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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I SECTION 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS . The Animas-La Plata Participating Project (ALP) is a keystone in the settlement of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes water rights litigation in the southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico region. Failure to complete ALP could cause major disruptions to the economy of the non-Indians in the region should the Tribes' Winter Doctrine water rights claims be litigated, approved, and the water put to use by the Tribes. v-- . Based on federal promises included in the Court ratified Settlement Agreement and decree, both Indian Tribes agreed to forego their senior water rights claims on many streams that cross or abut their Reservations in exchange for the United States constructing ALP and the Dolores Project. Failure of the United States to fulfill its commitments under the Agreements creates a potential liability to the United States, the state of Colorado, and local residents millions of dollars of litigation expenses. . The Colorado Ute Water Rights Settlement has brought an era of prosperity to the Tribes and cooperative and cordial relations with the non-Indian citizens of southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico. Failure to build the ALP could materially jeopardize these important social benefits. . The Colorado Ute Water Rights Settlement has made it possible for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Reclamation, the states of Colorado and New Mexico, and four Indian Tribes (the Ute Mountain Ute, the Southern Ute, the Jicarilla Apache Indian Tribes, and the Navajo Nation) to cooperate in the recovery of the Colorado squawfish in the San Juan basin. Failure to build ALP would seriously jeopardize this important environmental step forward. . The total benefit-cost ratio of ALP has been understated by Reclamation in prior analyses. This is primarily due to the methodology established by the federal 1-1