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178 Federal Register/Vol. 64, No. I /Monday, January 4, 1999/Notices of the two Colorado Ute Tribes. The Colorado Ute Indian reservations were created in 1868, and as such, the Tribes have a priority date for their water rights that precedes the priority dates for most, if not all. non-Indian water rights, Implementation of the Act wl11 allow the development of Tribal senior water rights without adversely impacting n?n- Indian water rights and users, includmg cities and municipalities throughout southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The Proposed Federal Action The Administration proposal for final implementation of the Colorado Ute Water Rights Settlement was developed after a review of the Settlement Act requirements, the issues surrounding the 1996 formulation of ALP, and a consideration of the alternatives generated during the Romer-Schoettler Process, As a result, the Administration Proposal includes both structural and nonstructural elements designed to achieve the fundamental purpose of securing the Ute Tribes an assured water supply in satisfaction of their water rights as determined by the 1986 Settlement Agreement and the 1988 Settlement Act and by providing for identified municipal and industrial water needs in the Project area. The Administration proposal also brings final resolution to the ALP issue by restricting the project to construction of a defined number of facilities centered around a down-sized storage facility limited to municipal and industrial (M&I) water uses. Other previously contemplated project features would be deauthorized. The Administration proposal includes two components: Structural Component This includes an off-stream storage reservoir (approximately 90,000 acre- feet capacity) with only a limited amount of "dead" storage, a pumping plant (up to approximately 240 cubic feet per second of capacity), and a reservoir inlet conduit. all designed to deplete no more than an average of 57,100 afper year (afy) from the Animas River. This depletion limit of 57,100 afy is consistent with the Biological Opinion issued by the Service, which limits further water depletion in the entire San Juan River Basin in order to avoid jeopardy to the endangered fish. The proposed reservoir would be located at the Ridges Basin site. Consumptive use of water from the project wl11 be restricted to M&I uses only and will be allocated in the following manner: I Afy de- pletion Southern Ute Tribe (M&I) ""......... Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (M&I) ...... Navajo Nation (M&I) .........."......... ALP Water Conservancy District (M&I).......................................... San Juan Water Commission (M&I).......................................... 19,980 19,980 2,340 2,600 10,400 Consistent with the purpose and need statement, a substantial portion of the costs of the reservoir and associated works are anticipated to be non- reimbursable to the federal treasury. Costs of any project benefits accruing to non-Indian parties are expected to be fully absorbed by those parties in accordance with Reclamation law and Administration policy. Nonstructural Component Under the allocation shown above, the Tribes are still approximately 13,000 af short of the total quantity of depletion recognized in the settlement agreement. The proposed action therefore includes a nonstructural element which would establish and utilize a water acquisition fund which the Tribes could use one time to acquire water rights on a willing buyer/wl11ing seller basis. The fund would be sufficient to acquire rights to the use of sufficient quantities of water allowing the Tribes about 13,000 afy of depletion in addition to the depletions stated above. Preliminary cost estimates indicate that a fund of approximately $40,000,000 would be required to purchase the additional rights. However, to provide flexibility in the use of the fund, authorization would allow some or all of the funds to be redirected for on-farm development, water delivery infrastructure, and other economic development activities.2 Several features of the proposed action, particularly the reservoir location, pumping plant, and inlet works have been the subject of previous analysis by Reclamation as described in the Background section. Details concerning these items and changes from the previous ALP configuration can be obtained by contacting Reclamation's Western Colorado Area Office, Southern Division, in Durango, I The balance of the available depletions is lost to evaporation making total depletions of 57,100 afy. :2 At the request of the Ute Tribes, this provision represents a change from the Administration proposal released on August 11, which limited redirection of funds to only 50% of the total amount provided. Colorado at the address and telephone number shown above. Proposed Scope of Analysis The Administration Proposal is related to but represents a refinement in the configuration of ALP. Accordingly, Reclamation intends to fulfill the requirements of NEP A through development of a DSEIS which is supplementalto the 1996 FSFES for ALP. This approach will allow for full assessment of the new or changed features which are part of the Administration proposal but make use, to the extent appropriate, of the prior environmental analysis for ALP. Given this approach, the following discussion represents Reclamation' s current view of the range of alternatives and the type of analysis which is appropriate for the Administration Proposal. I. Range of Alternatives-In addition to the above-described proposed action (1.e, the Administration Proposal), Reclamation intends to evaluate the following alternatives as part of its NEP A analysis. a. Administration Proposal with Recreation Element Added-At the request of the state of Colorado, Reclamation will evaluate adding recreation as a feature of the reservoir. This feature would necessitate consideration of a conservation pool of approximately 30,000 af thereby increasing the overall reservoir size to approximately 120,000 af. b. Animas-La Plata Reconciliation Plan- This alternative represents the structural alternative developed during the Romer-Schoettler process. It was also the basis for legislation which was introduced during the 105th Congress (S. 1771 and H.R. 3478). The proposal provides water for both M&I and irrigation uses. It also contains project features similar to the Administration Proposal although the reservoir would be sized to a 260,000 af capacity to allow for future M&I and irrigation storage needs. No deauthorization of project features is included in this proposal. c. Animas River Citizens' Coalition Conceptual Alternative-This alternative represents the nonstructural proposal developed during the Romer- Schoettler process. It proposes the purchase of irrigated lands and other associated water rights near the Ute reservations. and would use or purchase water from existing projects or expanded projects/delivery systems for the purpose of providing water in satisfaction of the Ute Tribes' water rights claims. d. 1996 Final Supplement to the Final Environmental Statement (FSFES)