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Dossier · Organization

NM Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

verification: primary-source

The state water agency that authorized the emergency construction well for the campus and is a party to the state's MOU with BorderPlex.

At a glance

Kind: Government agency
Role in the project: Regulator
Jurisdiction: State of New Mexico
Key people: Elizabeth K. Anderson · JR Hennessey · Nathaniel Chakeres
Verification: primary-source — Read off the primary document itself
In the record: 0 sources · 3 connections · 11 dated entries
Record id: PJO45

Key facts

2025-10-23Issued an emergency authorization on October 23, 2025 for replacement well LRG-03150-POD 50, two days after the request, signed for District IV by Deputy District Manager JR Hennessey.
2026-01-09Under § 72-12-22, drilling proceeded during review; 32 protests were on file by the January 9, 2026 deadline.
2026-04-16Wrote on April 16, 2026 that the protested application had gone to its Administrative Litigation Unit; as of August 20, 2026, no hearing had been docketed.
2026-07-31Its meter record shows 103,620,944 gallons drawn from the new well between April 14 and July 31, 2026.
2026-08-28State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson answered on August 28, 2026 that the construction water comes from a verified, pre-existing right and “is not a new depletion of water in the Lower Rio Grande.”
2026-09-17The Supreme Court stayed the authorization on August 23, 2026, then denied the petition and lifted the stay on September 17, 2026.

The record

MOU state party; manages Santa Teresa brackish-resource investigation + water-rights processing

Relationships · 3

Staffed by· 2

Led by

Elizabeth K. Anderson

In the timeline · 11

Oct 23, 2025The State Engineer authorizes the well — two days after the request Oct 2025The well is allowed — and cannot be stopped Jan 9, 2026The emergency-well protest deadline closes Apr 16, 2026The State Engineer acknowledges the protests — and says it will docket them May 26, 2026The decree says nothing about a new industrial user Jul 29, 2026Two days later, the hearing moves five weeks earlier Aug 20, 2026The petition that produced the water stay — and a metered number Aug 23, 2026The New Mexico Supreme Court stops both proceedings — the first time anything has Aug 28, 2026The State Engineer answers — and her answer is not about volume Sep 2, 2026The Attorney General takes the petitioners’ side against two state agencies Sep 17, 2026The Supreme Court denies both petitions and lifts both stays

Dated entries in the record that involve this party. Appearing here is not an allegation — it means the graph draws an edge from this dossier to that event.

Claims involving them · 3

Actual water use ~1M gal/day (contested)confirmed

Nothing in the decree reconciles a new industrial groundwater user with the retirement obligationconfirmed

New Mexico must retire 18,200 acre-feet a year of depletion in this basinconfirmed

In the Watch · 2

documentBorderPlex–State of NM MOU (Feb 25 2025)

eventNM Supreme Court stays the emergency well authorization (Aug 23 2026)

Sources · pending

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