Let Market Approaches Cure the By-pass Floiw Controversy

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• budget deficits in many of the last 35 years have caused great fluctuation in funding. So while 24.5 billion dollars could have been appropriated from the fund since 1965, only 11.4 billion has been authorized. The Bush administration, taking advantage of the large governmental surpluses has announced that it will seek full funding for the entire 900 million dollar LWCF authorization. In addition the proposed Conservation and Reinvestment Act Fund (CARA Fund), if passed plans an additional 900 million dollar annual expenditure, with half of these funds (also derived from off shore oil and gas leases) set aside for state administered grants. Though the funds exist, federal land mangers have voiced some skepticism about Colorado's eligibility to participate in these programs for water acquisition. The expressed concerns involve a requirement that the federal government retain title to any acquired water rights used for instream flow purposes. The land managers seem confused by the prohibition in state law that restricts ownership of an instream flow to the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB). While it is true that only CWCB can own instream flow water rights, the same statute allows parties to donate acquired water rights to the CWCB and maintain considerable operational control over the donated rights pursuant to the terms of the donation agreement. Imposition of by-pass flows has caused all involved in the controversy to lose sight of the goal of protecting Colorado's precious public lands. Just as the land acquisition program of the LWCF has been successful in preserving a public land legacy, the free market approach of the LWCF can also be successful in providing the water for these public lands. I will work to structure donation agreements between CWCB and the federal government so water rights acquired can provide the long term protection we all desire. I urge Congress to adopt the CARA Fund legislation and to fund LWCF to its full 900 million dollar limit.