WSPC02962

• File Number: 8064
• Description: Indian Water Rights
• State: CO
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Date: 4/4/1986
• Title: Briefing Paper in Support of the Agreement in Principle of March 14, 1986
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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PART FOUR

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The Agreement in Principle incorporates substantial State,
Tribal, and local up-front financing/cost sharing commitments.

A central part of the Agreement in Principle is the
commitments made by the State of Colorado, the Ute Tribes, and
local water users to honor Congress' mandate in the 1985
Supplemental Appropriations Act to develop a reasonable cost
sharing agreement satisfactory to the Secretary of the Interior
for the construction of the Animas- La Plata Project. These
commitments reflect the policy set forth in the President's
January 24, 1984 letter to Senator Paul Laxault in which the
President stated that prior commitments to individual states must
be considered in negotiations leading up to project construction
and that the financial capability of the non-federal participants
will be considered. Under the Agreement in Principle the two
States and the non-Indian project beneficiaries have contributed
to the full extent of their financial capability.

In addition, the parties have proposed a cost sharing
arrangement necessary to settle the substantial Winters rights
water claims of the Tribes through the development of Tribal
development funds financed in part by the United States and in
part by the State of Colorado. The States' contribution to the
development fund, in conjunction with the non-federal cost-
sharing commitments to the ALP fully satisfies the
Administration's demand for substantial non-federal contributions
to Indian water rights settlements.

Through a combination of cash contributions, the staging of
certain project components, the assumption of certain features as
non-federal responsibilities, and the present worth of local
water users' repayments of federal reclamation law obligations,
the total non-federal contribution to the Animas-La Plata Project
and the Tribal development funds equals $238,200,000. A specific
description of the cost sharing commitments appears in Table 4
found on p.13 of this Briefing Paper. The non-federal
contribution of $238,200,000 represents 38% of the combined costs
of the construction of the Animas-La Plata Project and the
settlement of the Winters rights claims of the Tribes.

This 38% up-front financing/cost sharing figure is in line
with the 35% cost sharing for irrigation water supplies which has
been agreed to by the administration in the ommibus water
resources legislation now pending before Congress. It al~o
compares favorably with the 39% cost sharing proposed for the
Bureau of Reclamation Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming and the 31%
non-federal up-front financing proposed for Plan 6 (Orme Dam
alternatives) of the Central Arizona Project. Of course, the 31%
cost allocation for the Central Arizona Project relates only to

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