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1998 New Mexico Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (1998)

handle is hein.sag/sagnm0042 and id is 1 raw text is: Attorney General of New Mexico

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Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1508
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TOM UDALL                                              MANUEL TIJERINA
Attorney General                                        Deputy Attorney General
March 27, 1998
OPINION
of                             Opinion No. 98-01
TOM UDALL
Attorney General
BY:       Alletta Belin
Assistant Attorney General
TO:       The Honorable Dede Feldman, State Senator
The Honorable Carlos R. Cisneros, State Senator
New Mexico Senate
State Capitol
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503
OUESTION:
Does New Mexico law (constitutional, statutory, or case law)
permit the State Engineer to afford legal protection to
instream flows' for recreational, fish or wildlife, or
ecological purposes?
CONCLUSION:
Yes. So as not to speculate about hypothetical scenarios
that are unlikely ever to arise, we limit our response to
this question in the following respects as suggested by the
State Engineer in his January 1998 analysis' of these
issues:
I    Instream flow and instream use refer to the concept
of leaving water in a streambed where it is used by way of
providing aquatic and riparian environments for fish and
wildlife and providing for recreational and aesthetic uses.
Of necessity, instream use involves free-flowing water in a
natural channel rather than diversion of water out of the
streambed or impoundment of water behind a dam or dike.
January 8, 1998, Memorandum to State Engineer Tom
Turney from State Engineer Legal Services Division.

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