Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
A regional entity that seeks to build a 120-mile water pipeline from Ute Lake has filed 17 legal filings against landowners in Quay County – including the county’s road commissioner – to seek access to the properties and inspect them before condemnation proceedings.
Kameron Barnett, a principal for the Harmon, Barnett & Morris law firm in Clovis that represents the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority and its planned pipeline, admitted in a phone interview last week that the number of such filings was unusually high.
But he said that didn’t necessarily reflect Quay County property owners outright refusing to allow the pipeline on their land.
Barnett said Thursday that “a majority” of county landowners contacted by the authority are willing to reach an agreement and provide access so it can conduct inspections of the pipeline’s proposed future path and drill core samples. Virtually all the petitions state the inspections are being done “prior to condemnation.”
In some cases, Barnett said the estate of the property owner is unsettled due to a death, and the remaining principals are uncertain who should give permission. In some cases, the authority cannot find a proper mailing address to send the paperwork, though Barnett said the authority and his firm also try to contact the landowner by phone or via site visits.
Barnett also acknowledged there are cases where the landowner simply doesn’t want the authority on the property at all.
“It’s a last resort to file” the application for entry to the land, Barnett added.
The utility authority began filing those petitions in Tucumcari district court in early June.
Barnett said the project previously had been planned in phases, but because the authority recently secured a large sum from federal funds, it has taken on more of the work at once.
In April, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation awarded the authority $160 million to build 120 miles of pipeline from Ute Lake in Logan that would serve Clovis, Texico, Portales, Elida and Cannon Air Force Base. Because of the declining capacity of the Ogallala Aquifer, those towns had been seeking such a pipeline for decades.
The state also awarded $30 million for the project in July.
The project is expected to be completed in 2029.
Quay County commissioners in May appointed Larry Wallin, former administrator for the Village of Logan for about 25 years, as an official representative to monitor construction of the Ute Pipeline Project and hear residents’ concerns about it.
Wallin in a phone interview Thursday largely agreed with Barnett’s assessment of the difficulty of getting a response from affected landowners, especially with unsettled estates or inaccurate mailing addresses.
He also acknowledged some resistance may come from those who simply oppose the pipeline on their land.
“If you mess with somebody’s property, it’s a sore spot,” he said. “Some of them may have thrown (the letter) away.”
The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority was supposed to hold a town hall meeting Thursday at the San Jon Community Center to hear concerns and answer questions about the pipeline, but a COVID-19 outbreak among some members delayed that, Wallin said. That meeting has been rescheduled to 2 p.m. Aug. 29 at the San Jon center.
One of those landowners who received a petition earlier this month from Barnett’s firm was Quay County road superintendent Larry Moore.
Reached by phone Thursday at his office, Moore said “it’s a long story,” but he and his brother and sister were unable to sign and return any of the permission forms from the water authority. The land south of San Jon near the caprock was owned by his late parents.
Moore said there are no hard feelings to the authority about it taking the matter to court.
Referring to the pipeline, “it’s going to happen no matter what,” he said.