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<br />. j <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The agreement to share surface supplies and to work in partnership to achieve a regional <br />water supply facility is the key to the 1986 Agreement and the 1988 Settlement Act which <br />received Congress' blessing. Having forged regional economic partnerships with non Indians <br />in Colorado and New Mexico twelve years ago, it is not in the Tribes' interests to abandon <br />that successful strategy, particularly when S.I771 allocates two-thirds of the water supply to <br />the Tribes. Moreover, the Tribes are unwilling to abandon the immediate needs of New <br />Mexico residents, the future needs of Colorado urban and suburban residents, and the still <br />unmet needs of irrigators in the La Plata River Basin. <br /> <br />Removing the two Tn'bes' non Indian partners serves to only increase the financial obligation <br />of the United States. At the same time, it eliminates virtually all of the local cost sharing. <br />Finally, in an era of increasing cultural diversity in the United States, it serves no national <br />interest to tear these two Tribes from the special and successful relationship they have <br />fonnulated with non Indians in Colorado and New Mexico. <br /> <br />3. <br /> <br />Commissioner Martinez incorrectly stated that $,1771 Raises New Concerns about <br />Critical Environmental and Financial Issues <br /> <br />Commissioner Martinez misses the point of S.1771. It proposes that the two Tribes' water <br />rights be settled on the basis of the depletions, facilities, and state and local cost sharing which <br />the bill sets out. While it does not de-authorize the portions of the ALP beyond the three <br />facilities, it does not in any way seek federal funding for the remaining facilities. Nor does it <br />seek to have Congress find that the existing environmental documentation describing the full <br />project is adequate as a matter oflaw to permit construction. In a word, S.I77lleaves for <br />another day all questions relating to those facilities and those depletions not specifically <br />described. <br /> <br />S.1771 was specifically designed to rely on the existing documentation. No M + I facilities <br />peImitting water to be delivered to the Reservations were included because the existing ESA <br />documentation does not describe any such facilities and the Tribes have not yet decided how <br />and where to put the S.1771 water supplies to use. These limitations reflect the environmental <br />and financial restrictions proposed by the United States. They are not reasons to delay a final <br />settlement any longer. <br /> <br />4. Commissioner Martinez stated that the effects of $,1771 are not known because it does <br />not rely upon the existing environmental documentation <br /> <br />Commissioner Martinez apparently has failed to read S.1771. The bill relies expressly on all <br />the documentation which the United States has at great expense prepared before and after the <br />1988 Colorado Ute Settlement. <br /> <br />2 <br />