South Platte Steering Committee Meeting Minutes

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seems to me that at this point we're just about as far away from that as we were when I came on the Board six years ago. I would like to see if we can't do something to get it going faster." MR. D. MILLER: "Mr. Chairman, excuse me, I'd like to ask a question first of all. For the background of the question let me state that it is my understanding that no project can be built, or will be built, until someone comes forward and says 'We will pay for that portion of the project which is assigned to the irrigation interests'. Now isn't that the present situation, Mr. Barrett ?" MR. BARRETT: "Pretty much so, yes." MR. D. MILLER: "Then, if that's the problem, before we can make a selection let's say that we assume that Narrows is the better site, if nobody is going to pay for Narrows we can't go any further. Isn't that true ?" MR. KNIGHTS: "That might be true, Dave, but that's one of the reasons that we must make a site selection on any kind of a project so that we have a propo- sition to put up to the people and know who those people are and what the proposition is. Otherwise you can't get repayment commitments. We couldn't very well, for instance, in this instance not select a site and go and say 'Well, we'll work it out this way for Weld County and this way for Narrows', and present the proposition and see whether one or the other of those groups would accept or whether they would both accept. You can see what an impossible situation you could get into." MR. D. MILLER: "Jim, let me speak purely as an individual here, theoretically at least, and say that if I was asked to decide what to do here, again as a landowner in an affected area, I can only afford to participate and say I'll pay 'x' dollars an acre -foot if I know I'm going to get the water. So it seems to me it's impossible for the people in any area to say we will or we won't until they know they can get the water. This gets back to the engineering difference between Cecil and the -33-