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<br />MR. FISCHER: You guys are a little slow,this morning.
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<br />I would comment that Issue Area 5 is published in the Federal Register
<br />and the comment time is the same as the first four. No additional time
<br />has been=permitted; although,:the issue area,:in the Federal ,Register
<br />was late. - : -, ::' :. ~' .-: '= - '.
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<br />The River District, I, will testify, under the instruction of the~Board,
<br />our president, at the hearing on Friday. We have prepared comments, a
<br />statement, on all four issue areas. Our statement is burdensomelylong.
<br />It'is 18~ pages double spaced. We have commented on the unconscionably
<br />short time. We__:have compared the Grand Junction,:et cetera"hearing~
<br />to this "dog and pony:shoW." We have s1,1pported 60ngressman Bizz:Jobnson
<br />and his letter to the President, his suggestion to the President of the
<br />United States, that the 197~ Water Development:Resources Act, Section 80
<br />(C) thereof, provides for this very kind of procedure.
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<br />We think, like Director ShenIliilndoes, '-that the proper arena is- the
<br />Congress, the elective representative~ of: the People,=and t:1ot'the =
<br />arbitrarily appointed heads of departments. '
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<br />We have commented on the states' water rights issue-rather aggressively.
<br />The three United States Supreme Court cases, Eagle, Darrow, and Akin,
<br />we think have pointed to..!=he_ U!li:t~d 1>ta!=e~: be.ing req~ired to; adjudicate
<br />thei~ claims-in the-Col9rado:courts, and_we~t~nk it applies t~ the rest
<br />of the: West.-- = '- -- - - -
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<br />We also-point out that aitp.ough- the.' t~lsk f9rce= author; - or: the .aut;hor; of
<br />tpe - option:::paper, pointed put tl.1at--there is : great confusion-" t'No!>ody :
<br />knows what the water rights are. Nobody can find proper records."
<br />Wel~,~the reason for that=is that the~federal agencies are reluctant, to
<br />quantify ,their: claims and rights 'in the s,tate~ courts, :whic!1 is the-- only
<br />:body of_la~ ava~lable.for appropriating~and quantifying. -:And the.only
<br />reas,on they_:haveany.'problems are-no_t knowing what _the claims are.;is :
<br />that the federal agencies are very reluctant. ~ - --
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<br />We are submitting a- rather aggres'sive- statement" and we_ generally
<br />concur, I think; with what has been said hete ,today. ~
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<br />I would comment; finally, that it, certainly might be optimum to present
<br />an aggressive verbal statement, because I think we are going to have to
<br />make: a-ll the, record we can. We are--going to have' to be able to state
<br />to the Congress -- I think Bizz Johnson will probably: pursue this:
<br />aggressively -- we have to be able to say that we have exhausted our
<br />administrative remedies and weren't hurt, weren't: hurt: at all.: I th,ink I
<br />there is going to be an elite few whose opinions are going to be hurt.
<br />I don-' t- think this: process~'has been: ongoing since the May: 23 Presi-
<br />dential Environmental Message to Congress. This has been going on since
<br />the campaign. -The presentation, theoretically, was in preparation f.or
<br />sixty."'six days: We had -less than: eight :days .to_ prepar,e a. cOllllll,ent, :and
<br />it has been quite a burden. - -
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<br />I woul.d :be, for- wha!t it is worth, willing ~ a.nd I as.sume; my Board
<br />would concur -- to give the Board a copy of the River District's state-
<br />ment.
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