By Tony A. Archuleta
HERALD Reporter
A U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
spokeswoman at the Albuquerque
area office said Wednesday that
the federal agency is currently
conducting a legal review in the
wake of the Water Quality Control
Commission’s decision earlier
this month to award a conditional
wastewater discharge permit to
Parasol dairy developer John McCatharn.
“We absolutely disagree with
the decision,”BOR public affairs
specialist Mary Carlson tol the Herald in a June 23 telephone interview. But BOR Continues to Review
Legal Options on the WQCC Ruling. "We feel that they ignored
the evidence that showed the dairy
poses a threat to Caballo Reservoir
and to the Rio Grande. Right now,
our attorneys are reviewing our
options and determining whether
to go forward, or how we will
pursue it.”
Carlson added that the BOR is
“working closely” with Elephant
Butte Irrigation District.
“They are one of our stakeholders,
and the primary reason we’re
involved in this,” she said of
EBID. “Our responsibility is to
deliver water –a dairy in this position
really puts that water in jeopardy–
to farms in New Mexico, to
the City of El Paso and Mexico. That’s where our main concerns lie.”
Other anti-dairy interests could
also become a party to a legal
challenge, including Caballo
Concerned Citizens Group and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.
