangered species. We need to recover species and get them out of the hospital altogether,” said Horning.

“We’re back in court for the third time since 1999 because the federal water management agencies refuse to follow their own plan to ensure that the Pecos River has adequate water,” said Steve Sugarman, WildEarth Guardians’ attorney. “The Bureau of Reclamation has not lived up to its part of the bargain so WildEarth Guardians had no choice but to file a lawsuit in an attempt to augment the perilously low flows in the Pecos River,” he added.

The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collectively manage three reservoirs and four dams on the Pecos River which allow for near total control of river flows Santa Rosa, New Mexico, downstream to the New Mexico-Texas border. Though both agencies’ have the discretion to manage the dams and reservoirs for the benefit of native fish and wildlife, the reality is that the two irrigation districts, Fort Sumner and Carlsbad, largely control water management to their benefit.

Read the complaint..

Additional contact: Steve Sugarman, 983-1700