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DlUp proves unpopular at A-LP hearing Page 1 of2 . . 'r Dam proves unpopular at A-LP hearing John Peel column: A-LP foes hope hearing mattered IN~vi~ateSite.. Feb. 16,2000 By Tom Sluis Herald Staff Writer Public comments during Tuesday's hearings on the Animas-La Plata Project were overwhelmingly against building a dam to settle the Colorado Ute Indians' water rights claims. Instead, most of the 45 people who signed up to testify in front of Depamnent of Interior and Bureau of Reclamation officials said giving the Southern Ute Indian and Ute Mountain Ute tribes money to buy land is the best option. The comments were given during the fIrst of three public hearings on the bureau's preferred option to settling the Indians' claims on the Animas and La Plata rivers. About 250 people crammed into the DoubleTree Inn's main ballroom for the spectacle. The fIrst speaker was Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Ernest House, who conveyed the tribe's unqualifIed support for the dam; the next 18 were opposed. "The opponents are desperately focusing on the public policy, which was properly entered into under the 1986 Settlement Agreement in the fIrst place," said House, who then challenged opponents who say they are in favor of the Indians getting their water to "do the right thing" and support the dam. The support was not forthcoming Tuesday night. All opponents agreed with giving the Indians what water they are owed, but proceeded to then criticize the project's economics, the tribes' potential use for the water and whether the hearing even had a purpose. "The bureau has misrepresented the alternatives," said Dale Lehman, who favored the non- structural alternative, in which $273 million would be given to the Utes to buy land that has water rights. "There is no economic cost to the non-structural alternative, but a large fmancial transfer. ... Title to the lands just changes hands," he said. Phil Bannister of BayfIeld disagreed with how the water might be used. "Who needs more golf courses?" he said. Longtime A-LP opponent Michael Black, representing Taxpayers for the Animas River, said administration officials were running roughshod over the National Environmental Policy Act by holding meetings attended by Interior Depamnent officials and Colorado's congressional delegation. Dylan Norton, another member of TAR, received loud applause after telling administration officials that giving water to the Indians was not the point of A-LP because two-thirds of the water is projected to be used by municipalities. "We could be hiring 2,000 school teachers in Colorado for that money," he said. Phil Doe, chainnan of the Citizens Progressive Alliance, chastised the Interior Depamnent for insisting the water the tribes already receive be used for agricultural purposes, when they should be able to convert the http://www.durangoheraid.com/lnewsI939.htm 02/17/2000