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I I the alternatives - recreation, agriculture, industry and minerals - and we must develop all of these. The San Miguel project is the most important tool that we need to get this job done. Without the San Miguel project, we will continue to be at the mercy of the "boom and bust" of mining and subjected to the highly speculative nature of a recreation economy. However, with the San Miguel project we can stabilize our economy and provide for a steady, healthy growth for the future. We cannot overemphasize the importance of the fact that the five Colo- rado projects are to be constructed concurrently with the Central Arizona project. Gentlemen, this is the law of the land. Until some- one changes it, it is the strongest argument that the state of Colo- rado has for developing its share of the Colorado River. We strongly disagree with anyone who tries to "soft pedal" or de-emphasize the importance of the concurrent provisions of Section SOl(b} of the Colorado River Basin Project Act (Public Law 9-537, September 30, 1968). The question that I ask each and every member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board is "What happens to Colorado's share of the Colo- rado River if we do not build the five Colorado projects?" To us, the answer is perfectly clear. If we do not build these projects, the water will either go down the river or through the Continental Divide to the Front Range corridor. As far as the state of Colorado is concerned, we believe that it would be in the state's best interest to do everyting it can to keep more people from "stacking up" in one narrow con:idor of land between Fort Collins and Pueblo. It would be cheaper and much more desirable to disperse the population evenly throughout the state. However, unless something is done, there will be a continual migration of people to the Front Range corridor. Historically, water has gone to the people: however, we believe that if we can tie this water down and develop it locally in the San Miguel basin by building the San Miguel project, we can provide and economic base for attracting some of the people away from this continual migration into the big cities. In view of the current worldwide energy crisis, we believe that every possibility should be explored for developing energy resources. In the San Miguel basin, we have the following potential energy resources: (l) Fossil fuels, (2) nuclear fuels, and (3) water power. Nuclear energy is of special importance since the recent proposed release of Atomic Energy Commission reserves of uranium ores in the San Miguel -60-