New Mexico will forfeit 5.9 billion gallons of groundwater annually as part of a new settlement deal that would end its long-running legal battle with Texas over the Rio Grande.
Court documents say the settlement agreement in Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado has the support of the states as well as the Trump administration, clearing the way for its likely adoption.
“The Compact Decree achieves the ultimate goal of the Compact by ensuring that Texas and New Mexico both receive and can use their respective apportionments of the waters of the Rio Grande. It is fair, reasonable, and consistent with the Compact,” attorneys for the three states wrote in court documents. “The United States does not oppose the Compact Decree, and this Joint Motion is unopposed.”
The proposed settlement will be reviewed Sept. 29 by Judge D. Brooks Smith of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who is acting as special master in the case at the behest of the Supreme Court. The settlement is the second in the case.
