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<br />Congress passes A-LP <br /> <br />Page 1 of4 <br /> <br />"'4~. <br /> <br />Congress passes A-LP <br />pumps, reservoir stiUfaj:e.hurdles <br />lJ~_c::.<!lplayers_.<!nticipateJawsuits <br /> <br />I Navigate Site .II <br /> <br />Dec. 16,2000 <br /> <br />Pumps, reservoir still face hurdles <br /> <br />A bill authorizing construction of a scaled- <br />down Animas-La Plata Project passed both <br />houses of Congress late Friday night as <br />part of a $450 billion spending bill. <br /> <br /> <br />By Margo MacFarland <br />Herald Washington Correspondent <br /> <br />The House approved the bill 292-60. The <br />Senate, which had passed A-LP as a <br />separate bill in October, passed it again in <br />the House spending bill by a voice vote. <br /> <br />An aerial view shows Ridges Basin from the <br />. .. . northeast looking toward Bodo Park. The Animas- <br />PreSIdent Clmton IS expected to SIgn the La Plata Project, approved Friday as part of a <br />bill. But the fight over A-LP is not yet spending bill, would pump water into a reservoir in <br />over. Congress must still pass the basin. <br />appropriations for the project before it can be built, and envirorunentalists may challenge it <br />in court. <br /> <br />"The decades-long effort to satisfy the water claims of Colorado's two Indian tribes may <br />finally be coming to an end," said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo. <br /> <br />Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., who sponsored the A-LP legislation in the House, called the <br />measure's passage "a victory for the Colorado Ute Indian tribes 132 years in the making." <br /> <br />Envirorunentalists voiced disappointment, but said they were not surprised. <br /> <br />"It's a total waste of money. It has fiscal problems and envirorunental problems," said Jill <br />Lancelot of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group aligned with envirorunentalists on the <br />issue. <br /> <br />The U.S. goverrunent promised water to the Utes in the 19th century, and in 1968 <br />Congress first authorized the project. But a series of legal and legislative battles thwarted <br />its construction. Critics branded it as pork -barrel and envirorunentally destructive, and <br />Congress never appropriated money to build it. <br /> <br />Three years ago, supporters proposed a scaled-down project they hoped would finally win <br />approval. That began a series of meetings and negotiations that led to Congress' approval. <br /> <br />As passed Friday, the project includes a pumping plant on the Animas River at Durango, <br /> <br />http://www.durangoherald.com/1news3658.htm <br /> <br />3/6/2001 <br />