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..: " ......,J, ..... OOZ'4~'8. . chairman of the board of the Central Arizona Irrigation District at Eloy, said Congressmen Rhodes and Udall told the farmers in 1965 thl'lt if Arizona did not g-et CAP in 1966, "we would never g-et it." So, he sl'lid, .it WRS time to pursue CAP on the sta te level. On October 29 the Arizona Reclamation Association held . its annual meeting in Phoenix, and the subject, inevitably, was: Where do we goo from here? Governor Goddard .l'lnd the three . congressmen favored trying the federal route again in 1967. and continuing a policy of cooperation with neighbor states, , although, they sRid, the door should be left open for R state- financed project. Congressman Senner doubted if a state project would meet the water needs of northern Arizona. Congressman . Rhodes hoped that any project introduced in the 90th Congress .would not try "to solve all the water problems of the basin for the next 25 years." Congressman Udall asked Arizona not to blame all Californians for what happened in the 89th Con- gress and urged Rn Arizona public relations effort to counter- act the Sierra Club's campaign. It was agreed by all concerned that the first order of busi- ness after the off-year elections should be for the state's leader- ship to get together and decide on the next move. Conservation 'Lunatic Fringe' Deno~nced ,,' On November 16 the National Reclamation Association held its annual convention in Albuquerque. The Colorado River was . Topic No.1 there, too. The president of the association, Harold Christy, Pueblo, Colo., denounced a "lunatic fringe in the con- .. servation movement" which, he strongly implied, consisted of the leading critics of Hualapai and Marble Canyon Dams. "Those who enjoyed the majestic scenery of Lake Mead or Lake Powell or dozens of other reclRmation lakes must find it hard to be- .Iieve thRt similar lakes in Bridge and Marble Canyons wiII be quite the desecration that some people cIaim,"said Mr. Christy. U.S. Reclamation Commissioner Dominy had some words to SRY on the SRme subject. "I grit my teeth as I say this," he said. "For I contend, and hRve hundreds of pictures to prove it, thRt reclamation, in storing the spring runoff and regulating our streRms for the public benefit. is not the great destroyer but, in fact, consistently improves the rivers for all purposes, . including recreational uses and enjoyment of natural beauty." Mr. Dominy urged, as did Sen. Clinton P; Anderson (D- N.M.), that a national water commission be established, to measure water needs in vHrious parts of the country and point the WRY toward possible solutions. "We need," said Senator Anderson, "R system that will enable us to make 'broad-scale assessments, to weigh alternative approaches and to come up with what wiII prove the correct response. And the Central Arizona Project is one proposal that must receive such judg- ment." '... -27-