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<br />for environmental or rural community interests that are not directly involved in the <br />negotiations surrounding a water transaction. <br /> <br />Statutory Definitions <br />State statutory provisions require public interest review for appropriations and <br />transfers. All but two (Colorado and Oklahoma) of the 18 western prior appropriation <br />states incorporate public interest criteria into new appropriation permits.ll Ten apply <br />public interest considerations to transfer applications.12 (The reason for differential <br />treatment is that appropriated water is considered to be real property whose transfer <br />requires compensation--which implies that some degree of public interest review has <br />occurred--while unappropriated water is a public resource available to the next applicant <br />without compensation; this report considers the distinction to be irrelevant, however, and <br />treats the public interest impacts of original appropriations and transfers in the same <br />manner). These laws are often vague, however, in suggesting to regulators how public <br />interest considerations are to be balanced. One legal scholar has cautioned that "even <br />those statutes that give considerable guidance concerning factors relevant to public interest <br />review typically offer little help on how to weigh them.,,13 <br /> <br />Public interest criteria vary in their definition. Many statutory provisions place <br />significant discretion in a regulatory entity with jurisdiction over transfer applications. New <br />Mexico's law allows the transfer of water from irrigation to other purposes based on a <br />determination by the state engineer that any proposed changes can be made "without <br />detriment to existing water rights and are not contrary to conservation of water within the <br />state and not detrimental to the public welfare of the state [emphasis added]." (N.M. Stat. <br /> <br />Ann" 72-5-23) <br /> <br />7 <br />