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<br />DenverPost.com - News: Colorado and Denver <br /> <br />t"- <br />C": <br />: C','::: <br />I. '":. <br /> <br /> <br />c <br /> <br />ARCHIVES <br />BUSINESS <br />ClASSIFIEDS <br />CONTENTS <br />DISCUSSION <br />:)PO SERVICES <br />ENTERTAINMENT <br />:"IfESTYLES <br />MARKETPLACE <br />NEWS <br />-Columbine <br />-Columnists <br />-JonBenet Ramsey <br />-Legislature <br />-National News <br />-Obituaries <br />-Politics <br />-Stadium <br />-World News <br />-Y2K <br />OPINION <br />;.~~OMGTIONS <br />, SPORTS <br />WEATHER <br />OPO MAIN <br /> <br />SEARCH OPO: <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />Page I of2 <br /> <br />HUGE SELECTION <br /> <br />Compromise proposed for <br />Animas-La Plata plan <br /> <br />By Electa Draoer <br />Denver Post Four Corners Bureau <br /> <br />Jan. 14 - Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt announced an <br />important step forward for the long-planned, repeatedly stalled <br />Animas-La Plata water storage project in southwestern Colorado <br />with the release today of a draft supplement to A-LP's <br />environmental-impact statement. <br /> <br />In the document, the Bureau of Reclamation has reduced the <br />proposed size of the project's Ridges Basin Reservoir near <br />Durango, originally designed in 1979 to hold 280,000 acre-feet of <br />water, to 120,000 acre-feet. <br /> <br />The environmental document identifies the bureau's preferred <br />project alternative, a streamlined version of the original that was <br />advanced by Babbitt in August 1998 and quickly nicknamed A-LP <br />Ultra-Lite. <br /> <br />It would supply municipal and industrial water to communities in <br />southern Colorado and northern New Mexico and fulfill the 1986 <br />Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement. <br /> <br />The latest reservoir size represents a compromise with longtime A- <br />LP supporters. <br /> <br />Babbitt's initial proposal was for a 90,000 acre-foot body of water, <br />while A-LP supporters, including the project's chief beneficiaries, <br />the two Ute Indian tribes, had asked for 260,000 acre feet. <br /> <br />The cost of the scaled-down project has been estimated at a <br />minimum of $170 million. <br /> <br />"The time is now to finalize this settlement and fulfill the tribes' <br />senior water rights in a way that avoids adverse impacts to non- <br />Indian water users," Babbitt said in a press release issued <br />Thursday. <br /> <br />"This (document) suggests that a modified version of the <br />administration proposal presents the best opportunity to fully <br />implement the settlement while limiting environmental impacts." <br />The bureau's study, done in collaboration with the Ute Mountain <br />Ute Tribe, also examined a no-construction alternative to A-LP <br />proposed by a coalition of environmental organizations. <br /> <br />http://www.denverpost.com/news/newsOI14k.htm <br /> <br />1/18/2000 <br />