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00 '('I') 00 , The states of Colorado and Wyoming both agree to the need for additional recreational fa~ilities in this area and have encouraged the development of water based recreation and fish and wildlife enhance- ment. Other benefits are erosion control and the reduction of sediment deposits into the Colorado River main stream which will be reduced by the flood control regulation of spring flows into the Little Snake River from Savery and Slater Creeks. The project was authorized for construction by Congress in' 1964 as a participating project of the Colorado River Storage Project. Power revenues allocated to the states of Colorado and Wyoming, together with ad valorem taxes and water charges to be collected by the respective water oonservancy districts, will be more than adequate to repay to the United States the reimbursable portions of the project -! in accordance with reclamation law. The definite plan report has been completed and the repayment contract has been approved by the elec- torates of the two districts. Monies have been appropriated to initiate' project construction, which had been scheduled to start within the next ninety days. At the time this project was authorized in 1964, the benefit- cost ratio was computed at 1.47 to 1. Under the new formula, designed to cripple water resource development in the West and elsewhere, the benefit-cost ratio is now .88 to 1. This new formula reflects the same old story -- costs have increased by about 392 percent, but the benefits have increased by about only 186 percent. We still find this equation facinating -- and wholly unreliable. The fact remains. that this project will contribute about two and one-half million dollars annually to the economy of the Little Snake Valley. -3-