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<br />Ou2162 <br /> <br />At the time of Echeverria's visit, OSW had even lobbied the <br />White House for a $140 million, 200 mgd plant at Yuma, <br />Arizona--and allowed word of it to reach The Wall Street <br />JoUrnal.10 Kissinger reportedly was intrigued by the <br />possibilities of this new technology.ll Even Echeverria <br />seemed to have caught some of the spirit; in his speech to <br />Congress, he said: "It is impossible to understand why the <br />United States does not use the same bOldness and imagination <br />that it applies to complex problems with its enemies to the <br />solution of simple problems with its friends.,,12 <br /> <br />'W' <br /> <br />When Kissinger's message reached Interior, the advocates of <br />desalting pressed their case. While Reclamation's top <br />managers were out of the country, Assistant Secretary Smith <br />decided that the Bureau should be represented on the Working <br />Group by the planning staff--which had responsibility for <br />new technologies--rather than the Water Operations staff. <br />Water Operations was responsible for overseeing operation <br />and maintenance of completed projects such as <br />Well ton-Mohawk , and administering the water users' service <br />contracts for water from these projects. Its managers <br />supported a salt balance approach. And OSW would be <br />represented by its own staff, not Reclamation's. <br /> <br />During the first week in October, Brownell and his staff <br />visited Wellton-Mohawk, toured the border area, and were <br />given an introduction to desalting technology. State and <br />Interior Task Force and Working Group members accompanied <br />them on the trip. Upon his return, Working Group Chairman <br />Sam Eaton announced that he and the Special Representative <br />had been very impressed by the promise of desalting. <br /> <br />OMB representatives on the Working Group, unaware of <br />Kissinger's order but alarmed at the growing support for a <br />desalting plant, contended that it was unnecessarily costly, <br />conflicted with the President's water pollution control <br /> <br />11 <br />