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<br />U~NVt::::i? PoST <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />s- z~-9o <br /> <br />Animas backers cry toul <br /> <br />Group not consulted <br />about adapting plans <br />By Thomas Gral ~!11 <br />Denver Post Environment Writer I'fJ <br />Supporters of the Animas-La <br />Plata water project in south- <br />western Cotorado claim they <br />. were illegally blindsided when <br />the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- <br />vice issued a draft opinion May <br />8 saying the project could cause <br />extinction of the endangered <br />Colorado squawfish. <br />Attorneys for the Soutbwest- <br />ern Water Conservation Dis- <br />trict, the chief sponsor of the <br />$589 million project, sayan ear- <br />lier court settlement grants <br />them the right to "be included <br />as a participant in the consulta- <br />tion process and. . . to assist the <br /> <br />U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in <br />its preparation of draft biologi- <br />cal opinions and final biological <br />opinions. .. <br />Sam Maynes, attorney for the <br />water district, wrote in a May <br />. 23 letter to Fish & Wildlife Di- <br />rector John Turner that his cli- <br />ents will take the agency to <br />court unless Turner intervenes <br />and lets them take part in for- <br />mulating a plan tbat would sat- <br />isfy not only the needs of tbe fish <br />in the San Juan River, but also <br />the American Indians, farmers <br />and other Colorado and New <br />Mexico residents who would <br />benefit from the project. <br />Opponents say Maynes and <br />his clients "have nobody to <br />blame but themselves" for not <br />presenting evidence to federal <br />biologists before the opinion was <br /> <br />released. They call the prior <br />agreement "a sweetheart deal" <br />with James Watt, President <br />Reagan's interior secretary. <br /> <br />"This agreement gives them <br />special rights you and I are not <br />allowed to have," said Lorie <br />Potter, attorney for tbe Sierra <br />Club Legal Defense Fund, <br /> <br />"What's even worse than get- <br />ting them, now they are com- <br />plaining for not taking advan- <br />tage of them, They knew this <br />decision was coming down for <br />some time." <br /> <br />Potter said the opinion that <br />the project could destroy the <br />squawfisb and the razorback <br />sucker, which is proposed to be <br />listed as an endangered species, <br />is still only a draft, and the wa- <br />ter district can comment on it. <br /> <br />,. <br />, <br />