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<br />Proposed Position No.
<br />(See Past Position No. 241)
<br />
<br />, WHEREAS, project sponsors have and continue to repay the cost of these facilities, which also
<br />produce power receipts that annually return about $600 million to the United States Treasury, prevent
<br />some $500 million in damages due to floods each year, and generate billions of dollars in economic
<br />returns from agricultural production; and
<br />
<br />WHEREAS, the water and power resources developed under and flood control provided by the
<br />Reclamation Act .over the 'last century supported the development and continue to be critical to the
<br />maintenance of numerous and diverse rural communities across the West and the major metropolitan
<br />areas of Albuquerque, Amarillo, Boise, Denver, EI Paso, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Lubbock, Phoenix,
<br />Portland, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Tucson and numerous other smaller cities; and
<br />
<br />'NIIEREAS, selious sholtages and wilte! allocation and management issucs have adsen flOm
<br />time to time and continue to cuisc in cvC!y majOl dvCI system in thc Wcst -- the Columbia, ColOlado,
<br />Missomi, Rio Gundc, Saclamento-San Joaquin - as wcll as in numclOUS tdbutal)' and SIMlleI livel
<br />basins, including the Animas-La Plata, Alkansas, Cal1adian, Gila, Klamath, Pecos, Platte, Red,
<br />Republican, Rogue, Snake, Twckee, Umatilla, Walkel and Yakima, and
<br />
<br />WHEREAS, western States are committed to continuing to work cooperatively with the
<br />Department of Interior and Bureau of Reclamation to meet our present water needs in the West and
<br />those of future generations, within the framework of state water law, as envisioned by President
<br />Roosevelt and the Congress in 1902; and
<br />
<br />WHEREAS, the Administration's budget requests and Congressional appropriations hav,e
<br />failed to keep pace with authorized spending, with the President's FY2006 request for the Bureau of
<br />Reclamation's Water and Related Resources account totals $802 million, down from $859 million
<br />appropriated last year and the request anticipates that off-setting receipts collected by the Western Area
<br />Power Administration (W APA) for operation and maintenance and other expenses allocated by
<br />Reclamation to W APA would reduce the final appropriation to some $771.6 million; and
<br />
<br />WHEREAS, according to program and financing figures and estimates, Reclamation's new
<br />budgetary authority (gross) for obligation has dropped from $994 million in FY2004, to $972 million in
<br />FY2005 and is projected to be $919 million in FY2006: and total gross outlays would be $940 million
<br />in FY2006, compared to an estimated $1.028 billion in FY2005 and $953 million in FY2004; and
<br />
<br />WHEREAS, meanwhile, the unobligated balance in the Reclamation Fund is expected to grow
<br />from $3.877 billion at the end of FY04 to an estimated $4.812 billion for FY05 and $5.905 billion in
<br />FY2006; and
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />WHEREAS, under the Reclamation Act of 1902, the Reclamation Fund was envisioned as the
<br />principle means to finance federal western water and power projects with revenues from western
<br />resources and its receipts are derived from water and power sales, project repayments, certain receipts
<br />from public land sales, leases and rentals in the 17 western states, as well as certain oil and mineral-
<br />related royalties - but these receipts are only available for expenditure pursuant to annual
<br />appropriation acts; and
<br />
<br />WHEREAS, with growing receipts in part due to high energy prices and declining federal .
<br />expenditures for Reclamation purposes, the unobligated figure gets larger and larger - while the money
<br />is actually spent elsewhere for other federal purposes contrary to the Congress' original intent.
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