|
<br />collection system had totally dried up
<br />portions of five streams. and reduced
<br />flows in two others,
<br />'1 think there is surplus water that can
<br />be taken by the project." Reimherr said,
<br />''But it's a system that's clearly in deficit,
<br />no matter which rules vou apply,"
<br />Meanwhile, under the leadership or
<br />Jeffrey Appel, a Utah water lawver, and
<br />Sammye Meadows, then an assistant to
<br />Robert Redford. a group of organizations
<br />primarily from Utah County put together
<br />a treatise called, "The Central Utah Proj-
<br />ect: A Critical Review of Important Prot>-
<br />lems," Better known as the Greer, Book
<br />(so dubbed for its cover), the report con-
<br />centrated largely on the Provo River
<br />drainage, It was not complimentary,
<br />"In our opinion. the CUP was horrify-
<br />ingly flawed," said BYUbotanyprofessor
<br />Sam Rushforth. one of the contributors to
<br />the Green Book "It may have been an
<br />adequate delivery system, but at tremen-
<br />dous cost to the environment."
<br />That cost, according to the Green
<br />Book, would include damage to the
<br />Provo River and its inhabitants from fluc-
<br />tuations in the water releases from
<br />,Iordanelle Reservoir,
<br />"The river can tolerate high flows for
<br />two or three days in the spring,"
<br />Rushforth acknowledged, "But when
<br />you scour for longer than that, and dur-
<br />ing the wrong season, you can cause big
<br />trouble,"
<br />By ultimately reducing Provo River
<br />flows into Utah Lake, the JordanelIe
<br />could cause a 25 percent increase in the
<br />salinity of the water, warned the Green
<br />Book, making it unfit for irrigation or
<br />recreational fishing,
<br />Utah Lake? Some people would argue
<br />that its grayish water alreadv is unfit for
<br />much of anything, But Rushforth IS not
<br />one of them,
<br />'Tm not afraid of Utah Lake water at
<br />all," he said, "It:. not sewage polluted, If s
<br />got elevated revels of nutrients which
<br />cause the algae to grow like crazy, But,
<br />jeez. I think if s a wonderful resource,
<br />"Hell, if it were in Oklahoma, the
<br />whole thing would be a state park"
<br />Kenlev Brunsdale, described Utah
<br />Lake as ;'the last big watering hole in
<br />Utah," and argued that, in other states,
<br />water of similar quality is treated for mu-
<br />nicipal use,
<br />an faCl, manvSalt Lake-area residents
<br />have sampled Utah Lake water without
<br />realizing it, For one week each summer
<br />begmning in 1989, the Jordan Valley
<br />Water Treatment Plant in Bluffdale has
<br />treated water from the lake and blended
<br />
<br />it with larger volumes from the Provo
<br />River destined for cuIinarv use, Accord-
<br />ing to Dave Ovani, gen';'l manager of
<br />the Salt Lake County Water Conservancy
<br />O1strict, this pilot project has been a suc-
<br />cess logistically, but not financially, since
<br />Utah Lake water is more expensive to
<br />creat.)
<br />The Green Book also repeated two
<br />well-publicized concerns: first, there
<br />were serious geological hazards at the
<br />Jordanelle dam site, and second, there
<br />may not be enough unappropriatee
<br />water in the Provo River to fill the reser-
<br />
<br />posa.: had gone from a ve!} jir:~;:'~. C'....;:
<br />impractical bill te> somethmg chao ,>'",
<br />both more respon<.ibje and more ambi-
<br />tious," Osann said "but even atter all tha~
<br />work, the bill still riad very substanbaI
<br />deficiencies and we were not 5uppomn.c
<br />it."
<br />
<br />One of the most gJanng deilOenoe,
<br />according to Osann, was the lack or am
<br />commitment to wate:- conservatIOn.
<br />"There was no provision in the law to
<br />assure that Utah would do evervtium: it
<br />could to manage that most PToo.OUS. '-re-
<br />source in a way that was most effiaent. ,.
<br />
<br />
<br />voir, It called for Congress to halt further
<br />funding pending a reassessment of the
<br />project,
<br />While Owens welcomed the input of
<br />Utah environmentalists, Gam did not.
<br />When the Green Book was released in
<br />September 1989, he blasted its authors as
<br />"Johnnv-come-Iatelies" who could cause
<br />furtherdelays by touching off yet another
<br />round of studies, The long-standing CUP
<br />alliance among Utah politiCIans was be-
<br />gmning to fray.
<br />"He (Owens) wanted to deal with a lo~
<br />of the environmental issues that were not
<br />initialiy in the bill," Garn said later,
<br />Nevertheless, Gam and Owens sat
<br />down to -work out their differences,
<br />'The congressman and I have a lot of
<br />differences<Jf opinion on a lot of issues:'
<br />Garn said, "But on Utah issues, you forget
<br />politics and do the best job you can for
<br />your state."
<br />, By February 1990, the Utah delegation
<br />had dosed ranks again in support of a bill
<br />that placed a higher priority on the repair
<br />of environmental damage, To reduce the
<br />drain on the federal budget. it also called
<br />ior state and local interests to pick up
<br />more of the tab,
<br />At a hearing before the House Interior
<br />Committee that month, the bill was cri-
<br />tiqued by representatives of various state
<br />and federal agencies, as well as by envi-
<br />ronmentalists such as Ed Osann of the
<br />National Wildlife Federation,
<br />"Over the previous two years, the pro-
<br />
<br />Both environmental groups and fed-
<br />eral administrators also called for a
<br />greater local cost share, 'The irony is that
<br />the concerns of the environmentalists,
<br />and the concerns of the administration
<br />overlapped:' Osann said,
<br />
<br />AND WHAT AS/ill
<br />So the negotiations resumed, "We had
<br />a number of sessions that cuIminated m
<br />a virtually all-night session in AprL."
<br />Osann said, "That resulted In a Dill tna:
<br />responded to the concerns we nac.
<br />:A.nd what a bill it was, O\'e~ 300U: :
<br />1/2 years it had evolved from a sunpie
<br />reauthorization plan to a watershed re-
<br />form package that promised to influence
<br />the direction of federal water prolects na-
<br />tionwide,
<br />'The CUP bill is what other projects
<br />will look at when thev want something:'
<br />Brunsdale said, '1fs the reform modeL"
<br />Osann was more cautious, '1 haven't
<br />decided in my own mind if the CUP leg-
<br />islation is the forerunner of anything or
<br />the last.of the dinosaurs,"
<br />Included in,the bill were proposals to:
<br />o reduce the amount of water col-
<br />lected from streams in the Uinta
<br />Basin, thereby preserving fish
<br />habitat;
<br />o create and fund a commission to
<br />oversee the mitigation of environ-
<br />mental damage;
<br />o establish nunimum flows in the
<br />Provo River, and develop a plan to
<br />
<br />UTAH HOUl)A~ . Ic>.." 1991 45
<br />
|