Skeen Blocks "Heritage River"
Plan For Rio Grande In N.M.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M., has blocked a plan to add part of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico to the Clinton administration’s "American Heritage Rivers" program.

Skeen’s action on behalf of the Rio Grande is only the latest in a growing string of mostly locally-inspired efforts to opt out of the ill-defined "Heritage Rivers" scheme.

As in the other cases, Skeen complained that designating the Rio Grande an "American Heritage River" could infringe on water and private property rights and expand federal power. Supporters of the program claim such fears are unfounded, but their inability to explain just what the plan is supposed to do and to demonstrate with any certainty where its limits lie has made their assurances unconvincing to critics.

Skeen’s office said he was notified by the Clinton administration’s Council on Environmental Quality that the river would not be designated over his objections. The council, among other things, advises the president on environmental policy.

In a press release, Skeen said that "anytime the Clinton administration proposes a new federal program, the public is skeptical about the hidden agenda that inspire these new initiatives."

The program, which supposedly includes no new federal spending or regulations, is promoted as a way to "encourage cooperation" between federal agencies and local governments and activists to improve rivers. Critics have noted that "encouraging cooperation" can be done without creating an entirely new program, particularly if — as its promoters insist — the program has no teeth and no funding anyway.

If it’s more than just show, they say, they’re right to be suspicious; if it’s nothing but a show, it’s a waste of time and effort.

Clinton announced the program in his State of the Union address in February as a way to help communities restore and revitalize rivers by making it easier to cut through federal red tape. A "river navigator" would be named to help local governments and activists gain access to federal money and programs that could be used to clean up rivers and revitalize water fronts.

Skeen's press release called the Rio Grande vital to New Mexico agriculture and economic security.

"I certainly understand the concerns of my constituents, particularly when unnecessary programs such as the American Heritage River Initiative can have a negative impact on private property and water rights," he said.

"It's really an innocuous program the way I see it," argued Kevin Bixby, director of the Southwest Environmental Center in Las Cruces. "I know Skeen is generally not supportive of environmental initiatives at the federal level. In this case, I think he was responding to some of the most extreme, right-wing constituents."

Bixby said supporters had been told that if the Rio Grande were nominated, it would have been on a short list of rivers that could end up as the first 10 American Heritage rivers.

He said it's possible supporters will try to get the northern and central Rio Grande and the river in Texas nominated for the program. The first designations will be made early next year.

In Texas, Land Commissioner Garry Mauro’s office is promoting the Rio Grande as a "Heritage River," seeking out supporters in river communities and brushing aside opponents. The agency recently hosted an unadvertised planning meeting in out-of-the-way Marathon to which only hand-picked supporters were invited; city and county governments that were already on record in opposition were allegedly told they would be "left out of the funding" if they didn’t reverse their positions.