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-._- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 2/23/95 SO. UTE GRASSROOTS COMMITTEE UNVEILS ALP AL TERNA TIVES On January 31 a delegation from our Committee met with EP A Regional Administrator Bill Yellowtail to present the attached list of ALP alternatives and deliver the following message: The Southern Ute Tribe is not unified in support of the ALP, Many members want to know what the alternatives are, We urged Mr, Yellowtail to examine the stories behind Ray Frost's election to the Tribal Council, the recall election of February 1990 and the recent Guy Pinnecoose challenge for Tribal Chairmanship, These were expressions of Tribal opposition to the ALP and the way it is being railroaded through, We reported to him our astonisbment at the recently released ALP "Economic hnpact Study," produced at Tribal expense by Bookman-Edmonston Engineering, This report tells the story of how our historic water rights have been used to buy a water project for the region, It goes on and on about regional benefits - but contains no analysis of how we (the Southern Utes) specifically or independently benefit The study reports how the region will benefit by the expungement of our historic water claims, but then it sidesteps the reality that our Tribe will receive nothing extra, nothing special, nothing substantially different than was offered to every other ALP participant, simply fur showing up and signing up, We asked Mr, Yellowtail to stand behind the EPA's past criticisms of the project and enforce the law that requires open processes and full alternative analysis before any final decision is made, We requested that the ALP's Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (phase 1/3) be analyzed as a stand alone project, something Bookman-Edmonston failed to do, There is no evidence today that anything further will ever be authorized for construction, We are where our feet are with respect to the ALP, Ifhistory has taught us anything, it is that our decisions as a Tribe should not be based on pie in the sky, We told Mr, Yellowtail that many Tribal members were deeply troubled by the way our water rights were being used as a driver to destroy or degrade environmental resources that are sacred and connected to our core and traditional values. We told him these project costs have never been considered, At the meeting we learned that the date for release of the BOR's SEIS has been put back six months to allow for analysis of the RP A as a stand alone project. We also learned that the Administration would not be requesting ALP construction funding for FY 1996, We applaud these decisions, More time is needed fur all Tribal members to learn about the ALP, its alternatives and results that were achieved by our northern Utah cousins when they exchanged a water project like the ALP for a $245.5 million alternative settlement that better served their people's future, For further infunnation contact Counsilman Ray Frost (303) 563-0100 ext,402 6