Staci Matlock’s tale in yesterday’s Santa Fe New Mexican of trying to figure out who it really is that wants to pump water from the Plains of San Agustin makes fascinating reading:

Who owns Augustine Plains Ranch remains a mystery, even to the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, hired to represent several of the protestants.

The company is registered in New Mexico, but the home office listed on its state corporation filings is in New York. A Santa Fe office listed for the company simply serves as an address for out-of-state corporations. Attempts to track down the organizer listed, Barry W. Silverstein, were unsuccessful.

Calls to the ranch representative, Everett Shaw of ERS Consulting in New York, were not returned. John Draper, an Albuquerque attorney with the Montgomery and Andrews law firm, which represents the ranch, said to call Shaw.