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<br />The Upper Basins' Political Conundrum: A Deal is Not a Deal <br />was essentially a civil war in which both sides labeled themselves <br />"conservationists. " While one side campaigned for conservation for use <br />through dams ..., the other argued for conservation through preservation of <br />unique wilderness-areas...,ss <br />Proponents of the CRSP eventually removed the Echo Park reservoir from the <br />legislation and finally won its passages' With enactment of the Colorado <br />River Storage Project Act in 1956, the Upper Division States gained the <br />authorization of four so-called storage units (Glen Canyon Dam, the Aspinall <br />Unit,69 Flaming Gorge Dam, and Navajo Dam) and of 11 so-called <br />participating projects, which were primarily for irrigation.'° Further <br />legislation in 1962 authorized two additional CRSP participating projects and <br />one non-CRSP project71, while 19641egislation authorized three more CRSP <br />participating projects.72 <br />Participating projects received that denomination because they "participate" <br />in the revenues received from the sale of the hydroelectric energy generated <br />at Glen Canyon Dam, Flaming Gorge Dam, and the dams of the Aspinall Unit <br />in that these revenues are used to repay not only the costs allocable to the <br />hydropower function of those three projects, but also to repay the costs of the <br />participating units allocable to irrigation which are beyond the ability of <br />~ Hundley, supra note 34, at 29. <br />s' The history surrounding Congressional consideration of the legisla on to authorize the <br />CRSP is, of course, far more extensive than indicated here. For a comple treatment, see D. <br />MANN, G. WEATHERFORD, & P. NICHOLS, LEGAL-POLITICAL HIST RY OF WATER <br />RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN 1-36 (Lake <br />Powell Research Project Bulletin No. 4, 1974). <br />~ Colorado River Storage Project Act, ch. 203, 70 Stat. 105 (1956) (codified as amended at <br />43 U.S.C.A. § 620-6200 (1986)). <br />c9 This unit was called the Curecanti Unit in the original 19561egislation. Its name was <br />subsequently changed to the Aspinall Unit by Pub. L. No. 96-375, § 7, 94 Stat. 1507 (1980). <br />The unit consists of Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal Dams and Reservoirs. <br />70 The 11 participating projects were the Central Utah (initial phase), which consisted of <br />four units (Jensen, Vernal, Upalco, and Bonneville) that were themselves physically separate <br />projects, Emery County, Florida, Hammond, La Barge, Lyman, Paonia, Pine River Extension, <br />Seedskadee, Silt, and Smith Fork. <br />" The Navajo Indian Irrigation Project and the San Juan-Chama Project were authorized <br />as CRSP participating projects by the Act of June 13, 1962, Pub. L. No. 87-483, 76 Stat. 96, <br />while the separate, non-CRSP Fryingpan-Arkansas Project was authorized by the Act of <br />August 15, 1962, Pub. L. No. 87-590, 76 Stat. 389. <br />'~ The Savery-Pot Hook, Bostwick Park, and Fruitland Mesa participating projects were <br />authorized by the Act of September 2, 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-568, 78 Stat. 852. <br />22 <br />1 <br /> <br />t <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br />t <br />t <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />