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<br />.Q <br /> <br />Legislative History <br /> <br />. Djrection to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to develop a <br />comprehensive program to minimize the salt contributed from <br />BLM administered public lands <br /> <br />I\:) <br />~ <br />00 <br />rv <br /> <br />. Djrection to the Secretary to give preference to alternatives that <br />reduce salinity at the least cost per unit of salinity reduction <br /> <br />. Authorization for joint feasibility studies with industrial water users <br />as part of ongoing Saline Water Use and Disposal Opportunities <br />activities <br /> <br />. Authorization for the Secretary to contract with non-Federal entities <br />to organize, construct, operate, maintain, and replace authorized <br />salinity control facilities <br /> <br />. Requirement for concurrent replacement of incidental fish and <br />wildlife values foregone as salinity control units are constructed <br /> <br />. Requirement to comply with procedural and substantive State water <br />law <br /> <br />. Authorization for advance planning studies on Sinbad Valley <br /> <br />The 1984 amendments raised the level of repayment to 30 percent of the <br />costs, ~e reimbursable portion of the units authorized by the 1984 amend- <br />ments ar;e to be repaid either during the year the expenditures are made or <br />over time with interest, By comparison, 25 percent of the construction costs <br />of units .uthorized by the 1974 Act are to be repaid from the basin funds <br />over 50 years without interest, <br /> <br />The original Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program authorization <br />is now more than 20 years old, and the 1984 amendments are more than <br />10 years .old, Authorized portions of the original salinity program are <br />nearing dompletion, and Reclamation is quickly approaching the 1974 appro- <br />priation ceiling, The 1974 authorized ceiling (indexed) is approximately <br />$301 million, Reclamation spending through fiscal year 1994 was $273 mil- <br />lion, leaviing a remaining ceiling of only approximately $28 million, <br />Completion of ongoing contracts, construction cooperative agreements, and <br />wildlife habitat replacement will consume the remaining construction ceiling <br />by about 1998. <br /> <br />The Act Qf 1974 authorized significantly more construction than could be <br />completed under the construction appropriation ceiling authorized for the <br />program" Furthermore, the 1984 amendments authorized more work but <br />did not authorize additional ceiling, Initially, it was thought that the <br />McElmo Creek features would be part of the Dolores Project ceiling and that <br />unused c~iling from the Las Vegas Wash Unit would be sufficient to fund <br />the Lower Gunnison Basin Unit, Subsequent solicitor's opinions <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />:~f' <br />