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