9367 ‎(2)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9367
• Author: Colorado Water Workshop.
• Title: Proceedings
• USFW Year: 1992.
• USFW - Doc Type: Colorado Water Workshop July 22-24, 1992.
• Copyright Material: NO

are having them help us with the technical expertise, as well as the
use of very proficient lawyers, like Scott, Dan and some of the others
that we have working for the tribes.

Scott McElroy: On the first question, the Department of the Interior,
which BIA is a part of, endorsed the idea of water marketing for
tribes in 1983. They did that in conjunction, primarily, with the
idea of water settlements. For example, the Colorado Ute Settlement
where marketing, or potential marketing was a very definite issue to
help generate an income stream for tribes. That has been the only
kind of situation where the Interior has been called upon to improve
or disapprove the idea of marketing. I think predicting what the
Bureau of Indian Affairs position will be is difficult because you are
really talking about all of the Department of the Interior. As~
second question points out, we know that the different parts of
Interior can meet themselves coming and going. Any final resolution
of these kinds of questions, winds up with input from the Bureau of
Reclamation, and they have a different perspective than BIA. So far,
when push has come to shove, the Department of the Interior has sided
with the tribes, but the questions, with which they have been
confronted, were very specific and related to particular
circumstances. We certainly have had discussions with the Bureau
about where we are going.
The hope has been, and I am sure that we will get to this later
this afternoon, that, at least on the San Juan River, where the
Endangered Species Act and the obligations to the tribes have come
into conflict that we can find a way in which the federal government's
obligations to Indian tribes can be satisfied, while at the same time
the federal government meets its obligations under the Endangered
Species Act. Somedays, I think that is possible, while other days I
think that we have really bitten off much more than anyone could ever
chew. So far we have not had to directly determine which of those two
competing federal obligations takes priority. It took us a long time
to persuade parts of the Interior Department that their obligations
to the tribes stood on an at least equal footing with their
obligations under the Endangered Species Act. The negotiations that
we have had over the last couple of years has firmed that up, at least
in terms of the paper description of what is happening. Whether or
not, when push comes to shove, those two issues will receive equal
treatment remains to be seen.

Question: Mr. Peabody, my understanding of the Animas La-Plata
project is that there are no government funds allocated for providing
Indian water from that facility, i.e. there are no funds allocated for
constructing canals, etc. I am wondering if I really have that
straight. If I do, why did the tribe accept that idea? How do you.
see that project actually delivering water to the Indians in the
future?

Jerald Peabody: I am going to get myself in trouble with my tribe,
however I will go ahead and answer that question. If that decision
had been up to me, or if I had been in the position that I am in
today, I would not have accepted that settlement. I would not have
accepted it because I feel, as senior water rights users, that it was

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