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<br />JUL~il-S7 13,3~ FROM,M.B.S.S. <br /> <br />ID,870 2~7 8827 <br /> <br />PAGE 18/27 <br /> <br />~ <br />U' <br />C',' <br /> <br />c <br /> <br />NEWS RELEASE -- <br />FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE <br />Thursday, July 10, 1997 <br /> <br />T_~ A YER A..1',"'D CITIZEN GROUPS CALL FOR CONGRESS TO <br />ELL.'1L.~ATE ANL.'\1AS-LA PLATA FlJNDmG <br /> <br />WASHINGTON, D.C.--At a press conference loday attended by leading Senate <br />and House opponents of the Animas-La Plata (ALP) project, citizens' groups hailed the <br />death of the ALP project and urged Congress to eliminate funding for it. "Everyone now <br />admits thal_tU.P as we know it is dead," said Orion Urton of the jl.nim"~ River <br />Agricultural Water Users Association, a group oHarmers who depend on 1< nim~~ River <br />water for their livelihood. "It's time for Congress to pull the plug and stop funding it until <br />a reasonable alternative is developed-" <br /> <br />Citizens opposed to the economically and environmentally harmful ALP <br />celebrated project proponents' abandonment of the old project. On Tuesday, July 8 <br />supporters of the ALP project announced that they were proposing a smaller project <br />called The Animas La Plata Reconciliation Plan, sometimes referred to as "ALP Lite.<< <br />"..oJthough the new proposal has serious problems, the v~ fact that project supporters <br />felt compelled to offer an alternative demonstrates thal after 30 years and $71 million in <br />appropriations even they recognize that the old ALP coS".s too much, is too great a burden <br />on the environment, and doesn't deliver what was promised to the Ute tribes," said <br />Courtney Cuff, Director of the Green Scissors Campaign at friends of the Ea.rth. <br /> <br />.. Congress now can deauthorize the old ALP and send the Bureau back to the <br />drawing board to come up with an economically viable alternative that makes more <br />sense," said Jill Lancelot of Taxpayers for Common Sense. <br /> <br />Environmental groups criticized the new proposal for ALP as carrying forward <br />many of the same problems as the old design. . ALP Lite still floods elk winter range, still <br />diverts a free-flowing river, still depletes flom in a Gold Medal Trout fisheI)' and still <br />impacts rafting and boating in both the San Juan and .A...cimas Rivers,' said David Conrad <br />of the National Wildlife Federation. <br /> <br />"ALP is pure polluter pork," said Anna Auritio of the Public Interest Research <br />Group. "It harms the environment and wastes ta),,-payers' dollars. It is time for the <br />Congress and the Clinton Administration to come up with an environmentally and <br />economically sound alternative." <br /> <br />Native American citi~en groups also continue to urge Congress to adopt a <br />different approach. Sage Remington of the Souther::. Ute Grassroots Organization stated, <br />"Neither .ALP nor ALP-Lile delivers any water to any reservation, and it's a sham to call <br />