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<br />/ <br /> <br />000466 <br /> <br />Similarly, the Acrreement in Princiole provides for the <br />Southern Ute Indian Tribe to obtain 41,126 acre feet from the <br />following sources: Animas and La Plata Rivers through the <br />Animas-La Plata Project; and direct flow water rights from <br />numerous river sources flowing through non-Indian and Indian <br />lands in Southwest Colorado including the Florida River, Piedra <br />River, and San Juan River. <br /> <br />Once these water rights are fully quantified in judicial <br />proceedings, the Agreement in Princiole provides for an <br />extinguish~ent of all other historical claims which the Tribes <br />have arising under federal law and relating to the quantification <br />of Tribal waters. Indeed, a principal motivating factor for the <br />Agreement in Princiole is the desire to quantify and resolve the <br />Winters rights water claims of the Tribes through an amicable, <br />efficient, and inexpensive settlement process rather than <br />undertaking what Indian and non-Indians have seen elsewhere in <br />the West -- namely, time consuming and prohibitively expensive <br />quantification litigation. <br /> <br />Part Three <br /> <br />The Agreement in Principle incorporates substantial State, <br />Tribal, and local cost sharing commitments. <br /> <br />A central part of the Agreement in Principle is the <br />commitments made by the States of Colorado and New Mexico, the <br />Ute Tribes, and local water users to honor Congress' 1985 mandate <br />as expressed in the 1985 Supplemental Appropriations Act to <br />develop a reasonable cost sharing agreement satisfactory to the <br />Secretary of the Interior for the 'construction of the Animas- <br />La Plata Project. In addition, the parties have proposed a cost <br />sharing arrangement necessary to settle the substantial Winters <br />rights water claims of the Tribes through the development of <br />Tribal development funds financed in part by the United States <br />and in part by the State of Colorado. <br /> <br />Through a combination of cash contributions, the staging of <br />certain project components, the assumption of certain features as <br />non-federal responsibilities, and the present worth of local <br />water users repayments of federal reclamation law obligations, a <br />total non-federal contribution to the Animas-La Plata Project and <br />the Tribal development funds emerges which equals $238,200,000. <br />The non-federal contribution of $238,200,000 represents 38% of <br />the combined costs of the construction of the Animas-La Plata <br />Project and the settlement of the Winters rights claims of the <br />Tribes. <br /> <br />This 38% cost sharing figure is in line with the 35% cost <br />sharing for irrigation water supplies which has been agreed to by <br />the administration in the ommibus water resources legislation now <br />pending before Congress. It also compares favorably with the 39% <br />cost sharing proposed for the Bureau of Reclamation Buffalo Bill <br /> <br />4 <br />