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ANIMAS-LA PLATA: The last big dam in the West bySlt\'tHinchmsn DURANGO, Colo. - The late 1980$ were bitter yeors fOf the Wen's walerestablishmcnt, as giant and once.invinciblc water projecls dropped like flies. In the lasl five years, Colorado's Two Forks Dam, Nonh Dakota's Garri- son Project. Cliff Dam in Arizona, and the Cefllm.! UUlh Project, to name a few, were all either killed, changed beyond recognition, or indefinitely delayed. Only the $640 million Animas-La Plata projcct in southwestern Colorado sailed on. While often criticized as an eXlIavagant and hopelessly complicated Rube Goldberg scheme, An-imas-La Plata is lhe one surviving big.tickelitem in lhe Bureau ofReclamation'sconstruc. tion budgel. Chances are, it will be the last of the West's great federal water projects. Animas-La Plata is 1'101 a made-in- Washington, D.C., projecl or even a widely suppcrtcd Colorado project Its roots are in Durango, where backers seem impervious 10 Ole water reforma- tion around Olem. Here, 400 miles from Denver and Two Forks, and isolated behind Ihc San Juan Mountains, Animas- La Plata is considered a done deal. This scrappy mountain lown, set in the steeply walled Animas River valley, has always believed that ilS fUIUfe depcnd- cd on whether it could wet the arid mesas of the surrounding countryside and devel- op the Indian reservations and coal fields farther south. Loyalty to Animas is a pre- requisite for public life in Durango. and pursuit of the project has dominated regional politics fcrthrec dccadcs. As Sam Maynes, Durango's leg- endary water allomey and the brains behind lhe Animas-La Plata projcct, said in a recenltelepoone inlCl'View, "I have never known an elected. official in Coli orado thai has been opposed 10 the Ani- mas-La Plata project, either in local, state or federal officc." Politicians were reacting to nearly unanimous local support, but not all that support was freely given. Durango has a long and somelimes black history of strong-arming project opponents: Local critin have been shouted out of public meetings,harnssedatwcrl,anddiscred- ited in Ihe press. Now the town has grown too large and diverse for those tactics. But local support for what wOuld be the mosteJlpensive federal water pro- ject ever built in Colorado is still exhort- ed on the basis of regional palriotism and selfinteresl. "Why support the Animas-La Plata project?" read one political advertise- ment during a 1987 campaign 10 ratify the project's repayment contract. "Because somoone else is paying most of the tab. We get the water. Wegcl the reservoir. They pay the bill." The result is one ofth: largest and most cohesive coalitions 1h.1t has ever put il~ shoulder 10 a Western waterwheel. 1l1e cooJition includes half a dozen local Col- orado and New Mexico water conservan- cy districts; ihe cities of Dumngo, Colo., and Farmington, Aztec and Bloomfield, N.M.; nulTlClOus counties; the governors of both stmes; three Indian tribes; and the enlire congre.~siollal delegations of Col- orado llI1d New Mwco. The coalition has already built sev- eral small BuRec projects - on the Mancos, Piedra, Aorida and Pine rivers -and, in the 1980s,puUed.off the $570 million Dolores projoct, which was once 011 President Caner's famous "hitlisL" The crowning project is to be Ani. mas-La PlaIa, which Maynes calls "the granddaddy of them all." It will supply water for the cities and their new subur. ban developments; create a recreation reservoir outside Durangoi allow devel- opment of Ihe area's substantial coal reserves; and irrigate 68,000 acres. An Indian project 'The projoct also has a racial and eul- tur.lI dimension that makes il very aurae- live to the U,S. Congress and to non- Westerners. Thanks to the 1988 Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, Animas,La Plata seltles a dispute that could damage and racially divide the .. ~ negotialtA:!. The lrilles gave up their claim 10 senior righLS in return fOJ;. among ~ things, $60 million in development funds, a domestic water pipeline from the Dolores project, and a ooe-third share of the Animas-La Plata JrOjoct, then set for a 1990 construction stan. As a bonus, the coalition got two tribal members who have tremendous influence with Congress, the COUTtS and Ole public. Although two-thirds of pro- ject water will go 10 cities, coat compa- nies and non-Indian farmers, the settle- ment agreement turned ALP into an "lndianprojecL" That makes ALP far Iriekier to oppose than a normal water project. There has always been intense local opposition - opposition that was all the more determined because of the tactics used against iL But since passage of the act, lhe few non.local environmental groups involved have handled ALP with kid gloves. The act also created a deadline. If The Animas River winds through the lower valley Bu"lWoIRedamatiQnllanyKY&ar Colorado Sen. Ben Night- horse Campbell says the dam project is a "go." Not everyone agrees. Four Comers area. In 1972, the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes filed suit in Slate court for waterrlghLS that da1eback to 1868, the year theirreserva- tions were created, The filing would have given the tribes senior water righls on virtually every river and streamsOllth of the San Juan MoullIuins, says South- ern Ute water lawyer Scott McElroy. A clash between the then Anglo ALP coalition and the tribes would have doomed the project, and put a cloud over the existing economy and way of life. Fred Kroeger, chairman of the Southwest- ern Water Conservancy Dislrict, says such litigation would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and leave everyone's water rights in limbo for 15 to 2OyCMl. Instead of litigaling, the two sides 10 .-.~I!Jth.~Oll.n.try fJ~';V1>,-;-; M.arcl;l ,Q:Q:, )V.93 Phase I of the project isn't complete by Jan. 1,2000, the lrilles can ask the courts to void the seUlement acL The year 2000 deadline let the Reagan and Bush admin- istrntionsputtheprojoctoff,butthenew Clinton administration can'l. It must decide whether to build Animas-La Plata, and soon. No bigots For the West, ALP's union of Native American tribes and old-time watcrdevelopers is an W'llikely alliance. Usually, Anglos, with the help of DuRee and the Army Corps of Engineers, have stolen Indian water. When the Indians seek 10 get it hack. they often win empty Icgalbattles. For example, in 1990 the Arapahoe and Shoshone tribes won over haH the water in Wyoming's Wind River Valley. However, the 2O-year, multi-milllon-dol_ Jar court baule led 10 sucb enmity between non-Indian farmers and the Indians, and so roused Wyoming, that the tribes have never been able to turn that paper water right inlo wet water. 'Ibey haven't even been able to le:avethcir watec in tberivcr IOCJea\ealribalflsbery. Sam Maynes and Southern Ute trib- al chairman Leonard Burch - who have worked together on Animas-La Plata since the mid-J960s - say they have striven to avoid that kind of race war. "We don't have a bunch of red- necked bigots down here against the Indians," says Maynes, who also servcs as general counsel for the Southern Ute tribe, "We have worked together with the Indians and have (a project) we all can be proud oc." Thepartnernhip~ledloaooopera- tive atmosphere between tribal and local governments in southwestern Colorado, and eliminated much of the racial tension IhatplaguesotherWestcmrcsctVlllions. However, Maynes is accused of exag_ geratingtbe tribes' benefits in order to keep Animas-La Plata aIlooL The affable, gray_ b.-Nded atlcmey tw spent 30 yem push_ ing AU', and along the way became the undi~ Iring of southwestern Cobado water politics. Today, Maynes is water lawyer for the Soothwestcm Water Conser- vancy District, the Animas.La Plata Water Col\St'JVation DistriCl and five other sub- districts, and also represents the Southern Ute tribe, La Ftata EJectric and, at times, Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co" which owns extenSive water rights in ALP's main reservoir. He also owns the Durango office building that houses his law firm, the BuRee field olflce, and the Southwestern and Animas-La Plata water conservancy dislricts, Project opponents often criti- cize Maynes Cor conflict of interest and for leading the tribes astray, but those charges have never stuck. Inslead, Maynes' leadership and influence have kept the ALP coalition together through setbacks that would have killed other, arguably better, pr0- jects. For example, a major crisis occurred when the Reagan administra_ tion balked at ALP's steeply rising price tag and ordered project backers to help pay for the project. The coalition per. fCllned triage on the plans, put up some mOlley, imd kept ALP alive. Firsl, ~ch member, except for the tribes, came up with some money, totalling about $70 miUion. To meet the rest of their obligations, the coalition split the projCCt in two. The $463 miUion Phase 1, or the bulk of the project, would be federally funded, with the help of the local contributions. The $154 million Phase II, tile most marginal part of the project and tlle easiest 10 give up, would be funded entirely by local interests if it is ever builL M bcsl: it could, the coalition shared the pain. Because the Ute Mountain Utes and Southern Utes had most of their water delivery structures in Phase n, Ihe agree.- ment gives the tribes ownership of water stored in Phase I, even if that makes less water available to non.lndian farmers.