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<br />'. <br /> <br />OOD71t3 <br /> <br />The Administration supports a final settlement of the water rights claims of the Tribes. The <br />Administration would like especially to acknowledge the Tribes' effort in the RomerlSchoettler <br />Process, which reflected a willingness on their part to reexamine basic premises and undertake a <br />study into the available scientific and environmental information. The Administration welcomes <br />these efforts and supports continued progress that will enable the Tribes to obtain a water supply <br />for their present and future needs. In this regard, the administration fully understands the <br />importance of ensuring that the Tribes receive more than just paper water rights. While the <br />Administration strongly opposes S. 1771, it is committed to continue a dialogue with the Tribes <br />and others in pursuit of the best means to obtain a just and final settlement for the Tribes. <br /> <br />The Status of Other Project Features <br /> <br />S. 1771 makes no effort to reconcile the original Animas. La Plata Project with the modified <br />Project and the features it directs the Secretary to construct. It appears that S. 1771 would <br />simply divide the original Animas-LaPlata Project into a different phasing than proposed in the <br />preferred alternative in the 1996 FSFES. If this is true, S.1771 would enable the original project <br />to be built at some point in the future when and if additional water were to become available from <br />the San Juan River Basin. As a result, this modified Animas-LaPlata Project raises renewed <br />concerns over the same unanswered, critical environmental, fiscal, financial, economic and legal <br />issues that have kept the project from coming to fruition for a decade. <br /> <br />S. 1771 does not amend the Colorado River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968 (Public <br />Law 90-537) and the 1988 Settlement Act or reconcile the proposed construction of the three <br />facilities identified in S. 1771 with the 30 other facilities incorporated into the original Animas La <br />Plata Project. While the project proponents have moved away from the original Animas La Plata <br />Project, it remains an authorized project and the only Congressionally-sanctioned vehicle for <br />delivering water to the Tribes. There is nothing contained in S. 1771 that fills in the gap between <br />what is publicly known about the original Animas La Plata Project and what we can only assume, <br />guess or surmise about a modified Animas La Plata Project. This is a serious deficiency. Even if <br />these unknowns and deficiencies in description, detail and design were corrected, the modified <br />Animas La Plata Project as outlined by S. 1771 presents one vital practical question: How is the <br />Secretary of the Interior expected to deliver water to the Tribes for M&I purposes with only these <br />three facilities and no pipelines to deliver water? <br /> <br />In summary, S. 1771 mandates the construction of the first segment ofa large unspecified project, <br />which mayor may not resemble the original Animas-LaPlata Project. It is difficult to see how <br />Reclamation can complete the environmental documentation or economic analysis for such a <br />modified project and determine whether such a proposal would be the best overall way to meet <br />tribal, fiscal, economic and environmental objectives, without knowing what might follow the <br />initial segment. Accordingly, the search for a new solution should not be limited to a single <br />alternative. For example, it may be that a smaller, Indian-only alternative that is less expensive, <br />more environmentally benign and targeted in delivering water to the Tribes may succeed in <br /> <br />4 <br />