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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />to be paid by the farmers, Even with the subsidy, the <br />farmer cost is prohibited as shown by the local situation. <br />Out of the 19,000 acres of irrigated land which would be <br />inundated and removed from agricultural production if the <br />Narrows were to be built is 7,000 acres irrigated under <br />the Weldon.Valley Ditch. The Weldon Valley Ditch is typical <br />of the area and among the most productive of any land in <br />Colorado when the cost of water is less than a dollar an <br />acre foot. <br /> <br />CURRENT REEVALUATION <br /> <br />Section 2 of the Reclamation Act requires the Secretary <br />of Interior to give estimates of the cost of all contemplated <br />work and all facts relative to the practicability of such <br />a project as the Narrows. 34 Opinions of the Attorney <br />General, 545, holds that the Secretary is under a duty to <br />withhold construction of a reclamation project and lay the <br />matter before Congress i~ he concludes that it is not a <br />feasible project. <br /> <br />Since the time this project was first presented to' ,< -, <br />Congress in 1944, conditions have changed sUbstantially <br />in a number of matters which affect the project and we <br />believe there should be no further funding for the project <br />and it should be considered for deauthorization because <br />of the changed conditions. <br /> <br />The first different condition is that it is the current <br />policy of the United States government to attain fiscal <br />responsibility. Reimbursable costs (less than half) of <br />Narrows repayment costs is currently based on an interest <br />rate of 3.25% for money necessary to finance the project. <br />The government is currently paying some five times this <br />amount.. . The present plan of more than half of the cost <br />of the irrigation features being non-reimbursable would <br />all be paid by Federal taxpayers through use of Pick-Sloan <br />money or some other source. <br /> <br />The present fiscal attitude of the people of the United <br />States is that everyone who can must provide his own living. <br />This means that in a project such as Narrows, each who <br />receives a benefit should pay for that benefit since, in <br />this case, all beneficiaries are self-sustaining. Trans- <br />lated into practicality, those who receive flood control <br />benefits should pay for them. Those who receive recreation <br />benefits should pay for those.benefits. <br /> <br />In the early days the nation subsidized agriculture <br />through irrigation projects to encourage people to settle <br /> <br />-9- <br />