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<br />
<br />l'hen, in 1917, Ihe Environmental
<br />Defense Fund sued the EPA and Ihe
<br />lIurc,lu. The sui! soughl, among many
<br />Ihings, 10 (O(('C the EPA 10 ('slab/ish
<br />~l,Ut>llne salinity sl.:mdarw;. EDF argw.:d
<br />Ihal lhe lag lime - e"timaled III l..11.:e as
<br />long as Ihree years - bel ween new
<br />W;lll~r dcvcloprnclll projecls Ihal luouglll
<br />mure salt ;/110 Ihe river in Ihe upp.:r ba'illl
<br />,IUd measurable impacls in Ihe lower
<br />h,J'i1ll made eli'iling swn.Lnls an iliadI.'.
<br />qU,llc ffil,'asurc Ilflhe sail problem.
<br />The SUll alsu chaJJcll~ed lhe
<br />lIurl,'au's chuice of projCCL~, arguing Ihal
<br />r,'llflng agricuhural lantl wa_~ r,lf morc
<br />ellilicnl and cosl effeClive lhan Illc
<br />lIurcau's leelmical files.
<br />"The suil infurialed lhe Culorad\)
<br />River nasin Sl.:Ucs antllllcy all joined Ihe
<br />suilonlhcsilkoflhc Ilureau," says Dan
<br />Luecke, head uf lhe Environmental
<br />Defense Fund's regional office 1Il
<br />Boulder. luede says Ihe upper basin
<br />SWleS saw il as an aHcmpl 10 break the
<br />Colorado River Compac!.
<br />"Since all lhe SOurces of salinity are
<br />in the upper basin, lhe upper basin S\.iJlCs
<br />would t\ave been forced to use less of
<br />Oleir allocaLCd ~are of Colorado Ri"er
<br />waLet,"hcaaYI,
<br />Thalls heresy in the West, and Jllllil.
<br />icaJly il bt to . bloody bllUle, wilh the
<br />environmenlalists doing most of Ihe
<br />bleeding. The stale, and the federal
<br />agencies won in 1980 and again in 19MI
<br />on appet.1. A Nuered EDF replaced ils
<br />emire BouldCl office staff and dropped
<br />!he cast, saY' Luecke, who was broughl
<br />in to do the salvage work,
<br />Even !hough !hey 'Yon in COUrI, in
<br />the field !he (eds and the SlalC~ were Mill
<br />unable 10 impkmenl the Salinity COllllOI
<br />Ac!. By 1980 Ihe program was OIl a
<br />S1and~lill. No StruClures were in place,
<br />
<br />!tall damage OCcurs ill Ihe lower basin,
<br />bUI mOSI of !he opponullilies fDr collllOl
<br />arc above Glen Canyon dam, in Ihc
<br />upper basin, The upper basin stales,
<br />however, have always be",;n more inler.
<br />eSled in waler devcloprnclI( Ihan salinily
<br />control. When il came limc 10 allocale
<br />regional Junds al Ihe agcncy's upper
<br />Colorado RIVer basin office in Sail Like
<br />CIlY, Clllllon says, Ihere was simply flU
<br />pressure fur salinily cmuml projecls.
<br />The 1I1ird prohkm was IIKII lhe pro-
<br />gram's IJalur..1 eunstilu"ney, Ihe slales'
<br />SalinilY Cunlrol Forum, was liuk Illorc
<br />Illall an ud-lulC cornnullcc wllh a mlaling
<br />chuir, no slaff and 110 c1011!.
<br />C!inlOn auad.cd Ihosc t1ifficullies
<br />by pushing u few leSI projecls intu Ihe
<br />conslIuclion phase and sclling up a cen-
<br />Iral SalinilY Conlrol ProjcCl Office 10
<br />lobby for mOlley within Ihe Bureau. lie
<br />also convinced the Salinity Control
<br />Forum 10 hire an exenJ\ive dirCCloc.
<br />Bul hc says 1111: real lurning poim
<br />happened wilen he realized Ihal lhe
<br />Bureau's lraditiunal "hardware, Slruc-
<br />tural approach" was 1101 COSI effccu"e:.
<br />Inslcad, Clinton says, "We found
<br />Ihal Ihe cooperalive work Ihe Soil
<br />Conservaliun Service was doing _ !he
<br />on.farm stuff lhal everyone was laugh-
<br />ing aI - was already work in}!: illld pro-
<br />ducing salinily rrouclions at lower cos!."
<br />The Bureau sLarled funneling money
<br />10 Ihe USDA's Soil Conservalion
<br />Service, and asked Congress 10 include
<br />the USDA in the SalinilY Control
<br />Pmgram budge!.
<br />
<br />Gradually, Iht ""or4 begins
<br />
<br />
<br />Since Ihen, gradually, in a deli-
<br />calC and piece-mcal fashion lhc So.'"llinity
<br />conlrol program has begun 10 work, OIl
<br />
<br />SCS projects only remove a lillle over
<br />166.000 Ions of sail a year.
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<br />o USDA Salinity UnUs
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<br />WYOMiNG
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<br />Salinity Conlrol UnUs
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<br />UTAH
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