Supreme Court to Hear Moongate Plea for Justice

NM Supreme Court Building

The New Mexico Supreme Court will hear an appeal by Moongate Water Company that would deny the City of Las Cruces the ability to force, through a heavy-handed condemnation process, the sale of the company.
Moongate began serving many areas east of Las Cruces decades ago. The company invested heavily in infrastructure when the city refused to extend water services beyond its eastern city limits.
In recent years aggressive land annexations by the city of areas served by Moongate has increasingly found the private water service provider fending off efforts by the city to annex its customers and water supplies.
At the heart of the lawsuit is the Jornada Bolson, one of two underground water sources for people living in the Mesilla Valley. Essentially, city policy makers in Las Cruces want complete control of the aquifer that Moongate has been accessing to provide water to its customers.

In a surprise ruling last summer, the New Mexico Court of Appeals reversed a local district court decision by Judge Robert Robles that protected Moongate’s water and other property rights from being substantially diminished by the city’s aggressive incursion into its service territory.

If the Supreme Court does not follow Judge Robles' ruling, it will pave the way for the City of Las Cruces to use an aggressive condemnation procedure to seize control of all water supplies in the greater Las Cruces area. Many observers believe the city is playing a shell game with its arguments concerning water supplies as a precursor to much higher water rates and much more restrictive water use policies.

Supreme Court to Hear Moongate Plea for Justice