Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Quay County, the Village of Logan and 19 other parties filed a lawsuit last week to halt construction of a long-controversial water pipeline from Ute Lake.
Logan attorney Warren Frost on Nov. 26 filed an eight-page complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, which seeks to build a 130-mile pipeline from the lake to Clovis, Portales and other nearby towns.
In addition to the county and village, other plaintiffs are Quay County landowners who would be affected by the pipeline: Cox River Ranch, San Jon Ranch, Larry Charles, Sandy Charles, Joyce Thrasher, Guy Mitchell, Wesley Mitchell, Keith Robison, Melody Robison, Ronald E. Stoner Jr., Robin Smith, Aleta Smith, Carolyn Gordon-Ellis, Donald Carter, Leland D. Tillman, Ray Duke, Evelyn Wallin and the Debbie Porter Revocable Trust.
Frost filed the lawsuit in Tucumcari district court shortly after he met by videoconference with the Quay County Commission in closed executive session during a special meeting on Nov. 26.
Frost was at the meeting to discuss the pipeline and a lawsuit regarding a storm-destroyed bridge on Old Route 66 east of San Jon.
The pipeline lawsuit demands a trial by a 12-person jury.
Mike Morris, the mayor of Clovis and the chairman of the authority, called the lawsuit “an ugly message coming from our fellow New Mexicans.”
“I can only conclude that Logan and Quay want to deprive us of drinking water. (They) continue to pretend as though the Ute Pipeline is up for debate. But it is not.”
Morris said the state decades ago established Ute Reservoir for the purpose of supplying water to residents of Curry, Roosevelt and Quay counties.
In a joint news release by the county and village, it stated the lawsuit against the authority seeks to immediately stop its construction and eminent domain proceedings against landowners until it has fully funded the project.
The release states the pipeline during low-water years “will make the lake unusable for the tens of thousands of visitors, create an environmental disaster, and destroy the economy of the nearby Village of Logan.”
The lawsuit and news release assert the pipeline project has obtained “only a small portion” of its funding required but “wants to start tearing up portions of Ute Lake shoreline, Logan, and Quay County.”
Funds “may never be secured” to finish the project, which originally was estimated at under $500 million but now is estimated to cost over $1 billion, the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit claims over $600 million still needs to be secured for the pipeline. The authority says it needs about $400 million.
The lawsuit states the authority informed its plaintiffs it intended to build a 14-mile segment of the pipeline south from Ute Lake in 2025.
The release states area landowners have joined the lawsuit because the purchase of their land through eminent domain “is not necessary nor a last resort until such time as ENMWUA has completed the design and secured the funding to complete the pipeline project.”
Among the areas that would be affected by the construction include the Southshore Subdivision near the lake, including Southshore Drive and Frost Road. Also affected would be Quay County Roads 55, 57, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70 and 71.
The lawsuit states the authority has requested to begin construction in across the county and on village roads and other right-of-ways that would “cause increased disruption and damage to the village and could stall midway in the process due to lack of funds.”
“Village of Logan streets and important right of ways could be in limbo for years if the funds aren’t secured for the project,” the release asserted.
The lawsuit claims the process for the pipeline is “fraudulent, in bad faith, and arbitrary and capricious, designed not to legitimately advance the project but to create a stranded asset that they can point to as a basis to get more State and Federal funds.”
A recent engineer’s study commissioned by the authority determined Ute Lake’s water contains higher levels of contaminants that will require a more complex water-treatment system. Such as system would add $400 million to the project, the news release stated.
“The 2022 water quality test and the exorbitant additional cost associated with treating Ute Lake water raises substantial doubts about the continued viability of the pipeline project,” the lawsuit states.
The pipeline has been opposed in the county for many years, with many Logan residents fearing it would adversely affect Ute Lake.
Morris said the lawsuit is just a continuation of Quay and Logan efforts to halt the project they’ve been trying to upend for more than 20 years.
“They have continued that opposition more recently spending over $60,000 of public money in the past year with an Albuquerque PR firm to develop and carry out a negativity campaign against ENMWUA,” Morris said.
“Their campaign has included, among other elements, ads in the paper, a Facebook page, and presentations at ENMWUA member governing bodies — all full of half and twisted truths and all ignoring history and facts. The lawsuit filed the other day is simply more of that campaign.”
David Stevens at the Eastern New Mexico News contributed to this story.