Laserfiche WebLink
<br />~ 21.03[2] <br /> <br />MINERAL LAW INSTITUTE <br /> <br />21-24 <br /> <br />projects authorized by the Colorado River Storage Project <br />Act, as amended, have been completed.90 Development of <br />Colorado and Wyoming has lagged particularly. It has been <br />especially disheartening for Coloradans to observe water <br />from the multi-billion dollar CAP begin to pour into the <br />Phoenix area, ultimately to fill its swimming pools and wash <br />its cars,91 at a time when only two, Dolores and Dallas Creek, <br />of the five projects, authorized as a quid pro quo by the Colo- <br />rado River Basin Project Act are nearing completion. Two, <br />San Miguel and West Divide, have been suppressed, and the <br />fifth, Animas-LaPlata, may be the sole survivor under the <br />Reagan Administration's demand for cost-sharing strate- <br />gies.92 <br /> <br />Opposition from Lower Basin interests may also have wid- <br />ened this disparity. Southern Californians waged a campaign <br />against both the Colorado River Storage Project Act and the <br />Fryingpan-Arkansas Project Authorization Act93 that im- <br />peded their advance through Congress. Uncertainty about <br />the amount of the Upper Basin's apportionment may also <br />contribute to the problem. It may take 25 or more years to <br />complete a water project. Development cannot actually begin <br />until the necessary water rights have been obtained. Doubt <br />about the sufficiency of the existing water supply deters <br />progress. For instance, New Mexico's San Juan-Chama <br />project94 suffered considerable delays while the Bureau of <br />Reclamation determined whether enough water from New <br />Mexico's share of the Upper Basin's apportionment re- <br /> <br />90 Upper Colorado River Commission, supra note 66, at 37. <br /> <br />91 See "Swimming In Subsidized Water: It Was Brought In For Farmers, But It's <br />Flowing To Arizona's Cities," Washington Post, May 12. 1986, at 10 '(National <br />Weekly). <br /> <br />92 See Hornby, "A~imas.La Plata Project Pits Colorado Forum vs. Interior's Ho- <br />del," Denver Post, May 8, 1986, at lOB. <br />93 S <br />Act of August 16, 1962. Pub. L. No. 87-590. 76 Stat. 389. See, e.g., tatement of <br />Congressman D.S. Saund of California in Hearings on H.R. 594 Before the Subcomm. <br />on Irrigation and Reclamation of the House Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs, <br />85th Cong., 1st Sess. 155-56 (1957). <br /> <br />94 See 43 U.S.C. ~ 620 (1982), <br />