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The Pueblo Chieftain Online <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />Salazar, Miles at odds over downstream water <br />Ken Salazar <br />Mike Miles <br />By CHARLES ASHBY <br />CHIEFTAIN DENVER BUREAU <br />DENVER - Reopening Colorado's water compacts with downstream states is a <br />bad idea, Ken Salazar said of his U.S. Senate rival's suggestion Tuesday. <br />At a taped debate at Channel 9 in Denver, Salazar and his Democratic opponent <br />Mike Miles squared off over many of the same issues each has talked about <br />leading up to next Tuesday's primary race. <br />But in a new twist, Salazar asked Miles what he would do about the state's 11 <br />water compacts, most of which were written in the early part of the 20th <br />Century delineating how much water Colorado rivers should flow to downstream <br />states. <br />Miles said he would reopen those compacts to help Colorado retain some of its <br />water during drought years, but Salazar said that was not only an idea he <br />would fight, but one everyone in the state regardless of party would fight, too. <br />"I think those compacts have to be sacrosanct," Salazar said after the debate, <br />which is to be aired this weekend. "I think that it is irresponsible to talk about <br />reopening up any of our compacts. Those compacts were negotiated ... by <br />people who had great vision for the future. Any conversation about reopening <br />up the compacts I would oppose with my last breath." <br />Salazar said that with California's political influence, along with that of dozens <br />of states in the West and Midwest, would leave Colorado on the short end of <br />any renewed negotiations. <br />But Miles said that Colorado already is being shorted, particularly during a <br />http: / /www. chieftain. com /print.php ?article= /metro/1091599200/9 8/4/2004 <br />