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Endangered Species Act concerns must be quickly identified so mitigation measures can be included in the project plan. The appropriation ceiling must be increased by new legislation to accurately reflect the revised total estimated cost. More realistic operation, maintenance and rehabilitation funds must be appropriated annually to safeguard the investment. 5. Utah a. Central Utah Project (CUP! The CUP provides water for irrigation, M&I uses and power generation. Benefits also include recreation, fish and wildlife, flood control, water conservation, water quality control and area development. The initial phase consists of six units. The largest of these is the Bonneville Unit which involves the diversion of water from the Uinta Basin, a part of the Colorado River Basin, to the Great Basin, with associated resource developments in both Basins. The other units, Vernal, Uintah, Upalco and Jensen, provide for local development in the Uinta Basin. (I). Bonneville Unit Legislation introduced in 1991 by the Utah congressional delegation to increase the ceiling to allow completion of the Bonneville Unit of the CUP, primarily the irrigation and drainage system, was passed on October 30, 1992, as P.L. 102- 575. The legislation allows the Central Utah ~Nater Conservancy District (District) to plan and construct the remaining CUP features under the purview of the Department of the Interior. Reclamation and the District have prioritized remaining work items to ensure that the most important work is accomplished first under the remaining ceiling. No work will be awarded if the completion of the work will cause the ceiling to be exceeded. Section 203 of P.L. 102-575 provides the District with the opportunity to construct the Uintah and Upalco Units of the CUP. The District is moving ahead with planning for the units and has prepared the draft EIS for both units. In January 1994, the Commissioner of Reclamation delegated the authority to the CUP Program Director to initiate a lease of power privilege for the development of power at CUP facilities, and an agreement with the Strawberry Water Users Association (Association) for the development of hydroelectric power at Diamond Fork. A notice was published in the Federal Register in December of 1994 requesting proposals for development of hydropower at the Diamond Fork area. Experts from Interior, Reclamation, the Western Area Power Administration, Bonneville Power Administration and Army Corps of Engineers evaluated the proposals and concluded that the District/Association joint proposal was best. The next step toward negotiating a lease with the District/Association was to amend the 1965 CUP repayment contract. These negotiations were completed by the Department of the Interior in 1996, and the amendatory contract was executed January 9, 1997. Prior to initiating negotiations with the District/Association, two issues must be resolved: (1) an operating agreement, as mandated by the Central Utah Project Completion Act, between the two federal projects (the CUP and the Strawberry Valley Project) must be executed, and 12) the final configuration of the Diamond Fork System and the Utah Lake Drainage Basin 48