Laserfiche WebLink
<br />00074U <br /> <br />806~ <br />~. <br /> <br />Eluid Martinez <br />Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation <br />Department of the Interior <br /> <br />Statement on s41Zh) <br />Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendments of 1998 <br />- <br />before the <br />Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the <br />Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources <br />June 24,1998 <br /> <br />Thank you for the invitation to testify on S. 1771, the Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendments <br />of 1998. I appreciate the opportunity to present the Administration's views on this legislation. <br /> <br />Mr. Chairmen, S. 1771 would amend the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of <br />1988 (Public Law 100-585). If enacted, this bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to <br />provide for the construction of three facilities or features as components of a modified Animas- <br />La Plata Project (Public Law 90-537), including a 260,000 acre-feet Ridges Basin Reservoir, a <br />Durango pumping plant, and a Ridges Basin inlet conduit. It would direct the Secretary to <br />allocate through the use of these facilities an average annual depletion of water for municipal and <br />industrial uses of 48,390 acre-feet for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, <br />Navajo Nation, San Juan Water Commission and Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District; to <br />make available at the request of the Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District of Colorado or <br />the LaPlata Conservancy District of New Mexico an annual average depletion of 6,0 1 0 acre-feet <br />of water for agricultural irrigation; and, to transfer, upon the request of the State Engineer of the <br />State of New Mexico, all of the interests of the Department of the Interior under a New Mexico <br />State Engineer permit that were reserved to fulfill the purposes of the original Animas- La Plata <br />Project. The measure would make non-reimbursable all construction costs for the three facilities <br />identified in S. 1771 and allocable to the Nav~o Nation and to each Tribe's municipal and <br />industrial water allocation. It would limit the capital payment obligations of the San Juan Water <br />Commission, Animas-LaPlata Water Conservancy District, and the State of Colorado for the non- <br />tribal municipal and industrial water supplies attributable to its three constructed features to $29 <br />million. It acknowledges that the uncommitted portion of the State's cost sharing obligations <br />provided in the Animas-La Plata Cost Sharing Agreement, dated June 30, 1986, shall remain <br />available to assist in the funding of other facilities and features of the original Animas-LaPlata <br />Project. The measure would require the Secretary to pay the annual operation, maintenance and <br />replacement costs allocable to the Tribes' municipal and industrial water allocations from the <br />Animas-La Plata Project or the Dolores Project until that water is first used by the Tribe or is <br />used pursuant to a water use contract with the Tribe. S. 1771 includes a Congressional fmding <br />that applicable environmental laws are satisfied with respect to any review of the impacts of such <br />construction on environmental and cultural resources for its three features without additional <br />action, review, analysis or public comment on the modified Animas-La Plata Project. If enacted <br /> <br />I <br />