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<br />Ou055C\ <br />Add <br /> <br />4 --- <br /> <br />federal land managers to obtain a water right by applying through <br /> <br /> <br />our state process." <br /> <br /> <br />"It's not only fair, but absolutely essential, for the <br /> <br /> <br />federal government to play by the same rules as all other entities <br /> <br /> <br />competing for scarce water supplies," Armstrong said. "There is no <br /> <br /> <br />way federal agencies could know as well as state authorities the <br /> <br /> <br />tangle of problems federal water rights creates for Colorado. Water <br /> <br /> <br />is the only scarce natural resource in our land of beauty and <br /> <br /> <br />plenty, and as former Gov. John Love repeatedly emphasized, it's the <br /> <br /> <br />only limit to Colorado's future to our farms, our towns, our <br /> <br /> <br />businesses, our whole economy. We must manage it wisely, and <br /> <br /> <br />remember that whoever controls water rights in Colorado controls our <br /> <br /> <br />future as a state. My bill insures the monolithic bureaucracy in <br /> <br /> <br />Washington doesn't wrestle control of this state's future from the <br /> <br /> <br />people of Colorado." <br /> <br /> <br />Armstrong released a list of nearly 100 Colorado government <br /> <br /> <br />and private groups and some 19 state legislators who have endorsed a <br /> <br /> <br />set of principles used by Colorado water experts in drafting the <br /> <br /> <br />wilderness water language in his bill. <br /> <br /> <br />At meetings around the state today for community leaders, <br /> <br /> <br />Armstrong explained with a series of detailed maps why the <br /> <br /> <br />boundaries in his legislation are different from those drawn in the <br /> <br /> <br />legislation offered by Sen. Wirth. <br /> <br /> <br />"The areas between the boundaries proposed in my bill and <br /> <br /> <br />Sen. wirth's bill are full of existing uses that disqualify them as <br /> <br /> <br />wilderness," he said. "My boundaries aren't arbitrarily different; <br /> <br /> <br />they're the product of extensive study and consultation with <br /> <br />-MORE- <br />