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<br />Feb 13 1997 Be:3Z:3~ Via Fax <br /> <br />-) <br /> <br />AI ison Groves <br /> <br />Page HHZ Dr HM <br /> <br />-- Page 2, A~IMAS L-\ PIA TA PROJECT, Feb. 13, 1997 -- <br /> <br />The Defazio-Petri bill urges the Secretary of the Interior to promptly --negotiate with the Ute <br />Mountain U~e IndiDtl Trib~ and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe to seltisf)'. in II manner consistent with <br />all Federal la'~'s, the water rights interests of thos<: Tribes that '~'ere intended to be satisfied with <br />,,'ater .upplied from the Anima> La Plata Project:' <br /> <br />"If Congress had de authorized the project 10 years ago. the 560 million wasted on the ALP <br />mntasy could have gone a long way in providing water solution. to the region and in solving the, <br />Indian and non-Indian needs." said Jack Scott. an Aztec, NM city commissioner. <br /> <br />TCS and other group' plan to rally grassroots groups across the country to urge their <br />members of Congress to endorse the bill and stop the project. ThE campaign is led by Taxpayers for <br />Common Sense, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. Sierra Club. Friend. of the Earth. Southern Utes <br />Grasslooti (SUGO) Organization. Taxpayer; for the Anima~ River. Four Corners A.ction C-Oalition <br />and other organizations. <br /> <br />The Animas La Plata project I1>s a total price tag of S710 million. of which more than 5450 <br />million would be paid by federalrnxpayers. But two federal studies have que.tioned the \'aJue of <br />that inn.tment. The project would return only 36 cent. for every taxpayer dollar inn.ted. <br />according to a 1995 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation analy.is, In 1994, the Interior Department's <br />inspector general concluded the project was neither financially feasible nor economically justified" <br /> <br />"In good conscience. I just can't support .pending hundred. of millions of dollars. collected <br />from my taxpayers. to build a project which ....iIl deliver lots of cheap water to variom; Western m;er. <br />without requiring that they pay their fair share of the project costs," Petri said. <br /> <br />Separately from the campaign announced today, the Animas La Plata Project was one of 12 <br />program. targeted by the "Stop Corporate Welfare Coalition" on January 28. That coalition is an <br />unusu"l mix of taxpayer. environmental. consumer and free market group, th2t joined forces vdth <br />Rep. John Kasich (R-OH). House Budget Committee chairman. to cut government waste. <br /> <br />The project has been touted as a solution to Native An1erican water rights. Bnt the project as <br />now proposed stops several mile> short of the reservation. would likely provide water too expensive <br />for the tribes to use and would mainly benefit :lon-Indian farmers. "If this project was for us, then it <br />should be built on the reservation benefiting us directly, not off the reservation with only indirect <br />benefits for us." said Ray Frost, Chairman of SlJGO" <br /> <br />The bill is cosponsored by Reps. DeFazio, Petri. Mark Foley (R-FL), James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), <br />George Miller CD-CAy, Lane Evan. CD-IL), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), John Porter (R.IL). Ed Royce <br />(R.CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Mike Doyle (R"PA). Martin Meehan CD-MA). Carolyn Maloney (D- <br />NY), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Edward Markey (D-MA) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY). <br /> <br />TCS is a nc>n-partisan and politically independent organization dedicated to cutting wasteful <br />government spending and balancing the budget through research and citizen education. Additional <br />info available from TCS: (1) Text ofbill as introduced (2 page.) (Bill number will be available Feb. <br />14.): (2) List of opponents of ALP (1 page): (3) Statement by Rep, Petri # # # # <br />