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" (" ~ "' " 3 In a letter from the President, three questions were raised: "(1) Should the "Bureau of Reclamation or the Corps of Engineers construct the project? "(2) Should irrigation beneficiaries repay in forty annual payments or in a lump sum payment e~uivalent to the present value of such payments? (Note - the proposal is to charge irriga- tion wi th 60 per cent of t he cost of the project, or approxinn.tely $10,320,000.)" You DUst understand that the ~n Luis Valley Project, as I am speaking of it at the moment, includes Wagon Wheel Gap Reser- voir, two reservoirs on the Conejos River, and the Weminuche Diversion. "0) Should the Federal Government or the local interests maintain and operate the project after completion?" The President then stated: "With respect to these matters, I am of the opinion that, since the project is dominantly an irrigation undertaking, suited to operation and maintenance un- der the Reclnoation Law, it should be constructed by the Bureau of Reclama- tion; that the portion of the projoct cost to be charged to Irrigation should be financed on the basis of the prevail- ing Federal policy of forty annual pay- ments by irrigation beneficiaries; and that the project should be naintained and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, with water releases to be deternined by local responsible interests, and with op- eration for flood control to be in accord- ance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of War." 1780 This is one of the principal reasons an amendment was sought to the Interior bill rather than to the Flood Control bill. The $150,000 requested in the Interior Appropriation bill will be used by the Bureau of Reclamation to appraise rights of way; to finish necessary investigAtions of the Conejos . :.1,