WSPP00112 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~ .13 '.9317:11 MRYNES,ERRDFORD & SHIPPS - -----,...-; :>rl.C::: mandate of the United States Congress In the 1985 federal appropriations bill. As a result of the Congressional A1LP Project cost-sharing requirement, the Water Districts and other water entities, the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes, the states of Colorado and New Mexico. and the federal government negotiated the Cost Sharing Agreement. 3. Colorado Ute Indian Water B\l:lhts Sllttlement Aoreement At the same tlm., at the request of the U.S. Justice Department and Colorado Attorney General, the Ute Mountain Ute and Southem Ute Indian Tribes entered into negotiations to quantify their reserved water rights, The Tribes recognized that, while litigation might have led to a quantification of their reserved water rights, litigation woulcl have involved huge costs and also might not have provided the Tribes with Industrial water to develop their natural resources. Other parties to the negotiations included the U,S. Department of the Interior, the states of Colorado and New Mexico. and local non- Indian water users, Including the Water.Dlstrlcts, The Tribes and the Water Districts chose negotiation over litigation. because full- blown litigation woulclln.vitably have led to the bitter divisiveness between Indians and non-Indians, which has been experienced in other western states. The Tribes' assertion of their Winters reserved water rights within the context of litigation could have deprived residents along the La Plata River. which crosses the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, of the water they need to survive and coulcl have adversely affected the City of Durango's gravity-flow water rights In the Florida River and the continued existence of farming and ranching along that river. The Water Districts and the Tribes, having worked long and hard to develop an atmosphere of cooperation in southwestern Colorado, therefore, decided to negotiate the issue of the Tribes' reserved water rights in a way that woulcl . leave existing community goodwill Intact. The Settlement Agreement was executed on December 10, 1988. The Settlement Act became law on Novemb.r 3, 1988. The Settlement Act endorses the Settlement Agreement; ratifies the use of the AlLP Project, as well as the Dolor.s Project, as contemplated by the Agreement; authorizes the federal contribution to development funds for both the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe; and confirms, wijh significant modification to the out-of-state provisions. the administrative provisions of the Agreement. The AlLP Project must be built if the United Stat.s Is to fulfill Its obligations to the Tribes and meet the objective of the settlement. to provide a firm water supply to the Tribes. The Settlement Act also approved the Cost Sharing Agreement. The Southem Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe, as well as the water user organizations and the States of Colorado and New Mexico. have relied on the Cost Sharing Agreement and the Settlement Act, By virtue of the settlement, the AlLP Project provides many beneflts to the Tribes that they could not obtain through litigation - principally, a flrm water supply for Mil purposes with favorable repayment terms. The MP Project's Phase I facilities will supply the Southern Ute Indian Tribe with 26,500 acre feet of municipal and Industrial water and 4 -~-r---'"""T-