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o c;.) 00 "... c~ ,~ the fal- in- lter een ugh iter 'er- an- 'ivi- lew uif- lere lto are eel. ave o.ith on- )ra- rica mts 1Ioto rmC't - to A WDI on behalf of their agencies that use Valley water for parks, wildlife refuges, and water projects. In the face of the massive protest, and the historic denials of new water rights, what makes A WDI so bent on fighting for Valley water? "Money...It's the money," say V alley residents, almost in a hush. If A WDI gets the water, there is big money to be made. Early on that attract- ed wealthy investors to the project. Those investors are quite accustomed to dealing in large numbers. A WDl's project is the brainchild of Maurice Strong, a Canadian oil and natural resources magnate, who maintains a home at the Baca Grande with his wife, Hanne. Strong, who is reported to be a director of the Aspen Institute (where President Bush and Prime Minister Mar garet Thatcher met this summer), and his wife have publicly envisioned creat- ing a model community to bring together new world economic and reli- gious harmony. They have encouraged several religious groups, both ancient and new age, to establish places of wor- ship on the Baca Grande, which is adjacent to A WDl's Baca Grant ranch. Movie actress and spiritualist Shirley MacLaine is rumored to be moving in. Najeeb Halaby, one-time administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, is said to have installed a ziggurat-an ancient, pyramidal Mesopotamian tern pIe at Baca Grande. Strong has sold his stock in A WDI and no longer has any official ties to the water project, says A WDl's Dale Schaffer. In January, Strong resumed work for the United Nations after hav- ing been named Under Secretary Gener- al for Environmental Matters. (He is an architect of U.N. and other environ- mental policy.) Valley residents speculate that he was forced out by a power play from another Canadian investor, Vancouver-based financier and corporate raider, Sam Belzberg. A family syndicate headed by Belzberg owns about SO.,. of the com- pany, according to Dale Schaffer. Lawrence Fox, a senior vice president of First City Financial Corporation, Ltd., a company controlled by Belzberg, is on AWDI's board. The other half of the company is owned by the Natural Resources Group. investors who were recruited bv Maurice Strong, says Schaffer. . A WDI directors in addition to Fox in- clude: Pieter A. Fisher, a limited pan- ner of Goldman, Sachs and Co., and a current member of [he Council on OctOber l. 1990 Foreign Relations; former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, who once was a vocal no- growth proponent; William D. Ruckel- shaus, CEO of Browning-Ferris In- dustries and form- erly the administra- tor of the Environ- mental Protection Agency; and David R. Williams, Jr" chairman of Wil- liams Technologies and of Black Mesa Pipeline. COLORADO Desert vegetation predominates in unirrlgated areas of the San Luis Valley. The high alpine valley only receives an average of seven inches of annual precipitation. .NOIU....,. - - areas of intensive center-pillot irrigation closed basin project , ,. ~. ase a olora 0 ater 8S0urces an ower ut or t '<-::_:.-'::.~-?r~{~1?~: 9 ,I