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0003~8 -8- An undertaking of this magnitude is, as tile project report points out, very expensive. We believe that, the Bureau of Reclamation has proposed the best pOB"'" ., sible method for the financing of the project. iilTe feel that the Bureau has con- sidered the problems of silt, proximity of power markets and what irrigation may - be aided by "main stem projects"; but, we also feel that if any precedence is to be given to any of the projects, the Echo Park and Navajo projects should be con- sidered first, since it appears to us that the construction of either of these would in some manner facilitate irrigation in the Upper Basin States. It occurs to us, that, in these days of large goverrunental expenditures, such a project as this, with automatic repayment provisions, would be highly de- sirable, and we do therefore, endorse the Bureau of Reclamation report on the Upper Colorado River Basin. Since our interest in the development of The Upper Colorado River Basin is primarily in the participating project knawn as The La Plata Project, we take the liberty of making our comments upon that Project separately. We are inforned that, under the criteria set up by the Bureau of Reclama- tion, the La Plata Project has temporarily been stalled pending further investiga- tion. We suppose that each project may urge that the development of its own area is absolutely essential and that the project and the area involved have some pecllliarity which should appeal to the Department of the Interior and the Congress of The United States. Historically,_ the La Plata River and the La Plata River Compact are very important. We are given to understand, that the United States Supreme Court, in,;; approving the La Plata River Compact, decided as a question of first impression, that two sovereign states, may by Compact, settle matters of dispute concerning rights as between the States. The La Plata River is an inter-state stream having under it more irrigible acres per second foot of water than any of the other streams in the San Juan Basin. These lands lie not only in Colorado but also in New J!exi.co. Imagine how difficult it must be for a Colorado farmer to stand facing a stream in which some water is running while at his back his crops are burning; yet he cannot take the water in the stream because this is the ten day period in which New Mexico is entitled to the water. The lands lying within the exterior boundary of the La Plata Water Conservancy District comprise a well-settled area; homes are already built and have been in existence for many years. These farmers have been plugging for 2) or 24 years to get dams built and are now getting desperate for water. Many have moved out. ' Is it too much to ask, then, that the Bureau of Reclamation and the Colo- rado Water Conservation Board get the proposed La Plata Project completed and in shape for inclusion in the initial list of participating projects? Certainly there is no area which needs the water more in the whol.e Colorado H:i:ver Basin, nor which could use it to better advantage. Although we stated above that we approved of the general plan of the Bureau, let us say that our primary interest is in_th,e inclusion of The La Plata Project therein, particularly in so far as the State I4rne and the Long Hollow reservoirs are concerned. iTe do not in this comment l1rge that the AniMDs-La Plata diversion unit of the project be completed and included_ We realiz. that that.. i$ asking too much for the present; but we do say that the construction