The rock formation named Elephant Butte lies just east of Interstate 25 in
southern New Mexico, not far from Truth or Consequences, the town that changed
its name to be that of the old television show. Every time we have driven by,
one of us says, "Where is that butte? Nothing looks like an elephant to me."
The land around the butte is desert, harsh and desolate except for the areas on
either side of the Rio Grande, which slithers its way south and east into
Texas. Not many people live here, or anywhere along 25 between Las Cruces and
Albuquerque. The last time we saw Elephant Butte, we were driving from Tucson
to a new home, which we hadn’t found yet, in Boulder, Colorado. We had entered
Interstate 25 at Hatch, New Mexico, a town that proclaims itself the chile
capital of the United States. New Mexicans favor green chile stew. I like it
too.. . .
We have never driven over to get closer to the butte, but perhaps we will next
time we’re nearby. Seems there is more to see than meets the eye. Under the
title, "Blue Skies, a Small Town, and a Big Lake," New York Times writer Keith
Mulvihill tells us that there is a town of Elephant Butte (population in 2006,
1,305) and it has recently begun to draw second-homers and retirees to the
desert. The main attraction appears to be Elephant Butte Lake, the state’s
largest body of water. The lake is a reservoir, built in 1915 and 1916 as part
of the Rio Grande Project, whose aim was to provide power and irrigation for
south central New Mexico and West Texas. Dam building was all the rage in the
United States for decades, but in recent years, many dams have come under
attack for the devastating impact they have on the environment and their
relative inefficiencies in providing power. The poor Rio Grande has been dammed
so much that it has been reduced to a shallow stream over good parts of its
course. . . . In a government study we learn that, "Elephant Butte Dam on the
Rio Grande in New Mexico has increased flooding in El Paso by reducing flushing
of the stream channel downstream. Sediment from bank scouring has combined with
sediment loads from undammed tributaries to raise the (river) bed level
downstream. The net result is that even though Elephant Butte Dam has reduced
pre-dam flows at El Paso by as much as 75 percent, small floods can do a great
deal of damage."
If the post in the Times is any indication, the ecological impacts of dams are
of no concern to thefull-and part-time residents of Elephant Butte, nor to the
tens of thousands of weekend vacationers who flock to the lake. They are
looking for property "value," as was the retired couple (college professors but
not wild-eyed idealists like me), who bought a lot for $75,000 and built a
3,000 square feet home for another $275,000. This is more than six times as
large as the apartment we rented in Manhattan and much larger than any place we
have lived since I retired in 2001. People in the United States are obsessed
with large homes; they can’t get enough square feet or big enough kitchens and
bathrooms. Nobody cooks and how much room do you need to shower, shave, and
shit? Maybe the professors have a dozen kids and grandchildren and hordes of
friends who will visit, so that space will come in handy. If not, there is
always antidepressants.
For their money, this couple didn’t get a real town (The Times reporter notes"
"strip malls, stores, boating outfitters, and many camper and boat storage lots
line the road; the town also has Hodges Corner restaurant, which serves meals
buffet style.") But, oh, the recreation! A neighbor has a 2,600 square feet
garage—for all his toys. A motor home. A speedboat. Jet Skis. An SUV. Talk
about consumption! Waste of energy! All of this stuff so that every weekend the
skies can be filled with noise enough to frighten the birds and pollution
enough (from all the water sportsters and highway cloggers) to mock the once
clean air of the desert. Meanwhile the lake fills with silt and the destruction
of the desert continues. Sounds like paradise to me. Like Lake Powell, on of
the biggest and ugliest blots on the landscape of the beautiful Arizona/Utah
canyon country.
An economist for Merrill Lynch recently wrote a chilling report on the current
economic situation. He said that there we are experiencing a "secular change"
in consumption. I am skeptical. Of course, households are spending less because
they have lower incomes and can’t get credit. This may continue for a long
time. But just as soon people can get their hands on some money or access to
loans, they’ll be consuming their little hearts out. A change in our
relationship to nature and a revolution in the ways we enjoy ourselves are a
long way off.
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