[CPEO-MEF] Water Wars and DOD: The San Pedro River

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

[Fort Huachuca recently won an environmental award from the Secretary of 
Defense for its development of a plan to manage the impacts of base 
activities on the San Pedro river.  This rider flies in the face of DOD's 
stated position.  One would hope that the Department would point this out 
to the House Armed Services Committee.]

Arizona Star
May 18th 2003

Growth and the San Pedro

Once again, a short-sighted politician is trying to pull the plug on the 
San Pedro River. Rep. Rick Renzi, a Republican from Northern Arizona, is in 
effect trying to separate the growth of Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca from 
the impact of that growth on the dwindling water in the San Pedro River. 
The same measure failed in Congress last year when it was introduced by 
Rep. Jim Kolbe, the Republican who, unlike Renzi, actually represents 
Sierra Vista and Southern Arizona.

Renzi evidently didn't get the message. Or maybe he felt that even though 
his home is in Northern Arizona, he still knows what's best for Sierra 
Vista because he grew up there and his father, U.S. Army Major General Gene 
Renzi (ret.), served there.

In any case, he felt inclined to resuscitate Kolbe's gasping amendment to 
the Base National Defense Authorization bill, which exempts Fort Huachuca 
from any responsibility "for water consumption that occurs outside of Fort 
Huachuca ... even though the water is derived from a watershed basin shared 
by the military installation and the water consumption outside of that 
installation may impact a critical habitat or endangered species out the 
installation."

What makes Renzi's amendment most peculiar is that it is ignorant of 
contemporary events. As recently as a year ago, U.S. District Judge Alfredo 
Marquez ruled that a biological opinion, prepared by the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, was wrong to conclude that the fort's water use would not 
adversely affect the San Pedro River. This is, one might conclude, a way of 
saying that water use on the fort can indeed have an adverse effect on the 
river.

Fort Huachuca has acknowledged as much, which suggests that Renzi is 
seeking to absolve the Army of a responsibility that it has already owned 
up to. Renzi chooses to ignore the fact that the fort has already 
acknowledged that because it is the major area employer and contractor, its 
activities significantly impact the aquifer that keeps the San Pedro River 
alive. Renzi may be unaware that Fort Huachuca has already taken 
responsible, far-reaching steps to cut back on its water use - building 
retention basins and recharging effluent, for example.

The Renzi rider, as the amendment is known, turns back the clock. Fort 
Huachuca, Sierra Vista and Cochise County all know there is a connection 
between growth, water consumption and the fate of a natural resource. A 
community based organization, the Upper San Pedro Partnership, exists to 
deal with that issue.

To view this article in full go to: 
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/30518editriver.html




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Aimee R. Houghton
Associate Director, CPEO
1101 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20036
tel: 202-452-8039; fax: 202-452-8095
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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