Middle Rio Grande Water Users Ass'n v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

• Decision Date: 11 May 1953
• Docket Number: No. 5544,5544
• Citation: 258 P.2d 391,57 N.M. 287,1953 NMSC 35
• Parties: MIDDLE RIO GRANDE WATER USERS ASS'N v. MIDDLE RIO GRANDE CONSERVANCY DIST.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Page 391

258 P.2d 391

57 N.M. 287

MIDDLE RIO GRANDE WATER USERS ASS'N v. MIDDLE RIO GRANDE CONSERVANCY DIST.

No. 5544.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

May 11, 1953.

On Application for Approval of Amendatory Contract June 29, 1953.

A. T. Hannett, G. W. Hannett and W. S. Lindamood, Albuquerque, for appellant.

Martin A. Threet and D. A. Macpherson, Jr., Albuquerque, for appellee.

McGHEE, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree holding legal a contract entered into by the United States of America and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.

The appellant's statement of the case so clearly presents the issues raised below and the action of the court there that we will first copy it and then dispose of the legal questions under the points urged by them. We quote:

'The Board of Trustees of Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, hereinafter referred to as appellee, initiated this proceeding by filing a petition for the purpose of determining the validity of a Reclamation Contract, executed September 24, 1951, between the United States of America and appellee, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, alleging that on the 24th of September, 1951, appellee had entered into a contract with the United States of America under and pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 148, 1939 New Mexico Session Laws, as amended, embraced in Article 31 of Chapter 77 of New Mexico Statutes Annotated, 1941, as amended, attaching to its petition a copy of the proposed contract. Appellee asked the three-judge Conservancy Court, provided for in Section 77-3120, New Mexico Statutes Annotated, 1941, to adjudicate said contract in all respects valid. The petition sets forth that by the terms of the contract the United States agrees within the limitation of the contract and to the extent funds are available to acquire through said Conservancy District at prices satisfactory to the Secretary of the Department of Interior of the United States, or his duly authorized represenative, the outstanding bonds evidencing the present bonded obligation of appellee; to rehabilitate and extend the irrigation and drainage system of appellee, including El Vado Dam and reservoir; also that before undertaking any such rehabilitation work, the United States shall submit its program and plan therefor annually in advance to appellee for consultation and advice; to rectify the channel of the Rio Grande in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, including Espanola Valley and the Hot Springs area; also dredging from near the south boundary of appellee into the Elephant Butte Reservoir; provided that the features of the project above designated and their order of construction may be varied, and as thus varied, constructed in the order, all as determined by the Secretary of the Interior or his duly authorized representative.

'That under the terms of said contract, among other things, appellee's obligation for the works and benefits to be performed by the United States of America is to reimburse the United States of America to the maximum of $18,000,000 payable over a period of forty years without interest.

'Appellee also alleges on information and belief that it would be and is for the best interests of the landowners, farmers, and water users within the appellee's boundaries that this contract be approved and confirmed in all respects by the Conservancy Court * * *.

'In response to said petition the Court made its order setting the matter for hearing, after due notice, on the 13th of December, 1951.

'On the 12th of December, 1951, the Middle Rio Grande Water Users Association, hereinafter referred to as appellant comprised of some 324 water users engaged in the cultivation of soil within the boundaries of appellee, in its own behalf and in behalf of others similarly situated, filed its demurrer and answer, by which appellant challenged the sufficiency of the petition for the following reasons:

'A. That the contract lacked mutuality in that it obligates the appellee to the performance of many and divers obligations without any firm obligation on the part of the United States.

'B. That Sections 77-3102, 77-3112, 77-3113, 77-3114, New Mexico Statutes Annotated, 1941, which sections are an integral part of Chapter 148, Laws of 1939, under which Act appellee claims the authority to enter into said contract, are unconstitutional and void in that said sections offend against and were passed in defianance of Sections 1, 2, 3, of Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of New Mexico for the reason that under the terms of said contract the long-established water rights under the doctrine of prior appropriation of water placed to beneficial use are ignored and, if said contract is made, executed, delivered, and enforced according to its terms, the ancient water rights of the appellant and others similarly situated will be lost to them; that said contract will deprive the owners of ancient water rights guaranteed under said sections of the Constitution of all their vested rights to the use of the waters of the Rio Grande.

'C. That said sections offend against and are violative of Section 18, Article 4 of the Constitution of the State of New Mexico in that said statutes attempt to extend by reference to its title only the Reclamation Act passed by the Congress of the United States (43 U.S.C.A. Secs. 371-670), together with any rules and regulations that have been or may hereafter be promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior thereunder in such a manner as to constitute blind legislation and divest appellant of substantive rights, and further the appellant's authority to enter into said contract, as appellant is informed and believes, is based on powers granted by the terms of Chapter 148 of the Laws of 1939, of which said sections are an integral part.

'D. That said contract offends against and is contrary to the fundamental constitutional principle that the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government shall be separate and independent, and that none of the said departments of government shall invade the powers or duties of any other departments in that said contract and said legislation strips the courts of the State of New Mexico of jurisdiction to settle disputes as to water rights and as to any right under said contract, and purports to vest such jurisdiction in the executive branch of the government, to-wit, the Secretary of the Interior.

'E. That said contract and legislation under which appellee purports to act offends against the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in that appellant is a public corporation vested with governmental function, including the power to tax and levy assessments, and that the appellee is now trustee of the irrigable waters of the Rio Grande in the District for the purpose of distributing the same to the owners of water rights and has no title to the water; that the title to the water is appurtenant to the land and belongs to the landowners, and said contract attempts to transfer title to the water of the river and the taxing power of the appellee to an executive of the federal government, to-wit, the Secretary of the Interior.

'F. That said contract and the legislation under which appellee purports to act in entering into said contract violates the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States and Article 2, Sections 4 and 18 of the Constitution of the State of New Mexico, in that it deprives the appellant of the liberty of contract.

'G. That said contract will convey to the United States all rights-of-way, ditches, canals, and diversion dams which are held in trust by appellee for the use and benefit of appellant and others similarily situated against the will and without the consent of the appellant.

'H. That said contract and said statute under which appellee claims the authority to enter into the same offends the due process and equal protection and contract clauses of the United States Constitution, and is therefore void because it attempts to change the contract now made and existing between the individual landowners and the appellee by changing the number and amount of the unpaid installments and extending the time for the payment thereof over a period of forty years without the consent of the landowners.

'By the terms of appellant's answer appellant denies the allegations set forth in paragraph 4 of appellee's petition and affirmatively alleges that all of the alleged agreements on the part of the United States, by the terms of said contract, are subject to the vicissitudes of Congressional appropriations, and in event of failure on the part of the United States to make such appropriations neither the appellee not the water users would have a remedy.

'Appellant in its answer denied the allegations set forth in paragraph 6 of the petition which alleges in effect, upon information and belief, that it would be for the best interests of the landowners, farmers, and water users that the contract be in all respects approved and confirmed.

'After hearing, the Court rendered a memorandum opinion finding the issues against the appellant and in favor of appellee. Thereafter, the appellee and appellant filed requested findings of fact and conclusions of law. The Court then made and entered its own findings and conclusions, and judgment was entered thereon in favor of appellee and against appellant, upholding the validity of the contract and the Acts heretofore described from which judgment the appellant has brought this appeal.'

As there is no question but that a large number of landowners within the District belong to the appellant association and oppose the contract, and as the material facts are undisputed, we feel the attacks on the legality of the contracy may be answered by taking up the legal matters raised, first determining the jurisdiction of the trial court in passing upon the legality and validity of the contract, and, in turn, our jurisdiction in passing...