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<br />m <br /> <br />!.J') <br />.-j <br />c::> <br />o <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Another related question Reclamation has asked itself many times is why <br />our agency should be involved in a coal slurry pipeline project now that <br />saline water is separate. The answer is that there are higher <br />Department and Federal Government goals involved. The project meets an <br />Interior Department goal to develop Federal coal. Today's high <br />transportation costs make this coal largely noncompetitive on the export <br />market, a situation which would be solved by economical pipeline <br />transport. Subsequently, the U.S. economy and in particular the economy <br />of the West would be stimulated through jobs provided by pipeline <br />construction, mining, and related activities, as well as coal and carbon <br />dioxide royalties deposited to the Federal Treasury. International <br />relations and the balance of trade with Japan would be improved by their <br />purchase of 10 to 15 million tons of coal per year. This trade deficit <br />is now running between $30 and $50 billion annually. Other benefits <br />would be real i zed as the carbon dioxide transport medium will be <br />separated from coal at the pipeline's terminus, making it available for <br />enhanced oi I recovery in the Los Angel es Bas in. Use of th is resource <br />could increase U.S. oil recovery by approximately one billion barrels, <br />further decreas i ng the need for forei gn import s and he I pi ng to protect <br />the Nation strategically from future oi 1 embargoes. <br /> <br />Let me emphasize that salinity control is still very much a part of <br />AQUATRAIN. The need to control damaging saline water in the Colorado <br />River Basin was and continues to be Reclamation's primary basis for par- <br />ticipation in this joint effort with private industry. We firmly <br />believe that AQUATRAIN (in cooperation with other salinity control <br />efforts by Reclamation, the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of <br />Agriculture, and the states) can significantly enhance water quality, <br />save millions of dollars in damages, and meet international treaty <br />requirements by diverting saline water away from the Colorado River. <br />Further, we believe that this water can be economically transported by <br />pipeline to points of beneficial industrial use in place of freshwater, <br />freeing up large quantities of good quality water for Colorado River <br />users. Reclamation has spent considerable time determining if possible <br />beneficial uses exist for the saline water. In 1984, we initiated <br />discussions with potential industrial saline water users in Wyoming, <br />Colorado, and Utah. We learned that the water could be used for such <br />purposes as powerplant cooling, oil shale recovery, and potash solution <br />mining if the inplant costs could be controlled. Utah Power and Light, <br />Pacific Power and Light, Union Oil, and Texasgulf were among those con- <br />tacted to determine feasibility, costs, and possible interest in jointly <br />investigating saline water uses. A study is now underway to establish <br />the cost of using Big Sandy water at Jim Bridger Powerplant for cooling. <br />Also, studies on use of Glenwood-Dotsero Springs water in the oil shale <br />recovery process and solution mining of potash are in the negotiation <br />stages. From this work, we feel that possible uses for saline water <br />exist, and Aquatrain, Inc., agrees. We now want to identify feasible <br />opportunities and will devote resources to determine costs and timefra- <br />mes for implementation. <br /> <br />At this point, we do not have firm estimates on what the saline water <br />projects will entail, where they will be located, or what they will <br /> <br />3 <br />