Animas-La PLata Project Environmental Impact Statement

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
The Department of the Interior (Interior), through the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and in
cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Ute Mountain Ute
Tribe and the Southern Ute Indian Tribes (Colorado Ute Tribes), has prepared this Final Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement ( FSEIS). This FSEIS is prepared under the provisions of Public Law
(P.L.) 93 -638, the Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act and the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Settlement Act
The Animas -La Plata Project (ALP Project) FSEIS evaluates the potential impacts of implementing the
Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988 (P.L. 100 -585) (Settlement Act). The
Settlement Act, through construction of the ALP Project, is intended to provide the Colorado Ute Tribes
an assured long -term water supply in order to satisfy the Colorado Ute Tribes' senior water rights
claims.The ALP Project was authorized by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968 to be located in
La Plata and Montezuma Counties in southwestern Colorado and in San Juan County in northwestern
New Mexico (see Map 1 -1 showing the ALP Project area). The ALP Project was designed to provide
irrigation and municipal and industrial (M &I) water supplies to the Colorado Ute Tribes and other
project beneficiaries. A Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Final Settlement Agreement (Settlement
Agreement) was signed on December 10, 1986, which quantified the Colorado Ute Tribes' water rights.
The water rights allow the Colorado Ute Tribes to obtain water from several rivers and projects,
including water supplied from the ALP Project. In 1988, Congress incorporated the ALP Project into the
Settlement Act in order to settle Colorado Ute Tribal water rights claims.
The Settlement Act requires delivery of ALP Project water to the Colorado Ute Tribes by January 1,
2000, to avoid future litigation or renegotiation of Tribal, water rights claims. If a project is not
approved, or implementation is delayed, the Colorado Ute Tribes have the option of commencing
litigation or renegotiating their reserved water rights claims by January 1, 2005.
The completion of the Settlement Act has been delayed because of a convergence of factors: an
increasingly prominent role of endangered species and recovery efforts, decreasing federal support for
irrigated agriculture, a decline in new reservoirs and dams built by Reclamation, and increasing local
participation in water resource development matters. Each of these factors has led to a series of
refinements to the original ALP Project.
Purpose and Need
The purpose of and need for the proposed federal action is:
... to implement the Settlement Act by providing the Ute Tribes an assured long -term
water supply and water acquisition fund in order to satisfy the Tribes'senior water
rights claims as quantified in the Settlement Act, and to provide for identified M&I water
needs in the Project area. " [Federal Register Notice, January 4, 1999]
Providing the Colorado Ute Tribes with an assured long -term water supply is necessary to protect
existing water users from senior water rights claims. The Colorado Ute Tribes would use this assured
water supply to satisfy future M &I water demands on their reservations and to provide water for regional
M &I needs. In addition to providing an assured water supply as a settlement of the Colorado Ute Tribes'
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