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<br />
<br />VIII. Colorado River Storage
<br />Proiect and
<br />Part i c i p a ti n g Pr 0 i e ct 5
<br />
<br />A. APPROPRIATIONS OF FUNDS BY THE
<br />UNITED STATES CONGRESS
<br />
<br />On January 16, 1961 President Eisenhower in his Annual
<br />Budget Message to Congress recommended that Congress appropriate
<br />$60,700,000 to the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund for fiscal year
<br />1962. President Kennedy made several revisions in the amounts
<br />requested for the reclamation program as a whole, although the total
<br />amount requested remained the same as in the Eisenhower Budget.
<br />Three of the revisions ordered by President Kennedy affected the
<br />amounts requested for the Colorado River Storage Project. These
<br />revisions were:
<br />(1) Reduction in the total amount requested from $60,700,000
<br />to $59,900,000 due to a transfer of $800,000 to the over-all General
<br />Investigations program of the Bureau of Reclamation.
<br />
<br />(2) The amount requested for construction of the Curecanti
<br />Storage Unit was increased by $672,000 from $4,557,000 to $5,229,000
<br />in order to start pre-construction work on the Morrow Point Dam
<br />and Reservoir.
<br />
<br />(3) The amount for transmission lines was increased by
<br />$5,830,000 from $8,673,000 to $14,503,000.
<br />
<br />In order to finance the requested increase for Curecanti Storage
<br />Unit and the transmission lines, unidentified reductions were made
<br />in the amounts requested for other features of the Colorado River
<br />Storage Project.
<br />
<br />The requested increase for transmission lines was to provide
<br />funds to complete planning on and initiate construction of the
<br />following lines in fiscal year 1962:
<br />
<br />(a) Gunnison-Curecanti-Montrose, Colorado
<br />
<br />(b) Glen Canyon-Phoenix, Arizona
<br />
<br />(c) Vernal-Provo No.1, Utah
<br />(d) Craig, Colorado-Sinclair, Wyoming
<br />
<br />(e) Glen Canyon-Sigurd-Sf. George, Utah
<br />(f) Four Corners-Albuquerque, New Mexico
<br />(g) Curecan ti--Midway, Colorado
<br />(h) Curecanti-Rangely, Colorado
<br />
<br />
<br />Witnesses representing the Upper Colorado River Commission
<br />appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on June 6,
<br />1961. The Subcommittee hearings closed on June 7, but it was not
<br />until September 6th that the House Subcommittee reported its bill,
<br />H.R. 9076. The House Committee in its Report No, 1125, 87th
<br />Congress, First Session explained its actions and recommendations
<br />on the appropriations for the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund as
<br />follows:
<br />
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<br />"REDUCTIONS IN BUDGET ESTIMATES
<br />
<br />"Glen Canyon Unit.-In making the reduction below the budget
<br />estimate the Committee recommends deletion of the funds program-
<br />med for the protection of the Rainbow Bridge National Monument.
<br />This action is the same as was taken in connection with the 1961 bill,
<br />based on the fact that protedion of this bridge would cost an esti-
<br />mated $20,000,000. Testimony to the Committee indicated that there
<br />has been nouchangejn the circumstances on the basis of which the
<br />action was taken to delete ,these funds last year.
<br />
<br />"Access to this National Monument will not be affected by the
<br />construction of Glen Canyon Dam and Reservoir, in fact it will be
<br />improved to some extent. The geological examination report on the
<br />problem indicates clearly that there will be no structural damage to
<br />Rainbow Bridge by the reservoir waters beneath it. The Committee
<br />continues to see no purpose in undertaking an additional expenditure
<br />in the vicinity of $20,000,000 in order to build the complicated struc-
<br />tures necessary to provide the protection proposed.
<br />
<br />"General Reductions.-The budget presentation contemplated
<br />a general reduction in new money requirements of $5,000,000 which
<br />would accumulate as a result of savings and slippages. The Com-
<br />mittee has increased this to $10,000,000 on the basis of actual un-
<br />obligated balances, existing on June 30, 1961, and which will be
<br />available in 1962, and on the fact that much of the new construction
<br />contemplated on the projects involved cannot now be undertaken
<br />until later in the fiscal year than was contemplated at the time the
<br />budget was prepared.
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<br />"OTHER ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
<br />
<br />"Recreation and Fish and Wildlife facilities.-A total of $2,700,-
<br />000 was budgeted under the National Park Service and the Fish and
<br />Wildlife Service for construction of recreational facilities in connection
<br />with the Colorado River Storage Project. These funds were denied
<br />at the time that the matter was considered in connection with the
<br />Interior and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 1962. This action
<br />
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