Laserfiche WebLink
<br />.' <br /> <br />\.. <br /> <br />-. <br /> <br />-. <br /> <br />001504 <br /> <br />(3) The present stalemate within the Administration and <br />between Congress and the Administration is preventing <br />anything from happening. <br /> <br />(4) Other western states, notably Arizona, want to develop <br />and publicly announce a consensus state position from <br />which to bargain with the Administration in order to <br />prevent a "bidding war" among states. In this context, <br />Governors Babbitt and Olson seem to be particularly <br />anxious to have WESTPO exercise leadership in <br />developing a broad response to the Administration's <br />unofficial position. <br /> <br />Governor Olson's proposed Agenda <br /> <br />Governor Olson's March 18 letter to you (tab B) suggests <br />that the governors should try to gain four things from the <br />meeting: <br /> <br />(1) Concurrence from Watt tha.t the Administration cannot <br />unilaterally establish new policies--Congress must be <br />involved, <br /> <br />(2) Agreement from Watt that any new policies must be <br />flexible enough to address the needs of states which do <br />not have enough financial resources to make large <br />up-front commitments, <br /> <br />(3) Acceptance by Watt of the need to factor several major <br />considerations concerning financing capabilities and <br />revenue sources into the process of establishing any <br />new policies, and <br /> <br />(4) Agreement as to a process for continuing discussions. <br /> <br />Olson seems to assume that Watt wants to continue the effort <br />to enunciate an Administration position rather than react to a <br />Congressional initiative or bow out entirely. I do not think we <br />should necessarily accept this assumption. <br /> <br />Discussion <br /> <br />It is highly unlikely that the meeting with the Secretary <br />will involve any discussion about the details of non-federal, <br />front-end financing (e.g., project purposes to be financed, <br />portion of costs to be financed, sharing of revenues, including <br />upper Basin fund power revenues, etc.). Rather it will be far <br />more likely for the meeting to focus on questions of process and <br />very general principles upon which to premise further <br />discussions. <br /> <br />The dilemma we face in this meeting is that we must not <br />agree, on the one hand, to any process which seeks to arrive at a <br />consensus among the states if that would jeopardize our chances <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />-2- <br /> <br />3/28/83 <br />