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. ...., . \ i The Daily Sentinel Saturday, May 5, 1990 ocal/regional Saturday, May 5, 1990 1'~~_I?~ni~'""'f~;'Vjh''''bi8~~~L~~k,.;''k-''r;'M,""''';:~4,+",-''';c'-,,,,&ji~;t%n',~ ''''~'''"~ I L,-,"" """"'"'"_~_ _... Animas- LaPlata postponed for endangered-fish study Sentinel staff with wire reports Construction that .;,oils to begin today for the $582 million Animas- LaPlata water project has been de- layed until federal biologists com- plete a study on how the endan- gered Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker might be affect- ed,-'-'-', - ',. ...,. _ Animas-LaPlata is the only fed- eral water project proposed in President Bush's 1991 budget--' John Murphy, president of the Animas-La Plata Water Conservan' cy District, said the delay is unfair. "I think the fish and game service has an agenda of not building this project" Under the federal Endangered Species Act, the U,S. Fish and Wildlife Service has the power to kill a proposed project that threat- ens the existence of a species. To avoid that death blow, the agency could recommend changes in wa- ter projeci plans. Animas-LaPlata would irrigate 68,000 acres of farmland - at a cost of $5,918 an acre - while settling a lengthy government water-rights dispute with three Indian tribes and providing drinking water for Durango. The- project would include two 'reservoirs, three major pumping~ plants and a 157-mile network of pipes and canals, Animas-LaPlata was authorized by Congress in 1968, but political and financial struggles, as well as a 390 percent price increase, have prevented any work on the project. The biggest financial source is the, Upper Colorado River Basin Fund, Its money comes largely from hydroelectric sales from U,S, Bureau of Reclamation dams at Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge and three reservoirs on the Gunnison River. The Fish and Wildlife Service gave initial approval to AJrtmas- LaPlata in 1979, but during the past three years, biologists found 27 squawfish and 13 razorback suckers living in the San Juan Riv- er 90 miles downstream. Animas-LaPlata would siphon up to 18 percent of the San Juan River flows now relied upon by the fish, The squawfish and razorback sucker once were among the most dominant fish species in the Colo- rado River basin, but their num- bers have been decimated by dam building and development. - '