Forget Zorro Ranch: Protect water right now

What a hoot. Our state’s political establishment, which can’t be bothered to enforce its own environmental laws, suddenly discovers its moral compass when there’s a press release and a camera involved.

Recently, Rep. Andrea Romero announced a proposal for a $2.5 million “truth commission” to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s long-dead crimes and long-abandoned ranch in southern Santa Fe County (“Lawmakers call for Epstein ‘truth panel,’ “Nov. 7).

The headlines were instant, the outrage theatrical — and the hypocrisy staggering.

Meanwhile, just up the road in her own district, we believe Bishop’s Lodge resort continues to flout New Mexico’s liquid waste regulations with a wastewater disposal scheme so reckless it threatens the drinking-water wells of hundreds of families in Tesuque and the downstream pueblos. Does Rep. Romero call for an investigation or even bother to consult her affected constituents? No. Despite flagrant violations of the liquid waste regulations’ mandatory safeguards, our state’s Environment Department — backed by political leadership from the governor on down — has chosen to bow to the resort and look the other way.

A year after citizens organized to protest peacefully, Bishop’s Lodge sued them to muzzle their protests. Ten residents and Protect Tesuque were dragged into court for exercising their First Amendment rights. And what did the state do? Nothing. Not one public official stood up for free speech or clean water.

Fortunately, the courts did. On Nov. 4, Santa Fe District Court Judge Francis Mathew threw out the resort’s baseless attempt to muzzle the protests, ruling that Bishop’s Lodge had failed to establish any of the elements required for such extraordinary relief — let alone all of them. It was a decisive win for free speech and civic courage — but a damning indictment of government inaction and acquiescence.

Rep. Romero’s “truth commission” may expose terrible things that happened decades ago. But the truth New Mexicans need right now isn’t buried at Zorro Ranch — it’s flowing into Little Tesuque Creek. It’s the truth of a state that ignores its own laws when money and political influence trump the law. It’s the truth of a governor who poses as a climate champion while her agencies protect polluters. It’s the truth of a Legislature that funds theatrics but not the safeguards needed to protect the water New Mexicans actually drink.

There’s a simpler, cheaper commission that could start tomorrow: a Legislature that actually serves its constituents, an Environment Department that does its job and leaders who remember that water is life — not a bargaining chip.

Until then, the people of Tesuque will keep telling the truth the old-fashioned way: in court, on the roadside and in the streets.

Rusty Day resides in Tesuque and is a founder and board member of Protect Tesuque.