A New Mexico federal judge has ruled against the environmental group WildEarth Guardians in its efforts to stop repairs to a southern New Mexico dam on grounds the repairs endangered three wildlife species.
Chief U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson ruled against the group’s request for a summary judgment in its lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
WildEarth Guardians contended the repairs to the Elephant Butte Dam along the Rio Grande in Southern New Mexico would endanger the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow and the Yellow-Filled Cuckoo, each of which was listed as in endangered in 1995, 1994 and 2014 respectively.
When Elephant Butte Lake was completed in 1916, it was considered to be the largest irrigation reservoir in the world.
was completed in 1916, Elephant
Butte Lake became the largest irrigation reservoir in the world at that time. WildEarth Guardians, based in Santa Fe, contended the Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly examine the impacts on the environment in constructing 43 miles of permanent engineered levees and replacing existing spoil bank levees erected in the 1950s.