EXHIBIT 31.1
                                  CERTIFICATION

     I, Charles Handly, President and Chief Executive Officer, certify that:

1.     I  have  reviewed  this  report on Form 10-Q of Rio Vista Energy Partners
L.P.;

2.     Based  on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
of  material  fact  or  omit  to  state  a  material  fact necessary to make the
statements  made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were
made,  not  misleading  with  respect  to  the  period  covered  by this report;

3.     Based  on  my  knowledge,  the  financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of,  and  for,  the  periods  presented  in  this  report;

4.  The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer  and  I  are  responsible  for
establishing  and  maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange  Act  Rules  13a-15(e)  for  the  registrant  and  have:

     a)  Designed  such  disclosure  controls  and  procedures,  or  caused such
     disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
     ensure  that material information relating to the registrant, including its
     consolidated  subsidiaries,  is  made  known  to  us by others within those
     entities,  particularly  during  the  period  in which this report is being
     prepared;

     b)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and
     procedures  and  presented  in  this  report  our  conclusions  about  the
     effectiveness  of  the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of
     the  period  covered  by  this  report  based  on  such  evaluation;  and

     c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control
     over  financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent
     fiscal  quarter  (the  registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an
     annual  report)  that  has  materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
     materially  affect,  the  registrant's  internal  control  over  financial
     reporting;  and

5.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our
most  recent  evaluation  of  internal  control over financial reporting, to the
registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of managers:

     a)  All  significant  deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
     operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably
     likely  to  adversely  affect  the registrant's ability to record, process,
     summarize  and  report  financial  information;  and

     b)  Any  fraud,  whether or not material, that involves management or other
     employees  who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control
     over  financial  reporting.


Date:  August 19, 2005
                                            /s/  Charles Handly
                                            ------------------------------------
                                            Charles Handly, President and
                                            Chief Executive Officer of Rio Vista
                                            GP LLC, the general partner of Rio
                                            Vista Energy Partners L.P.