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<br />Page 4 WRW washn x x x states <br /> <br />===================================================================== <br /> <br />,":'; <br /> <br />WATER AND POWER FUNDING <br />Washington (WRW)--The opportunity for the Bureau of Reclamation <br />(Bu/Rec) to gear up for a program to develop "weather mod" technology <br />has been sharply cut back. The Senate Appropriations Committee failed <br />to include funds for the program in the 1991 energy and water funding <br />bill (HR 5019) when the bill was approved on July 19 by the panel. <br />The House included $3.2 million for the BU/Rec atmospheric water <br />resources management program, on the recommendation of the House Ap- <br />propriations Committee, when the House passed the bill on June 19. <br />(See WRW, Series XXVIII, No. 26, 6-28-90.) The House Committee report <br />(H. Rept. 101-536) stated, "The Committee has been advised that 10 <br />(Western reclamation) states are prepared to provide matching funds <br />so that this will be a 50/50 cost-shared program." It noted, "Many <br />parts of the nation" including the West "are in a state of prolonged <br />drought. Precipitation management thru weather modification provides <br />the opportunity to increase water supplies without the need to con- <br />struct new storage and distribution facilities." <br />Reclamation Commissioner Dennis B. Underwood, formerly with the <br />Colorado Board of California, long has been interested in this pro- <br />gram for the water-short Colorado River. During hearings on the 1991 <br />BU/Rec budget in the spring, he was asked about state and non-federal <br />interest in weather modification by Chairman Tom Bevill, D-Ala., of <br />the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. <br />Underwood replied, "The Bureau... has received 11 letters expressing <br />interest to share costs...in a program to develop weather modifica- <br />tion technology as a non-structural water supply augmentation alter- <br />native. These letters, from water resource and power agencies in nine <br />states, represent a total commitment of over $14 million in non-fed- <br />eral funding for cost-shared demonstration and technology transfer <br />projects...Those non-federal interests which benefit from cloud-seed- <br />ing should be interested in continuing the program by funding re- <br />search in return for obtaining the results of the regions." <br />The latest non-federal expressions of interest in $$$ by state <br />agencies and water districts in the reclamation West, WRW was told by <br />the BU/Rec in mid-July, were as follows: California $900,000; Nevada <br />$800,000; Texas $520,000; Arizona $500,000; Oklahoma $200,000; Kansas <br />$115,000; North Dakota $100,000; Utah $75,000, and Wyoming $30,000. <br />Some South Dakotans have also shown an interest in the program, WRW <br />has been told. These figures add up to $3,240,000, considerably less <br />than $14 million, and they have been revised downward recently be- <br />cause state legislatures in Arizona and other states are cutting back <br />on new programs during the current budget crunch. But the willingness <br />of several states and water districts to put up $$$ on a 50-50 cost- <br />share basis led the House Appropriations Committee to recommend $3.2 <br />million as the "fed" share to move ahead on this new Bu/Rec program, <br />its staff told WRW. Hendrik (Hank) Willems, chief of the Bu/Rec tech- <br />nical liaison division, and Rep. John J. (Jay) Rhodes, III, R- Ariz., <br />used identical words when they talked to WRW recently about the $3.2 <br />million federal "weather mod" appropriation in the House bill. They <br />said they were "pleasantly surprised" to see weather mod funded. <br />Getting funding in conference committee will be very difficult after <br />the program was zeroed out in the Senate version of the bill. (more) <br /> <br />.'I...~ <br /> <br />... <br />. <br />~ <br />;~~'l <br /> <br />"';.' <br /> <br /> <br />.(,. <br /> <br />':~. ~ <br />.' , ~ <br />:-i <br />...>;~ ~ <br /> <br />,:'l <br /> <br />.~',; <br />1'- <br />i <br />~! <br />