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<br />dollars has been expended from state and local sources to further the <br />project purposes. It is time that this grim travesty of so-called <br />executive review be terminated and project construction be continued. <br />The Uncompahgre Valley is one of the major agricultural areas of <br />the state of Colorado. A tremendous diversity of crops are grown in <br />this area ranging from fruits to livestock feeds. No new lands would <br />be placed under cultivation, but critical shortages of late season <br />water would largely be eliminated by the Dallas Creek project. In <br />recent years, there has been a considerable expansion of diverse types <br />of commercial operations in this area. The Bureau of Reclamation has <br />constructed a power operation center in Montrose which controls the <br />distribution of power from the entire Colorado River Storage Project. <br />The operating headquarters for the Colorado-Ute Electric Association <br />serving almost all of western Colorado is also situated in Montrose. A <br />major candy-making facility has been constructed recently in the area <br />by the Russell Stover Company and employs about six hundred people. <br />The available water supply for the area's municipalities has been <br />stretched to the limit and water rationing in the area is a common <br />practice. <br />Throughout the years, most of the rural residents between Delta <br />and Montrose have been hauling their domestic water supplies by truck. <br />After Congress authorized the Dallas Creek project, the people of the <br />Uncompahgre Valley approved a bond issue to construct a rural water <br />system. This system has now been completed at a cost of over four <br />million dollars and serves about fifteen hundred rural families in a <br />three-county area. This rural system was constructed on the belief <br />that project water from the Dallas Creek project would be available by <br />1979. In the interim period, the water conservancy district entered <br /> <br />-2- <br /> <br />2547 <br />