Prosecutors file charges in set shooting by Alec Baldwin - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Actor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist have been formally charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set, according to court documents filed by prosecutors Tuesday.
Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies filed the charging documents naming Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who supervised weapons on the set of the Western "Rust."
The filing comes nearly two weeks after she first announced that Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed would be prosecuted for what authorities have described as a pattern of criminal disregard for safety. In recent weeks, Carmack-Altwies has outlined two sets of involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the shooting.
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed maintain their innocence and have vowed to fight the charges.
Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas declined comment Tuesday and referred to his previous statement on the case, in which he called the charges a "terrible miscarriage of justice" that he and his client would fight and win.
"Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun – or anywhere on the movie set," the statement said. "He relied on the professionals with whom he worked."
Gutierrez-Reed's attorney said they would release a statement later.
Halyna Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe on Oct. 21, 2021. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding the director, Joel Souza.
Prosecutors have said that Baldwin's involvement as a producer and as the person who fired the gun weighed in the decision to file charges.
The manslaughter charge against Baldwin includes alternative standards and sanctions. One would apply a charge of manslaughter for reckless disregard of safety "without due caution and circumspection."
Hutchins' death already has led to new safety precautions in the film industry.
Carmack-Altwies told The Associated Press in a Jan. 19 interview that the set was "really being run pretty fast and loose" and that Baldwin should have known there had been previous misfires on the set and that multiple people had brought up safety concerns.
She added that Baldwin was the one who pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will be issued a summons to appear in court. Prosecutors will forgo a grand jury and rely on a judge to determine if there is sufficient evidence to move toward trial. It could take up to 60 days for decision.
Involuntary manslaughter can involve a killing that happens while a defendant is doing something lawful but dangerous and is acting negligently or without caution. Special prosecutor Andrea Reeb has cited a pattern of "criminal disregard for safety" on the set of "Rust."
Prosecutors also said they will release the terms of a signed plea agreement with assistant director David Halls, who oversaw safety on the set. Participants in the un-filmed rehearsal have given conflicting accounts of who handed the gun to Baldwin.
Halls has agreed to plead guilty in the negligent use of a deadly weapon, they said.
Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said in a statement Monday that prosecutors are "fully focused on securing justice for Halyna Hutchins" and "the evidence and the facts speak for themselves."
Baldwin, also a co-producer on "Rust," has described the killing as a tragic accident. The 64-year-old actor said he was told the gun was safe and has sought to clear his name by suing people involved in handling and supplying the loaded .45-caliber revolver.
In his lawsuit, Baldwin said that while working on camera angles with Hutchins, he pointed the gun in her direction and pulled back and released the hammer of the weapon, which discharged.
Defense attorney Jason Bowles, who represents Gutierrez-Reed, said the charges are the result of a "flawed investigation" and an "inaccurate understanding of the full facts."
Defendants can participate remotely in many initial court proceedings or seek to have their first appearance waived.
The decision to charge Baldwin marks a stunning turn of events for an A-list actor whose 40-year career included the early blockbuster "The Hunt for Red October" and a starring role in the sitcom "30 Rock," as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" and a film adaptation of David Mamet's "Glengary Glen Ross." In recent years, Baldwin was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live."
New Mexico candidate indicted in drive-by shooting case - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A political newcomer who lost his bid for the New Mexico statehouse has been indicted on charges of allegedly orchestrating a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of Democratic officials.
A Bernalillo County grand jury returned a 14-count indictment Monday against Solomon Peña, prosecutors said. The counts include criminal solicitation to commit shooting at a dwelling, shooting at a dwelling, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon.
The 39-year-old felon remains in custody after a judge last week ordered him to be held without bond pending trial.
Detectives identified Peña as their key suspect using a combination of cellphone and vehicle records, witness interviews and bullet casings collected at the lawmakers' homes.
Authorities arrested Peña on Jan. 9, accusing him of paying for a father and son and two other unidentified men to shoot at the officials' homes between early December and early January. The shootings followed his unsuccessful Republican bid for a district long considered a Democratic stronghold. He claimed the election was rigged.
No one was hurt, but the case reignited the debate over whether lawmakers should make it harder for people accused of violent crimes to make bail. Lawmakers during this legislative session also are considering a measure that would shield the home addresses of elected officials.
Prosecutors have outlined Peña's previous time in prison and described him as the "ringleader" of a group that he assembled to shoot at people's homes, saying ballistics testing determined that a firearm found in the trunk of a car registered to Peña was linked to at least one shooting. Another man was found driving that car and was arrested on an unrelated warrant.
Peña's defense attorney has raised questions about the credibility of a confidential witness that shared information with authorities, saying some of the statements used in a criminal complaint were contradictory. She also argued her client's criminal history did not involve any violent convictions or crimes involving firearms and that he has not been in trouble with the law — other than two traffic citations — since his release from prison in 2016.
Court records show Peña was incarcerated for several years after being arrested in 2007 in connection with what authorities described as a smash-and-grab burglary scheme that targeted retail stores. His voting rights were restored after he completed probation in 2021.
Some lawmakers unconvinced ‘rebuttable presumptions’ bill would make it through the courts - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s governor and the district attorney for the largest county in the state are working to convince lawmakers to change the way pretrial detention hearings work by saying they want to balance the rights of people accused of crimes with their impression about public safety.
Whenever prosecutors ask a judge to hold someone accused of a crime in jail until trial, they must prove that no release conditions will reasonably protect the safety of another person or the community.
In other words, they have to show that depriving that person of their liberty is the only option left on the table.
Senate Bill 123 would create a “rebuttable presumption” to shift that burden of proof onto the defendant. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Linda Lopez and Rep. Meredith Dixon, both Albuquerque Democrats.
It has support as a top priority by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman and other prominent Democrats in the Roundhouse.
Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), chair of the Senate Judiciary committee, assembled a meeting on Monday afternoon to hear arguments about whether the proposal would stand up to constitutional review by the state’s courts if it became law.
Bregman said he believes in the presumption of innocence, “But I also believe that the community at large — that the people out there that all of us represent, that you represent — have a right to feel some type of safety.”
Bregman’s comments echoed a statement issued later on Monday by the governor.
“I fully understand the importance of balancing the rights of the accused and the rights of the public,” Lujan Grisham said in a news release. “This legislation threads that needle, ensuring a safer New Mexico in the process. I look forward to continuing to work with legislators to get this bill across the finish line.”
New Mexico Department of Public Safety Deputy Secretary Benjamin Baker attended the meeting on behalf of the governor.
He told senators that the goal of the legislation is to “differentiate those folks, where probable cause has been determined, are likely to reoffend in a way that endangers the public or the victims in the case that’s previously charged.”
Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) asked Bregman how lawmakers would be protecting their communities by passing a law that would be found unconstitutional.
Bregman responded by saying there are a lot of lawyers in the DA’s office who don’t think the court would find the law to be unconstitutional.
“I’m not convinced of anything different after today’s hearing,” Cervantes told Bregman. “I think the attorneys who are telling you this could be done constitutionally are just dead wrong.”
SUPREME COURT ALREADY GAVE GUIDANCE
Rebuttable presumptions are unconstitutional, Kim Chavez-Cook, an appellate defender with the Law Offices of the Public Defender, told the committee.
“The Constitution of New Mexico is very clear that the state bears a burden of proof: of clear and convincing evidence,” she said, “And any use of a rebuttable presumption relying on different evidence to meet that burden is directly contrary to that constitutional provision.”
She said in interpreting that part of the constitution, the state Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear the state’s burden of proof has two requirements: the accused person is dangerous, and no conditions of release will reasonably protect the community from them.
In the 2022 Legislative Session, many tried to predict what the New Mexico Supreme Court might say in response to rebuttable presumptions legislation, Chavez-Cook said. But now there is some guidance from the court in a June 2022 opinion.
The Supreme Court unanimously concluded if it allowed New Mexico prosecutors to send someone to jail until trial based only on the circumstances of what is said to have happened, it “would all but eliminate” the burden on the state to prove someone is too dangerous to hold onto their freedom, Chief Justice Michael Vigil wrote.
Chavez-Cook said the opinion reiterates the nature and circumstances of the current charges against someone are enough to prove someone is dangerous. In other words, there’s no question that someone having committed a very dangerous crime, or having probable cause to believe they have, can satisfy that part of the test.
“But the court also made it very clear that the nature and circumstances of the charges cannot also satisfy the second prong of that test,” she said.
“In my view, rebuttable presumptions based on probable cause of the charges, establishing the state’s burden of proof — or even subject to rebuttal, establishing the state’s burden — is exactly what the Supreme Court has said is not consistent with the state constitution,” Chavez-Cook said. “That seems to me to squarely answer the question.”
MANY HELD IN ALBUQUERQUE NEVER CONVICTED
The proposal runs the risk of being over-inclusive and creating false positives, she said, by just assuming someone is dangerous based on the current charges.
In Albuquerque between 2017 and 2022, the entire time the current bail system has been in place, in cases where judges granted prosecutors’ pretrial detention motions, 23.8% of people held in jail were not ultimately convicted of anything, according to data from the Law Offices of the Public Defender.
Another 120 people ended up pleading their charge down to a misdemeanor.
“So those people were held in detention and were not convicted of anything, or were convicted of a misdemeanor,” Chavez-Cook said.
There would also be other downstream constitutional problems if New Mexico adopts rebuttable presumptions, she said, including the possibility of making the conditions of jails in the state even worse.
Holding presumptively innocent people in already overcrowded, with very reduced staffing, could lead to additional constitutional concerns, she said.
“Frankly, I think we’re there already, but any increase in the number certainly is going to worsen that situation,” Chavez-Cook said.
State aroma bill passes its first sniff test in the NM Legislature - By Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico
What smell comes to mind when you think of New Mexico?
Is it the fresh rain rolling off Sandia Mountains? Is it alfalfa cut for harvest outside Roswell? Perhaps it’s the mercaptan added to the otherwise odorless smell from natural gas production in the Four Corners, or the waft of cows on the eastside of New Mexico.
Those last two might be more of a stank.
The flavor in the Land of Enchantment starts at green — even red chile is green to begin with — so it makes sense that lawmakers are weighing whether to make green chile the state’s official aroma. Specifically, it’s that smell of roasting chile that draws people every fall to parking lots across New Mexico.
That sweet, spicy aroma that brings watering mouths and nostalgia for home.
Senate Bill 188 passed its first sniff test on Tuesday, wafting with unanimous approval through the Senate Indian, Rural, and Cultural Affairs Committee in Santa Fe.
Sen. William Soules (D-Las Cruces) garnered multi-generational support for the bill during public comment.
First, a classroom of fifth graders from Monte Vista Elementary School in Las Cruces spoke over Zoom, petitioning lawmakers to pass their bill during this 60-day session.
The class said they had meetings with Soules before the session to talk about laws that represent cultural heritage in the state, such as the official bird (roadrunner), state cookie (biscochito), or state question (red or green?).
As the students understood how something like that becomes law, they asked why there is not an official smell. At the same time, the class researched the agricultural impact chile has in their community, and their curiosity led them to lobby Soules to sponsor the green chile aroma bill.
“It’s going to be statewide and could increase tourism,” a student in the class testified before the committee. “It’ll help local farmers and farming green chilies. This will make lifestyle (in New Mexico) a lot better.”
Las Cruces Mayor Pro-Tem Kasandra Gandara said there was some criticism that the aroma bill was “a waste of time” for lawmakers. She responded that fifth graders can learn civic policy in class, but being able to be a part of a real-world scenario — and potentially change state law — is a lasting experience.
“This is so exciting to have the fifth grade elementary students take part in their state and participate in what it’s like to form a bill, to stand up on behalf of a bill, and this is really what this is about,” she said. “And we need to be able to do more of this.”
A representative from the New Mexico Department of Agriculture also spoke in favor of the measure, evoking “the longings when you’re away from home and the comfort that green chile provides, as an aroma and a taste.”
The Financial Impact Report on the bill does affirm the students’ reasoning that this could help tourism in the state and help to give New Mexico staunch advancement in the Chile Verde Wars against Colorado.
“New Mexico has consistently lower visitation rates than neighboring Colorado, which reported 84.2 million visitors in 2021 compared to approximately 40 million visitors to New Mexico in the same year,” legislative analysts wrote. “The new state aroma could help draw visitors away from Colorado, which, for some reason, thinks it has green chile comparable to that of New Mexico.”
With that burn from Roundhouse researchers, and with the committee’s support, the young lobbyists from Las Cruces are on their way to obtaining something many adults fail to get: a legislative victory in Santa Fe.
Proposed utility merger in New Mexico prompts recusal - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
One of the governor's picks for a powerful regulatory commission has recused himself from any decisions involving a proposed multibillion-dollar merger between a U.S. subsidiary of global energy giant Iberdrola and New Mexico's largest electric utility.
Commissioner Patrick O'Connell's recusal came just weeks after he was appointed to the Public Regulation Commission under a new structure in which the governor appoints members from a list of candidates vetted by a nominating panel. Previously, voters elected the commissioners.
O'Connell in a filing Friday cited the reason for his voluntary recusal as previous testimony he gave on behalf of a proposed settlement related to the merger while he worked for an environmental group. O'Connell also had previously served as a resource planner for Public Service Co. of New Mexico.
The merger case is pending before the state Supreme Court after the elected members of the previous Public Regulation Commission rejected the $8 billion acquisition. The commission had shared the concerns of a hearing examiner who warned of reliability risks and the potential for higher prices in a state with one of the nation's highest poverty rates.
Critics also pointed to the track record of the Iberdrola subsidiary, Connecticut-based Avangrid. The company owns utilities in the northeastern U.S.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and nearly a dozen other groups have supported the merger, suggesting that Avangrid and Iberdrola's capital could help speed up New Mexico's pursuit of zero-carbon emissions for electricity generation over the next two decades.
Western Resource Advocates, the group O'Connell used to work for, said Monday it will continue to advocate for the merger.
"We're confident that our position, and that of our supporting partners, will be given fair and thoughtful consideration," said Cydney Beadles, Western Resource Advocates' New Mexico clean energy manager.
Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the group New Energy Economy and an outspoken critic of PNM and the merger, said O'Connell did the right thing as the law is clear when there is a conflict of interest involving a judge or commissioner.
That leaves two appointees on the commission to consider the case if it comes up again — Gabriel Aguilera, who worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and James Ellison Jr., a principal analyst from Sandia National Laboratories.
The outgoing Public Regulation Commission members had ordered an economic analysis that was completed in December. It raised anti-competitive and consumer welfare issues.
Iberdrola and Avangrid executives have said acquiring PNM will be strategic and would help the companies further their growth in both clean energy distribution and transmission.
Tamer Cetin, economics advisor to the Public Regulation Commission, noted in the report that the merger may create a monopolistic electricity market in New Mexico in which Avangrid could "dominate all the segments from generation to transmission, distribution, wholesale and retail."
Transmission, wholesale and distribution currently are under PNM control, with generation being the only competitive segment in the New Mexico market. Cetin notes that Avangrid has plans to make multibillion dollar investments as the third largest renewable energy company in the U.S. and that would push out other developers who could supply electricity.
Another pivotal case the new commission will have to hear over the next year includes a billion-dollar rate case that would affect hundreds of thousands of PNM customers.
PNM is a financial supporter of KUNM.
Lawmaker who works in health care pushes for New Mexico to codify nurse-to-patient ratios - By Megan Gleason,Source New Mexico
While New Mexico continues to struggle with a nursing shortage, a lawmaker with experience in the healthcare field wants to pass a bill that would limit how many patients a nurse has to oversee.
Rep. Eleanor Chavez (D-Albuquerque) is the executive director of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, District 1199. On Friday — New Mexico Nurses Day — she announced that she’ll be sponsoring the New Mexico Patient Safety Act along with Sen. Brenda McKenna (D-Corrales).
The main reason for this, Chavez said, is because nurses are often overburdened with too many patients and can’t take care of them all.
Under the bill, the Department of Health would convene a group of health care management and frontline workers to clearly lay out nurse-to-patient ratios in different fields of health care.
“We don’t need nurses, taking on patient loads of six, 10 patients that they can’t possibly take care of,” Chavez said. “We don’t want to overload our nurses or our other health care personnel because they are not going to be able to attend to the patient care needs.”
As it stands, it’s up to the hospitals to determine limits on how many patients a nurse can have. In order to participate in Medicare, federal rules require that hospitals have to have an “adequate number” of nurses working. The federal government has recommended ratios, but hospitals don’t have to follow them.
Claire Soucy is a registered nurse who attended the Friday news conference. She said the federal Medicare rules define “staffing to acuity” and are too vague. As a result, she added, New Mexico hospitals don’t have stringent enough policies.
Soucy said she directly correlates patient deaths with staffing issues. She brought up how many patients she oversaw as an ICU nurse in the COVID unit. The federal recommendation is two patients, but she said she often had three.
“In those scenarios with those critical patients, you can expect to lose a patient pretty easily,” she said.
The legislators sponsoring the bill agreed that it’s not possible for nurses to safely take care of too many patients at once, which research supports. Nurse Suzanne Bell spoke at the conference and said she’s experienced this firsthand.
“We can only be in one place at one time, and errors increase with too many patients, no matter how hard you work,” Bell said.
RETAINING DESPERATELY NEEDED NURSES
Chavez said the bill could help retain and recruit nurses. Nursing is a key area where New Mexico desperately needs workers, according to a Legislative Finance Committee report. The state had a health care worker shortage before 2020, and the pandemic exacerbated it further.
“We saw how devastating COVID was to all of us, but especially to health care professionals,” Chavez said. “They carried us through. They took care of us. They’re exhausted, and one of the things that they’ve asked us to do is improve their working conditions.”
Bell said she’s watched other nurses leave the field because of a lack of support.
“We feel scared and defeated every day now, not just the occasional eruption, because we stepped up and tried to manage too much adrenaline when it was a pandemic,” Bell said. “But nurses are people. We’ve been holding up this breaking system. It’s been three years now, and now it’s breaking us.”
Nurse Adrianne Enghouse also talked at the conference. She referenced how nurses are more likely to be depressed or die by suicide than the general population. And, she said, these poor conditions aren’t just an issue in New Mexico.
“We’re not alone. If you’ve noticed, RNs and health professionals around the country are going on strike,” she said. “They’re picketing. They’re filling up their state capitals and they’re demanding what we know and have known for years is best for our patients.”
McKenna said the biggest challenge to getting the bill through the Roundhouse will likely be making sure that lawmakers read the legislation carefully and realize that this will help hospitals, nurses and patients.
“We all know how expensive turnover is,” she said. “And especially in the medical field in New Mexico and across this nation, we cannot invite any more turnover.”
California is the only state so far that has codified nursing to patient ratios. Along with New Mexico, other states like Washington and Oregon are trying to push through similar legislation this year.
“All of us have family members that need the care,” McKenna said. “We’ve seen it with the pandemic, and we’ve got such a shortage of nurses — well, and all providers here in the state.”
Deadline nears for Alec Baldwin in deadly movie set shooting - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Prosecutors planned to file felony charges of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of a Western movie in 2021.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died shortly after being wounded at a film set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Oct. 21, 2021. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding the film's director.
In recent weeks, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has outlined two sets of involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the shooting against Baldwin and film set weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
The district attorney said through a spokeswoman Monday that her office will release charging documents and a statement of probable cause outlining the evidence. Hutchins' death already has led to new safety precautions in the film industry.
Involuntary manslaughter can involve a killing that happens while a defendant is doing something lawful but dangerous and is acting negligently or without caution. Special prosecutor Andrea Reeb has cited a pattern of "criminal disregard for safety" on the set of "Rust."
Prosecutors also said they will release the terms of a signed plea agreement with assistant director David Halls, who oversaw safety on the set. Participants in the un-filmed rehearsal have given conflicting accounts of who handed the gun to Baldwin.
Halls has agreed to plead guilty in the negligent use of a deadly weapon, they said.
Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said in a statement Monday that prosecutors are "fully focused on securing justice for Halyna Hutchins" and "the evidence and the facts speak for themselves."
Baldwin, also a co-producer on "Rust," has described the killing as a tragic accident. The 64-year-old actor said he was told the gun was safe and has sought to clear his name by suing people involved in handling and supplying the loaded .45-caliber revolver.
In his lawsuit, Baldwin said that while working on camera angles with Hutchins, he pointed the gun in her direction and pulled back and released the hammer of the weapon, which discharged.
Defense attorney Jason Bowles, who represents Gutierrez-Reed, said the charges are the result of a "flawed investigation" and an "inaccurate understanding of the full facts."
Defendants can participate remotely in many initial court proceedings or seek to have their first appearance waived.
Involuntary manslaughter linked to negligence is a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine under New Mexico law. The second set of manslaughter charges allege recklessness with a provision that could result in a mandatory five years in prison because the offense was committed with a gun.
The decision to charge Baldwin marks a stunning turn of events for an A-list actor whose 40-year career included the early blockbuster "The Hunt for Red October" and a starring role in the sitcom "30 Rock," as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" and a film adaptation of David Mamet's "Glengary Glen Ross." In recent years, Baldwin was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live."
Rare southern New Mexico butterfly now an endangered species - Associated Press
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has named the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly in New Mexico as an endangered species, an environmental group said Monday.
The orange and dark-brown butterfly is found only in high-elevation meadows in the Lincoln National Forest in southern New Mexico.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, most populations of the rare butterfly have been wiped out and just 23 adult checkerspot butterflies were detected in 2021 surveys.
Experts say only two small populations of the butterfly remain because most of its habitat has been degraded by grazing, development and motorized recreation.
In response to a 1999 scientific petition from the Center, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to protect the butterfly in 2001 due to habitat loss from livestock grazing, drought and the suppression of historical low-intensity fires.
But the agency withdrew the proposal in 2004 and a subsequent 2009 listing petition was denied due to political pressure.
Environmentalists said the Fish and Wildlife Service did not propose critical habitat for the butterfly yet but intends to do so in a future rulemaking.
California is lone holdout in Colorado River cuts proposal - By Felicia Fonseca And Suman Naishadham Associated Press
Six Western states that rely on water from the Colorado River have agreed on a model to dramatically cut water use in the basin, months after the federal government called for action and an initial deadline passed.
California — with the largest allocation of water from the river — is the lone holdout. Officials said the state would release its own plan.
The Colorado River and its tributaries pass through seven states and into Mexico, serving 40 million people and a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry. Some of the largest cities in the country, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas, two Mexican states, Native American tribes and others depend on the river that's been severely stressed by drought, demand and overuse.
States missed a mid-August deadline to heed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's call to propose ways to conserve 2 million to 4 million acre feet of water. They regrouped to reach consensus by the end of January to fold into a larger proposal Reclamation has in the works.
Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming sent a letter Monday to Reclamation, which operates the major dams in the river system, to outline an alternative that builds on existing guidelines, deepens water cuts and factors in water that's lost through evaporation and transportation.
Those states propose raising the levels where water reductions would be triggered at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which are barometers of the river's health. The model creates more of a protective buffer for both reservoirs — the largest built in the U.S. It also seeks to fix water accounting and ensure that any water the Lower Basin states intentionally stored in Lake Mead is available for future use.
The modeling would result in about 2 million acre-feet of cuts in the Lower Basin, with smaller reductions in the Upper Basin. Mexico and California are factored into the equations, but neither signed on to Monday's letter.
John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said all states have been negotiating in good faith.
"I don't view not having unanimity at one step in that process to be a failure," he said late Monday. "I think all seven states are still committed to working together."
California released a proposal last October to cut 400,000 acre feet. An acre foot is enough water to supply two to three U.S. households for a year.
JB Hamby, chair of the Colorado River Board of California, said California will submit a model for water reductions in the basin that is practical, based on voluntary action, and aligns with law governing the river and the hierarchy of water rights.
"California remains focused on practical solutions that can be implemented now to protect volumes of water in storage without driving conflict and litigation," he said in a statement Monday.
Nothing will happen immediately with the consensus reached among the six states. However, not reaching a consensus carried the risk of having the federal government alone determine how to eventually impose cuts.
By not signing on, California doesn't avoid that risk.
The debates over how to cut water use by roughly one-third have been contentious. The Upper Basin states of Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah have said the Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — must do the heavy lifting. That conversation in the Lower Basin has centered on what's legal and what's fair.
The six states that signed Monday's proposal acknowledged ideas they put forth could be excluded from final plans to operate the river's major dams. Negotiations are ongoing, they noted, adding that what they proposed does not override existing rights states and others have to the Colorado River.
"There's a lot of steps, commitments that need to be made at the federal, state and local levels," said Entsminger of Nevada.
Monday's proposal included accounting for the water lost to evaporation and leaky infrastructure as the river flows through the region's dams and waterways. Federal officials estimate more than 10% of the river's flow evaporates, leaks or spills, yet Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico have never accounted for that water loss.
The six states argued that Lower Basin states should share those losses — essentially subtracting those amounts from their allocations — once the elevation at Lake Mead sinks below 1,145 feet (349 meters). The reservoir was well below that Monday.
Reclamation will consider the six states' agreement as part of a larger proposal to revise how it operates Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams — behemoth power producers on the Colorado River. The reservoirs behind the dams — Lake Powell and Lake Mead — have reached historic lows amid a more than two-decade-long drought and climate change.
Reclamation plans to put out a draft of that proposal by early March, with a goal of finalizing it by mid-August when the agency typically announces the amount of water available for the following year. Reclamation has said it will do what's needed to ensure the dams can continue producing hydropower and deliver water.
Those annual August announcements have led to mandatory cuts for the past two years for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico in the river's Lower Basin. California has so far been spared from cuts because it has some of the oldest and most secure water rights, particularly in the Imperial Valley where much of the country's winter vegetables are grown, along with the Yuma, Arizona, region.
Without California's participation, the six states' proposal can only go so far to meet the hydrological realities of the river. Water managers in the Lower Basin say the scale of conservation Reclamation is seeking cannot be met without California, tribes and farmers who draw directly from the Colorado River.
Also unclear is how much Mexico eventually will contribute to the savings. In the best water years, Mexico receives its full allocation of 1.5 million acre feet under a treaty reached with the U.S. in 1944.