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" 000753 .. Construction of the Animas-La Plata Project, as modified, remains essential to the settlement. Under the SettIeme. Agreement, if key portions of th 2005 to elect whether to go back to water court to pursue their original claims in the Animas and La Plata Rivers. If construction is well under way by then, I am confuIent that the Tribes will not pursue that option. However, unle Congress takes prompt and decisive action to end what has become an administrative nightmare and meet the feder, government's commitment to the Tribes, I fear they will look to the courts for relief. Reopening of the Ute Tribes' claims would trigger litigation among the Tribes, the United States, the State of Colorado, and water right holders, as well as renewed uncertainty regarding As discussed above, the Tribes' reserved rights claims raise a number of complex legal andfactual issues and threat<< the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers who rely on the already water-short La Plata River. Such litigation would involve virtually all water users in the Animas and La Plata basins, take many years of trial and appeals, cost millio, of federal state, and local taxpayer dollars, and undo decades of cooperation between Indians and non-Indians in southwest Colorado. I do not exaggerate. The B Wind River Indian Reservation, began in 1977 and was decided by the Wyoming Supreme Court for the first time j 1988. In re GeneralAdjudication of All Rights to Use Water in the Big Horn River System, 753 P.2d 76 (Wyo. 198~ The case then went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Wyoming v. United States, 492 U.S. 406 (1989). Since then, the Ctl; has been to the Wyoming Supreme Court four more times. In re General Adjudication of All Rights to Use Water i the Big Horn River System, 803 P.2d 61 (Wyo. 1990); 835 P.2d 273 (Wyo. 1992); Docket Nos. 93-48 & 93-49 (Oct 26,1993) (unreported order dismissing appeal); 899 P.2d 848 (Wyo. 1995). Nor have the issues been finally resolve There is presently a proceeding underway to resolve disputes over quantification of private rights derivedfrom trib lands. All told, the State of Wyoming and the United States have spent tens of millions of dollars litigating the WiJ River Reservation claims for more than twenty years, and the result is continuing conflict While lobviously cannot discuss the State of Colorado's possible defenses to the United States' claims, or the like outcome of the litigation, one thing is certain: there will be a big loser, whether it is the Tribes or the water users, at. ultimately, the entire region will suffer. S.B 1771 is the right thing to do. The Act meets the United States' trust obligations to the Ute Tribes and protects the existing property rights of all water users in the Animas and La Pia basins in Colorado in a way that is fIScally and environmentally responsible. I fully support this settlement and url you to do likewise.