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001"490 . . . - 2 - Secretary Watt then opened the substance of the rneetinj by saying that as .to cost-sharing, cost-sharing was "critical only if there is a project." He said that he had met recently with Governor Matheson on the Central Utah Project, and then with 15 senators to discuss the entire subject of water project financing. As an aside, particularly to me, he noted that of the 15 western senators, Gary Hart was noticeably absent, and that Senator Hart had never once attended a rneetinj he had called wi th the western states senatorial delegation. In any event, the Secretary said that the Bureau of Reclamation is "on its back" and that last year they lost the BaR . budget because of the failure of the western delegations to vote in support of the Garrison Project. The Secretary explained that the problem now was one of money and the completion of the Central Arizona Project will take a billion dollars, North Dakota and South Dakota will take a billion dollars for their projects, there is perhaps a billion dollars needed to complete the participating projects for Colorado, and that in general there are many billions of dollars out there needing to be financed. The question is how will we finance it. The debate on the subject is proceeding to tear apart the BaR, and by implication, the Department of Interior. The Secretary claimed to be torn apart by the environmentalists, by disagreements among the states, and by the budget problems driven by David Stockman and the Office of Management and Budget. The Secretary described with sorr~ seeming bitterness, how certain congress people voted against the BaR budget last year, how M::mtana congressmen voted against the Garrison Project, how Mo Udall voted against this or that but still wanted money for the Central Arizona Project, and similar instances. He explained that he saw an enormous intraregional fight corninj "unless we build a coalition." He explained that "I've been layinj the wood to Me [Udall], and he is repentent." He was very critical of Mo Udall, and felt that Udall's strategy was to slow BOR appropriations money goinj to other projects while keeping it flowing to the Central Arizona Project. He then IllOved on to the problem he saw with the EPA groundwater strategy and the failure of the Governors to support his rallying cry concerning states' rights. He noted that he had received letters from only three Governors and that those letters, in general, had been lukewarm. I stated that I thought in fact we had a letter on the way to him on the subject. Governor Babbitt then jumped into the conversation to say that the problem of groundwater was in fact a serious problem and the Secretary deserved an answer from all 50 states. Governor