Chamisa Hills case headed to court

The City of Rio Rancho could face nearly $600,000 in fines for failing to comply with a New Mexico Environment Department ruling that the city illegally discharged treated wastewater into ponds at Chamisa Hills Country Club, resulting in the death of several ducks due to avian botulism.

Department secretary Ron Curry authorized a compliance order on Friday with a proposed penalty of $579,750 against the city for allegedly violating its state permit. Two days before, the city filed suit in the 13th Judicial District Court against the NMED asking for a court review of the situation and seeking to have any potential fines blocked.

Curry’s order alleges the city violated its discharge permit by failing to inspect liners of ponds at the club, neglecting to submit to the department a corrective action plan detailing damage to pond liners and illegally discharging wastewater from the city to those ponds. The city contends its responsibility ends when the water goes into the ponds and that is not responsible for the conditions of the ponds.

City officials, including Mayor Mike Williams, have also said they believe that providing financial assistance to a private entity such as Chamisa Hills would be in violation of the state’s anti-donation clause.

After its initial ruling in January, the NMED gave the city 10 days to respond. It later granted an additional 30-day extension that ended Wednesday at 5 p.m.

“Rio Rancho – after months of discussions with the Environment Department that offered hope for a resolution of this problem – chose to delay cleaning up ponds at the country club by filing a lawsuit against the state,” Curry said in a news release. “Now the city will waste taxpayers’ money on substantial fines and legal fees that could have paid for the cleanup of the ponds.”

The NMED order cites Rio Rancho’s 25-year-old permit obligations for wastewater effluent discharges to ponds at the club and contends that the city violated the state Water Quality Act and Water Quality Control Commission regulations. The order requires the city to submit a plan for the removal of sludge in west ponds at the club, investigate the removal of sludge in east and north ponds, submit a plan for the removal of harmful vegetation in all ponds and submit a work plan determining the condition of liners in east and north ponds.

In addition, the order requires that no wastewater from the city be discharged into west ponds unless the city’s permit with the state is modified to include those ponds.

Discharges to the golf course have been permitted by the state since 1982 under other entities that pre-date the formation of the city. The city assumed responsibility for that permit in 1995.

The NMED attempted to get Chamisa Hills on its own distinct permit last summer, but that action was blocked in court.

The NMED says the city permit requires that the city inspect effluent storage lagoons at the golf course for integrity and if needed, submit a corrective action plan to the department and maintains that the city has not fulfilled that responsibility.

The department has been meeting with area residents, homeowner associations and other government officials in an attempt to resolve the issue for nearly two years. In September Williams said he would like the city to get involved in helping find a solution, which the NMED seemed to take as a signal that the city was ready to address the matter.

Assistant secretary Jon Goldstein addressed the city council in December and pushed for a resolution by the end of the year, but when nothing happened the NMED issued its initial ruling in January.