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. ",,.. . . : h In light of that, we have argued that if Congress will not appropriate money, then what should be done is to turn the basin fund system from a repayment device into a front-end financing devi( ,. The only way you can do that is to raise the current rate which, to use round numbers, is 10 mills per kilowatt hour. You can't tinker much with that 10 mills; it has to be devoted to the repayment of projects which have already been constructed. We propose making the increment of additional revenues from increased power rates payable directly to the four Upper Basin states with no further congressional involvement, such monies to be used exclusively for the financing of water projects selected by a state. That is not an entirely new idea. The three lower Colorado River Basin states - Arizona, Nevada, and California - have just gotten through the House a bill concerning the disposition of the power from Hoover and Parker-Da vis Dams from which we have borrowed' several ideas. The Lower Basin bi:... prompted a floor fight in the House of Representatives over an amendment to m2.ke federal hydropower from the Hoover system available to the highest bidder. This is an anathema to the preference customers in the Pick- Sfoan system as well as the CRSP system. Colorado testified on the Lower Basin bill. We supported it on the grounds that it set precedents for what we seek to achieve in the Upper Basin. However, we have not addressed ourselves to the Pick-Sloan system, but the problems are essentially the same as tr.ose' we face in the CRSP system -- that is, there are authorized projects I f., -: Congress has a commitment to that are not being built because Congress will not appropriate the funds. Missouri Basin states are therefore not getting the intended benefits of that power revenue system. In summary, state water project financing in Colorado consists of only one program at the state level and that is the Colorado Water Conservation Board's long- term, low interest loan program. I suspect many of you will speak to basically the same kind of program. The issue has always been where do those tax monies come from, and I likewise expect that several of you will make that observation as well.