Water and Moon Mountain

The Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board criticized me this morning for wanting to protect Moon Mountain in Ruidoso. Essentially, they said the residents of Ruidoso should just buy it and then they gave some ink to me saying I wanted to balance environmental protection and revenue generation on state land through a constitutional amendment. I disagree with their position on developing Moon Mountain at the expense of proper planning and conservation. I have always felt you should err on the side of ecosystem protection. The ecosystem in Ruidoso is highly stressed. That is what this issue is really about. Now, in the Journal's own website today there is an Associated Press story documenting an emergency funding by the Bureau of Reclamation that is aimed at getting some extra water to Ruidoso and Cloudcroft because of shortages. Um, Moon Mountain is one of the last pieces of undisturbed watershed in the area.