UTTON CENTER & NATURAL RESOURCES 18 UNMLAW SPRING 2006
An advisory committee has been formed to provide policy analysis
for a collaborative project between the Utton Transboundary Resources
Center and Sandia National Laboratories. This project will identify the
major regional and national issues and needs that must be addressed
to support a long- term sustainable supply of water that would support
electric power generation and energy production in the United States.
The Utton Center’s role in the project is to identify legal and policy is-sues
that could affect the use of new technologies. When completed, the
information will be available on a database currently being established.
“ The interconnectedness of water and energy production is unrecog-nized
by many people,” says Marilyn O’Leary, director of the Utton
Center. “ With the support and guidance of these nationally- recognized
experts, we hope to provide significant input into the development and
deployment of better technologies for processes and materials for energy
generation.”
Henry Vaux, professor emeritus of resource economics at the University
of California at Berkeley, has helped identify persons with expertise in
Advisory Panel Formed for Energy- Water Project
water policy to serve with him on the committee, which will meet peri-odically
to provide guidance to the Utton Center on this project.
Other members are:
A. Dan Tarlock, director of environmental and energy law,
Chicago- Kent College of Law;
William Graf, geography professor, University of South Carolina;
Helen Ingram, Warmington Endowed Chair in Social Ecology,
University of California at Irvine;
William Blomquist, political science professor, Indiana
University- Purdue University at Indianapolis;
Robert Abrams, professor at Florida A& M College of Law;
David H. Moreau, director of the Water Resources Research
Institute, University of North Carolina.
UTTON CENTER & NATURAL RESOURCES NEWS
Water experts spent a day in April presenting a big- picture look at the
reservoir system along the Rio Grande during a symposium presented by
the Utton Transboundary Resources Center and the Natural Resources
Journal. The symposium was part of a cooperative effort between the
Utton Center and the NRJ that built on the work begun in the late
1970s by the late UNM Law Professor Albert E. Utton, for whom the
center is named.
In 1979, working with several law students, including Robert Muelen-weg
(` 80) and Barbara Stephenson (` 79), Utton prepared “ A Legislative
History of the Rio Grande Reservoirs in New Mexico” for the U. S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The history tracked congressional legislation for all
of the reservoirs on the river, including the major tributaries. In approv-ing
the construction of a federal dam, Congress determines the autho-rized
purpose for water storage, which mostly guides how a river will be
operated.
Most of the reservoirs were authorized only for flood control and to
trap sediment, with the intent to allow the free flow of water to Texas as
required under the Rio Grande Compact. Enacted in 1938 by the state
legislatures of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, the compact continues
to determine requirements for the storage and delivery of the river’s wa-ter.
However, through the years, additional issues and circumstances that
affect management of the reservoirs have arisen that were unforeseen and
not addressed in the original congressional authorizations and compact.
Speakers at the symposium tackled various issues facing the reservoir
system. They included Regis Pecos of Cochiti Pueblo, who shared the
history of Cochiti Lake from the Pueblo perspective. Among the other
speakers, Kevin Flanigan, hydrologist for the Interstate Stream Commis-sion,
provided an overview of reservoir management and water operations
in New Mexico, and Kara Gillon of Defenders of Wildlife, discussed en-vironmental
perspectives on progressive management of the reservoirs.
The Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law Section of the
State Bar of New Mexico sponsored a luncheon featuring keynote speaker
Everett Chavez of Santo Domingo Pueblo and chair of the Six Middle
Rio Grande Pueblos Water Coalition. April Sanders of the Corps of En-gineers
and Vince Tidwell of Sandia National Laboratories spoke about
interactive planning tools for the Upper Rio Grande. An afternoon
presentation about the many challenges of making optimum use of the
Middle Rio Grande and its reservoirs was followed by roundtable
discussions to gather ideas from the audience.
Susan Kelly, associate director of the Utton Center, is working with Josh
Mann and Lara Katz, co- editors of the Natural Resources Journal, to
update Utton’s 1979 history of the Rio Grande reservoirs. This update
will provide information on what has transpired since 1979 and, in
particular, address the impact of the Endangered Species Act and
Indian water rights issues on management of the reservoirs. These papers
and others from the symposium will be compiled in a future edition of
the Natural Resources Journal, which will be dedicated to reservoir and
river management legal issues.
Rio Grande Reservoirs Focus of Symposium
Everett Chavez of Santo Domingo Pueblo, chair of the Six Middle Rio
Grande Pueblos Water Coalition, discussed collaborative efforts and op-portunities
for better water management during a lunchtime presentation.
NOEWUSRCES NEWS uttoncenter. unm. edu.
SPRING 2006 UNMLAW 19
Wild Friends Help Outlaw Cyberhunting
Computer- assisted hunting, or cyberhunting, has been outlawed in New
Mexico, thanks to the efforts of students in the Wild Friends Program.
The program, aimed at school- age youth, is a component of the Center for
Wildlife Law at the University of New Mexico Institute for Public Law, the
public service arm of the UNM law school.
Cyberhunting came to national attention when it was discovered a Texas
website allowed people with computers to shoot live game via a camera-equipped
rifle. Texas and other states, now including New Mexico, have
since banned remote- controlled game hunting.
In New Mexico, Wild Friends students drafted the bill, which was spon-sored
by Sen. Michael Sanchez (` 76) of Belen. About 400 of those students,
accompanied by 60 adults, including parents, teachers, school administra-tors
and volunteers, traveled to Santa Fe during the 2006 legislative session
to lobby for the bill.
Emily White Hat Receives Scholarship
uttoncenter. unm. edu.
Emily White Hat, a second- year law
student, has received a one- semester
scholarship from the Rocky Mountain
Mineral Law Foundation.
White Hat, a member of the Rose-bud
Sioux Tribe ( Sicangu Lakota),
impressed the scholarship committee
with a personal statement in which she
pledged to pursue a career working on
behalf of Indian tribes in the protec-tion
and management of their natural
resources and land tenure issues. She
also hopes to implement traditional
Lakota beliefs into management of
the land and resources on the Rosebud
Sioux Reservation, where she grew up.
“ It is an honor to receive the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Founda-tion
Scholarship,” she says. “ I developed an interest in natural resourc-es
and an appreciation for our land as a young girl when I would go
horseback riding with my father through the canyons of our reservation.
Later I continued this appreciation when I worked as a firefighter and in
forestry, and eventually learned about land management and policy
when I was elected to the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Land Enterprise Board
of Directors.”
The goals of the foundation are to foster and encourage the study of
the law and applicable regulations relating to oil and gas, mining, wa-ter,
public land management, land use, conservation and environmental
protection. The UNM School of Law is a member of the Denver- based
foundation. The objective of the scholarship program is to encourage the
study of natural resources law by students who have the potential to make
significant contributions to scholarship in that area.
Emily White Hat
Lara Katz and Josh Mann, below, co- editors of the Natural
Resources Journal, offered an overview of Utton Center projects
they have worked on at the 2006 Student Water Symposium at
the UNM Student Union Building in late March. The symposium
brought together UNM students from all disciplines related to
water, along with students of all levels from other New Mexico
universities to showcase creative water research statewide. In
addition to presentations, poster sessions took place throughout the
daylong event.
Peter Pino, tribal administrator and former governor of the Pueblo
of Zia, discussed the issue of water and culture during a World
Water Day celebration at the UNM School of Law on March
22. The event included a showing of the video “ Voices of the
Jemez River”, which describes how a water- sharing agreement
was reached among water- rights owners in the Rio Jemez Valley
community. The primary water users on the stream are Jemez and
Zia pueblos and a group of
non- Indian acequia farmers.
The program was co- spon-sored
by the Environmental
Law Students Association
and the Utton Transboundary
Resources Center.
Marilyn O’Leary, director
of the Utton Transbound-ary
Resources Center, served
on a panel at the 31st annual
conference of the National
Association of Environmen-tal
Professionals, which took
place in Albuquerque in
late April. She spoke on the
role of legal and regulatory policy in the implementation of new
water technologies. The panel’s topic was, “ Energy Water Nexus:
Research Direction for Energy & Water,” and focused on a project
led by Sandia National Laboratories to identify critical policy issues
related to the mutual dependence of water and energy productions.
The conference theme was titled, “ Global Perspectives on Regional
Issues: The Future for Environmental Professionals in the Next
30 Years.”
In Brief
Peter Pino
