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<br />1 <br /> <br />.,_ _~_________T'.___ __ __ <br />/1" <br /> <br /> <br />The stat. of Colorado's commitment to contribute to the endangered fish recovery <br />effort further Increased the State's financial contribution to the constructJon of the A/lP <br />Project In reliance on the Settlement Agreement and Act. and the Cost Sharing <br />Agreement. In reliance on the A/LP Project going forward, local water user organizations <br />and the state of Colorado agreed that. In the event of a shortage during the seven years <br />of research on the endangered fish required by the RPA, they would make additional <br />water available to the RIP out of their decreed water rights. <br /> <br />4. Consent Decrees <br /> <br />Failure to construct the AII..F Project as now deslgnedcoutdals01mpacHhe final <br />decrees entered In the Indian water rights cases in Water Dlv/sion 7 on December 19, <br />1991, The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes, In reliance on provisions <br />of the Cost Sharing Agreement and the Settlement Agreement, Including the construction <br />of the AlLP Project, agreed to settle their ~nters water rights claims on other streams <br />that cross their reservations. In return for the premise of the Federal Government to <br />construct the AlL.P Project and to store the Tribes'wat.r in RIdges Basin Reservoir, both <br />Indian Tribes agreed to forego their senior water rights claims on many of the streams <br />that cross the Indian reservations. <br /> <br />Any conClusive attempt on the part of the United States to retreat from its <br />commitments in the Settlement Agreement and Settlement Act would violate the <br />Government's tl\Jst obligation to the Indian Tribes and the U.S. Government's contractual <br />commitments to the states of Colorado. New Mexico and the Water Districts, If the AlLP <br />Project Is not built as promised. then both Agreements will fail, endangering the RIP, <br />MOU and Consent Decrees. The alternative would then be litigatIon by the Tribes to <br />make certain they receive their water, with a devastatfng eflect on the economy of the <br />entire area of aoL/thwestem Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, The potential liability <br />.of the. U,'S. . Government for failure to fulfl/l Its commitments under the Cost Sharing <br />Agreement and the Settlement Act could be hundreds of millions of dollars. <br /> <br />aIpIld2.- <br /> <br />6 <br />