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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />RESPONSE OF THE COLORADO UTE TRIBES, THE NAVAJO NATION, <br />THE NON-INDIANS AND THE STATE OF COLORADO TO THE <br />TESTIMONY OF COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ ON S.1771, DATED JUNE <br />24,1998 <br /> <br />We are betrayed by Commissioner Martinez's presel1tation of the Administration position on S.I771 <br />presented on June 24, 1998 before the Senate Indian Committee and the Senate Energy Committee. <br />We respond below point by point to Commissioner Martinez's testimony. <br /> <br />We ask for your support for S.1771 as the vehicle to meet the United States' commitments made to <br />the Indian and Non-Indian citizens of Southwest Colorado and Northwest New Mexico. Those <br />commitments were made in the 1986 Colorado Ute Water.Right Settlement Agreement, and the 1988 <br />legislation implementing that Agreement, Public Law 100-585. Those United States commitments <br />and a corresponding investment by the States and Tribes have also resulted in a successful recovery <br />of endangered fish in the San Juan River Basin. Indeed, in 1991 and 1996, the United States expressly <br />tied the recovery of endangered fish to the construction of the Animas La Plata Project. <br /> <br />If a final Agreement cannot be fashioned utilizing the basic concepts of depletion sharing and limited <br />storage as is proposed in S.1771, the United States will find itself and each of us walking down a long <br />and unhappy path of litigation. The Tribes, endangered fish, and the cities of the Pour Comers Region <br />will all pay a steep price if this Administration repudiates the written commitments of the United <br />States. <br /> <br />1. Commissioner Martinez stated that the Administration Supports a Final Settlement of <br />the Tribes' Water Rights <br /> <br />Weare pleased that Commissioner Martinez reaffirmed that the United States remains <br />committed to securing the Colorado Ute Tribes a "wet water" supply for their present and <br />future needs. <br /> <br />2, Commissioner Martinez's suggestion of an Indian only Project makes no regional <br />planning sense, abandons the Indian-Non Indian integration principles of the 1986 <br />Settlement, and has no impact on Environmental Issues <br /> <br />Because the Commissioner misreads S.1771, he proposes abandoning the basic principles <br />behind the 1986 Settlement. Those principles were founded on meeting the regional water <br />needs of Indians and non Indians in the Four Comers Region. Indeed, it was the United States <br />which initially helped to shape the equitable sharing of water supplies between traditional non <br />Indian and Indian users which is at the foundation of the Colorado agreement. <br /> <br />1 <br />