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G ~ ~ . . I j 'I'~~' / ~/ 000400 . THE AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE A Fair Deal For The Federal Treasury (i) COST SHARING A central part of the Agreement in Principle is the commitments made by the States of Colorado and New Mexico, the Ute Tribes, and local water users to honor Congress' 1985 mandate (expressed in the 1985 Supplemental Appropriations Act) to develop a reasonable arrangement for cost sharing sa~isfactory to the Secretary of the Interior for the construction of the Animas La Plata Project. 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. Through a combination of cash contributions, the staging of certain project components, the assumption of certain features as non-federal responsibilities, and the characterization of the present worth of local water users repayments of federal reclamation law obligations as local cost sharing contributions, a total non-federal contribution to the Animas La Plata Project and the Tribal development funds emerges which equals $238,200,000. 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% cost sharing figure is in line with the 35% cost sharing figure used generally by the United States Corps of Engineers in its cost sharing projects. It also compares favorably with the 39% cost sharing proposed for the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming and the 31% cost sharing 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 the Plan 6 component of the Central Arizona Project. The major portion of the Central Arizona Project costing approximately $3,600,000,000 remains federally supported, and does not involve substantial state and local cost sharing. (ii) FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR COLORADO RIVER PROJECTS The United States has played a long standing and critical role in the resolution of Indian water rights claims relating to the Colorado River. Many major Indian Tribes have substantial Winters Riqhts claims to the main stem of the Colorado River and to Colorado River tributaries. The United States has actively assisted both in the quantification of the Indian Winters Rights and in the development of projects to put the Indian water rights to use. Without such quantification and without such federal assistance, the millions of Southwest citizens would not be able to fully benefit from the precious waters of the Colorado River.