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<br />NAY 0 7 1990 COLORADO WATER
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<br />WESTERN RESOURCES WRAP-UP COt.OlW>oIlV~w TE!rom: Helene C. ~H~TION
<br />Ser ies XXVII I, No. 18 CONSERvAT~N D~'C 23 Sixth Street soB'i?ltwast
<br />Date: 5-3-90 ~ ashington, D.C., 20003
<br />Colorado River bill uproar, ps. 1-5; Area Code 202-546-1350-1
<br />new 001 telephone number, p. 1;
<br />meetings on Nevada bills, p. 1
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<br />MAY 0 9 '90
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<br />Washington--The House bill (HR 4498) amending the 1956 Colorado
<br />River Storage project Act (CRSP) and directing the Secretary of In-
<br />terior to operate Glen Canyon Dam to protect Grand Canyon National
<br />Park got a giant boost toward House passage this past week with help
<br />from Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, Jr., an unlikely source.
<br />In a move that baffled Republican and Democratic members alike
<br />on the House Interior Committee, Lujan on April 25 ordered the Inte-
<br />rior Department to be represented by only one witness, Reclamation
<br />Commissioner Dennis B. Underwood, at the April 26 hearing on the
<br />bill. Lujan directed that no official from the National Park Service
<br />(NPS) or the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&WS) could accompany
<br />Underwood or even attend the hearing jointly held by the House Water
<br />and Power Subcommittee and the House National Parks and Public Lands
<br />Subcommittee, these panels were informed by Lujan's office. Rep.
<br />George Miller, D-Calif., is the bill's principal sponsor and is
<br />chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee. Rep. Bruce F. Vento,
<br />D-Minn., is chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee.
<br />Lujan took the action to be sure that Interior would .speak with
<br />one voice" on the controversial legislation, Steven Goldstein, the
<br />Secretary's press secretary, stated after the hearing. But Interior
<br />changed its position on witnesses in mid-week. Interior Legislative
<br />Counsel Pamela E. Somers had notified Miller on April 24 Underwood
<br />"will be accompanied by James Young, (Assistant) Regional Director,
<br />Fish and Wildlife Service (in Albuquerque), and Jacob Hoogland, Chief
<br />of Environmental Quality, National Park Service,. stationed here.
<br />Miller was so infuriated by Lujan's decision that he forbid
<br />Underwood and William H. Clagett, Administrator of the Western Area
<br />Power Administration (WAPA), to testify on April 26. He threatened to
<br />subpoena witnesses from NPS and USF&WS, altho no witness ever has
<br />been subpoened in the history of the House Interior Committee. (more)
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<br />THE FIRST THREE DIGETS IN THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT TELEPHONE NUMBER
<br />HAVE BEEN CHANGED: ie., (202) 343-3171 is now (202) 208-3171.
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<br />NEVADA MEETINGS SCHEDULED ON NEVADA BILLS: Thomas C. Jensen, majority
<br />staffer of the Senate Water and Power SUbcommittee, William Condit, a
<br />House Republican staffer, and William D. Bettenberg, special assist-
<br />ant to the Interior Secretary, will be in Nevada for several days
<br />next week beginning May 5 to talk to interested parties, including
<br />the Pyramid Lake Indians, the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, and
<br />Sierra Pacific Power Co., about the bill (S 1554) by Sen. Harry Reid,
<br />D-Nev., and others to settle a number of long-standing issues involv-
<br />ing the Newlands reclamation project and other water issues in West-
<br />ern and Northern Nevada and Eastern California. (See WRW, Series
<br />XXVIII, '15 & #16, 3-15=3-22-90.) Several Nevadans have expressed
<br />concern to Western Resources Wrap-up (WRW) they are being forced into
<br />accepting a compromise by the Interior Department and Congress....t..
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