Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said cuts in water funding and in the Valles Caldera National Preserve budget cannot be enacted into law.

President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal includes no funding for the Valles Caldera, which Bingaman helped bring into public ownership. This year, the Valles Caldera received $3.7 million. 

The president is also seeking a 17 percent cut in funding for the Bureau of Reclamation, including a decrease of $101 million for rural water projects (a 72 percent reduction) and a reduction of $17 million for water recycling projects (70 percent cut). The water resources programs at the United States Geological Survey are reduced with the President seeking an 8% cut ($17.5 million) for key water science activities. 

“When it comes to water, this bill is not good for New Mexico,” Bingaman said. “And I’m also very concerned about deep cuts in water initiatives that benefit our state.” 

One positive item in the Interior Department budget is a new “Water for America” initiative, which includes slight increases for the National Streamflow Information Program, groundwater resource monitoring activities, water conservation projects, basin-wide watershed studies, and endangered species programs. These items are similar, although smaller in scope, to initiatives proposed by Bingaman in his SECURE Water Act legislation (S.2156). 

However, Bingaman believes that the modest gains made by the Water for America initiative are outweighed by the magnitude of budget cuts proposed for other programs that are needed for a fair and productive partnership between the federal government, states, and local entities to effectively addresses water needs across the country. 

The administration’s indifference to water needs in the West would impose particular hardships on New Mexico and likely lead to more litigation concerning the use and management of the State’s limited water resources. The President proposes a 42 percent cut ($16.2 million) to the Middle Rio Grande project which would seriously hamper efforts to protect and recover endangered species in the basin. The proposed 2009 budget also cuts all funding for the following critical projects: 

• Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project ($246,000 in FY2008)
• Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Supply Project ($246,000 in FY2008)
• Santa Fe Buckman ($246,000 in FY2008)
• Jicarilla Apache Rural Water Project ($1,476,000 in FY2008)
• Albuquerque Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects ($1,476,000 in FY2008)
• Eastern NM (Clovis & Portales) Water Reuse evaluation ($246,000)
• U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Aquifer Study ($492,000)

 
  The budget also proposes the following: 

• Payment in Lieu of Taxes – $195 million ($33.9 million below FY 2008)
• Bandelier national monument -$3.178 million for visitor center renovation
• El Malpais National Monument – $150,000 to complete land acquisition of 320 acres

• Southwest Valley Flood Reduction Project, authorized last year in WRDA ($984,000 in FY08)
• Acequia irrigation projects in Northern New Mexico ($2.2 million in fy08)
• Water and waste water projects in Valencia, Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties (sec. 593, $7.38 million)
• Water and waste water projects across NM (Sec. 595, $10.8 million)
• Drainage improvements in Rio Rancho (new project)