WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said he is pleased that the Obama administration is making water projects and public lands initiatives in New Mexico a priority in his 2013 budget proposal. Congress will use this budget proposal as a blueprint when it develops the spending bills that will fund the federal government next year.
The 2013 budget unveiled today includes $98.8 million for the Navajo water settlement Bingaman helped authorize. Of that amount, $32.8 million would be used for Navajo-Gallup pipeline design; $6 million would be put in the Navajo trust fund that will help pay for water-related projects. An additional $60 million for pipeline construction will come from mandatory funding that Bingaman helped secure in the Claims Resolution Act of 2010.
The budget also includes $4 million for the Taos Indian Water Rights Settlement and $5 million for the Aamodt Water Settlement in the Pojoaque Valley. Both of those settlements were authorized through the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 which included $ 147.8 million in funding Bingaman helped to secure.
“The Navajo-Gallup pipeline and the Aamodt and Taos settlements will help bring a reliable and clean water supply to thousands of New Mexicans, while creating hundreds of jobs in the process. I’m pleased the President’s budget makes a strong commitment to these New Mexico water settlements and is making an investment to help move these projects forward,” Bingaman said.
The budget proposal includes $1.5 million to acquire the former Price’s Dairy in Albuquerque’s South Valley in order to establish the Middle Río Grande National Wildlife Refuge; $1 million was also recently announced for the acquisition of senior water rights associated with the establishment of this urban wildlife refuge. The Bureau of Reclamation also plans to invest $22.5 million in the Middle Rio Grande for efforts focused on the protection and recovery of the Rio Grande silvery minnow and southwestern willow flycatcher.
Additionally, the Bureau of Reclamation’s budget request includes $1.978 million for a water project in eastern New Mexico authorized in a 2009 law that Bingaman authored. This funding will supplement the $1 million allocated to the project in FY2012 to construct an intake structure that will bring water from Ute Reservoir to eastern New Mexico communities.
“TheEastern New Mexico Water Supply Project will do more than bring water to communities in the eastern part of the state. It will also bring new business and job opportunities that would not be possible without a dependable water source,” Bingaman said. “The funding in the President’s budget will help get this project off the ground.”
Bingaman said he is also pleased the Obama administration‘s proposal invests in the following New Mexico public land and water initiatives:
The Obama budget request contains funding for the following Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Army Corps of Engineer projects:
EPA
USDA
Army Corps of Engineers - Projects:
Army Corps of Engineers - Operations and Maintenance
Air
Hazardous Waste
Jude McCartin
Maria Najera
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