OPINION: NM acequias are invested in culture, equity and justice, not Chevron

New Mexico is in an era of water scarcity, climate disasters, and mounting pressure to use our precious waters for development and extractive industries. Debates over water policy are intensifying as tensions escalate between competing needs for water.

Acequia voices will be vital in decisions about our water future. Fortunately, for almost four decades, acequia leaders advocated to protect water for agriculture as well as for our rivers, watersheds, and aquifers.

New Mexico is home to over 700 acequias in 23 counties. Our members are the thousands of families, farmers, ranchers and caretakers who sustain the communal waterways that bring water to our fields, gardens and orchards. We have an inclusive process through the New Mexico Acequia Association and our annual Congreso de las Acequias to engage acequias statewide in policy advocacy that is rooted in culture, equity and justice.

Each acequia is unique and autonomous in its local governance of water by elected mayordomos and commissioners. In many areas, acequias have joined together at the watershed level to form regional acequia associations to defend water, invest in our infrastructure, and strengthen our local food systems. At the state level, regional delegates participate in developing policy positions and priorities.

This process is well known among regional acequia leaders in New Mexico but it appears to not be well understood by Chevron, who is proposing to host a symposium about the role of acequias in water policy. This is part of a series where Chevron explored topics including use of fracking wastewater outside the oilfield and mining of brackish water supplies. It is not appropriate for Chevron and their attorneys to be hosting a symposium about acequias. This is why:

Our acequias have established networks and leaders who have decades of experience in developing policy recommendations. We have a track record of policy advocacy with integrity that is in alignment with our core values of community, tradition, love, respect and justice.

If acequia leaders wish to partner on a water policy event, we will align with organizations that share our values. We are part of coalitions and networks that work in solidarity with acequias. These are environmental justice, Indigenous, religious, social justice, agriculture and conservation organizations.

No oil and gas corporation, including Chevron, should be speaking for or convening acequias. In fact, industry and Chevron lobbyists have vigorously opposed acequia policy priorities intended to protect due process and public notice in water right applications. These are protections enshrined in New Mexico laws to protect existing and senior water rights.

Chevron has stated that they intend to make donations to acequias in one region of the state. In fact, they are compelled to make local donations due to the designation of the former Molycorp mine as a Superfund site. The donations stem from a regulatory framework and not an intrinsic concern for the well-being of acequias.

If an oil and gas corporation wants to make donations to acequias, it is up to those acequias to decide what is appropriate. Regardless, Chevron’s donations do not qualify them to convene meetings on acequia perspectives on water policy.

We are always open to dialogue to understand our respective positions on water policy. However, with regard to acequia convenings, we are asking Chevron to step back and defer to networks and structures in place that have provided decades of services and advocacy for New Mexico’s acequias.

Co-signed by Harold Trujillo, president of the New Mexico Acequia Association, Alfredo Montoya, president of Las Nueve Acequias del Rio Grande, Darel Madrid, president of Rio Chama Acequia Association, and Yolanda Jaramillo and Stephen Trujillo, NMAA concilios