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<br />total cost to convert at $1.500,000. In addition to the loan, four hundred thou- <br />sand dollars would come from a salinity control Qrant to be issued under contract <br />(92-233) 65-8805-4-3207, and OMID would provide the remaininQ $100.000. <br />Landowners were told that NRCS employees in attendance had prepared the <br />engineered plans and cost estimate. After considerable discussion the loan re- <br />quest was tabled pending preparation of a feasibility study, and a vote by OMID <br />according to (Tabor) Amendment 1. <br /> <br />Comment: During the first week of March 1995 Charles Campbell went to <br />the Office of Jeff Burwell, Area Conservationist, to learn if NRCS had documents <br />in the MML project file evidencing that OMID owned the land served by MML. <br />Jeff Burwell advised that NRCS does not have documents evidencing owner- <br />ship, and that OMID should be contacted. Charles Campbell advised that this <br />visit constituted notice to NRCS that MML serves several hundred individual <br />owners and that OMID didn't qualify for funds under the salinity control plan for <br />farms. <br /> <br />In a letter dated March 8, 1995, Jeff Burwell, Grand Junction District Conserva- <br />tionist for NRCS, advised Charles Campbell the purpose of the MML project was <br />to eliminate the annual deposit of 580,000 tons of salt which adversely effects 17 <br />million acres of farmland and one million people in the Lower Colorado River <br />Basin. He additionally advised the purpose of the MML project was to assure the <br />safety of the increased number of persons (golfers?) having access to this lat- <br />eral because of urban development. MML has been an open ditch since 1912 <br />and no records have been found documenting this lateral has had safety prob- <br />lems. It is common knowledge that golfers frequently loose golf balls in lateral <br />hazards. <br /> <br />Comment: During a tour of the USBR salinity removal plant near Yuma, <br />Arizona, I was advised that all of the salinitv that effects downstream water users <br />comes from Arizona irrigating practices east of that city. I was given an agency <br />video tape showing the local farming practices and the purpose of this plant. If <br />anyone wishes to question this statement the tape is available from USBR public <br />relations department, or a duplicate of my tape can be made. <br />During a tour of Hoover Dam the tour guide produced documents pre- <br />pared by the Department of Interior which show salt passing through the turbines <br />is microscopic. Las Vegas uses water upstream from these turbines for domestic <br />purposes. Reports have not been found evidencing that the people living in this <br />city are having salinity problems. These observations serve to question Mr. Bur- <br />well's involvement in the rehabilitation of MML. <br /> <br />The first order of business at January 25, 1996 annual meeting was election of <br />directors. OMID attorney Flint Ogle advised that according to the 1905 and 1921 <br />Irrigation District laws, landowners were required to vote for a director according <br /> <br />5 <br />