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<br /> <br /> <br />U.S. Department of the Interior/Bureau of Reclamation <br />Artist's conception or the Ridges Basin Dam, Animas-La Plata project <br /> <br />One project seems like <br />the same old BuRec <br /> <br />By Ross Freeman <br /> <br />March 20, 1995 <br /> <br />Although the Bureau of Reclamation says it <br />is now a water-conserver, and not a dam- <br />builder, one ghost from the past continues to <br />linger. Southwestern Colorado's Animas-La <br />Plata water diversion project, first approved by <br />Congress in 1968, is still slated for construc. <br />tion next year - despite a mountain of evi- <br />dence indicating that it is an economic and eco- <br />logical boondoggle. <br />The project, a convoluted combination of <br />dams, canals and pipelines, proposes to pump <br />water uphill almost ],000 feet, then deliver it to <br />dry-land farmers and municipalities. <br />Last year, a study by the inspector general <br />of the Department of Interior t()und that the <br />$688 million project was "economically infea. <br />sible" (HCN, 8/8/94). And another study by the <br />Bureau of Reclamation, slated for release <br /> <br />sometime this spring, will likely say the same <br />thing. Lori Potter, an attorney with the Sierra <br />Club Legal Defense Fund, has seen a draft of <br />the study and says it predicts a yield of just 37 <br />cents on the dollar. <br />Nevertheless, Bureau of Reclamation <br />Commissioner Dan Beard says he is committed <br />to completing the agency's last big dam project <br />to fulfill treaty water obligations to two Ute <br />indian tribes. And his agency, which expects to <br />complete a final environmental impact state- <br />ment on the project later this year, is getting <br />strong support from the Republican-dominated <br />Congress. <br />In late January, Colorado's two Republican <br />senatorsl Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Hank <br />Brown, along with Rep. Scott McInnis, R, <br />released a privately contracted study touting the <br />project as an economic winner. That studYl <br />financed by the project's three biggest cus- <br /> <br />Southwestern <br />Colorado's <br />Animas-La Plata <br />water diversion . <br />project is still <br />slated for <br />construction <br />despite a <br />mountain of <br />evidence <br />indicating that <br />it is an <br />economic and <br />ecological <br />boondoggle. <br /> <br />';i" <br /> <br />p <br /> <br />- @ 1996 High Country News -11 <br />