<br />you're in the federal goverrunent, you
<br />simply don't do that You've got to go
<br />through the damdest process imagin-
<br />able,"
<br />Robison also contended that critidsm
<br />of the Bureau's record on the environ-
<br />mentwaspremature, "Sometirnes, it isn't
<br />possible to spend money in tandem for
<br />construction, recreation, and fish and
<br />wildlife," he said,
<br />Nevertheless, the Bureau is bracing for
<br />the possibility that it soon may be passin~
<br />the CUP baton to the District.
<br />'We have offered the District our com-
<br />plete cooperation in this undertaking,
<br />whatever files and documents we have,"
<br />Robison said, "Isav that because there are
<br />reports that the Bureau is acting out of
<br />spite, and that we're not cooperating,
<br />That simply is not the case,"
<br />The Central Utah Water Conservancy
<br />District's tiny staff (13 in its Orem head-
<br />quarters, 35 statewide) also is bracing for
<br />the expected onslaught.
<br />"The board has authorized $1 million
<br />in this year's budget to get things going,"
<br />said general manager Don Christiansen,
<br />However, rather than create its own bu-
<br />reaucracy, the District plans to award
<br />much of the work to outside consultants,
<br />Christiansen said.
<br />Like the Bureau, the District has had
<br />its share of bad press latelv, A 1989 per-
<br />fonnance audit, conducted bv the office
<br />of the Utah legislative auditor general,
<br />raised questions about some of the
<br />district's accounting. financial planning,
<br />and management practices, A sample:
<br />staff members were flying first class,
<br />Large sums were bemg spent on consul-
<br />tants. lobbyists, and attornevs ($362,000
<br />in 1988) without written contracts, An-
<br />other $2.400 went for raft trips on the
<br />Green River. And the 19-member board
<br />was stacked with representatives of the
<br />water industry,
<br />A follow-up a year later showed that
<br />the District had responded to most of the
<br />questions raised in 1989. Accounting and
<br />planning procedures had been revised,
<br />Employees were flying coach,
<br />However, Christiansen defended the
<br />controversial raft trip as "one sweet piece
<br />of public relations." He noted that the
<br />passenger list included many influential
<br />water leaders, one of whom would later
<br />become assistant secretary of the Interior,
<br />another of whom would become com-
<br />missioner of the Bureau, "That little in-
<br />vestment has paid off far beyond our
<br />ability to count."
<br />AS for the composition of the board,
<br />that is out of the District's control, he said,
<br />
<br />Members are selected by the governor
<br />and ratified by the state Senate horn a lis,
<br />of candidates nominated bv individual
<br />county commissions, 'The governor and
<br />the legislature are going to have to agree
<br />on a change in the process," he said,
<br />"I don't think anvbodv could find
<br />that we have done 'anything fraudu-
<br />lently. We've gotto hove a spotless public
<br />image, If that bill goes through, hun-
<br />dreds of millions of dollars will go
<br />through this district, and we will be
<br />under public scrutiny forever,"
<br />
<br />BEYOND THE CUP
<br />One irony in the historv of the Central
<br />Utah Project is that. in spite of its name,
<br />no project water yet has been delivered
<br />south of Utah Lake. That could change,
<br />The Garn-Owens bili allocates $150 mil-
<br />lion to help build a pipeline to <any CUP
<br />water to the Sevier Bridge Reservoir.
<br />From there, the water would be made
<br />available for irrigation, either directly or
<br />through exchanges.
<br />However, construction of the pipeline
<br />is far horn a sure thing, even if the bill
<br />passes. In addition to providing another
<br />$80 million in matching funds, local inter-
<br />ests must show signed contracts guaran-
<br />teeing the purchase of 90 percent of the
<br />water before work can begin,
<br />And if they don't? Well, the bill also
<br />addresses that possibility by allocating $2
<br />million to study ways to deliver CUP
<br />water directlv to the Provo River, One
<br />such option ";ould be the so-called Walls-
<br />burg Tunnel, which would take CUP
<br />water from StrawberrY Reservoir and
<br />dump it into Deer Creek Reservoir, In
<br />other words. instead of irrigating centra;
<br />Utah fannland, the water would quench
<br />the growing thirst of communities along
<br />the Wasatch Front.
<br />But some observers. like envirorunen-
<br />talist Sam Rushforth, question the sanity
<br />of encouraging more growth in an area
<br />already suffering from the svmptoms of
<br />congestion.
<br />"Look at our urban problems," he
<br />said, "They are overwhelming, The last
<br />thing we want to do is keep pumping
<br />water in so we can grow larger," ,
<br />Regardless of the final form taken by
<br />the CUP, that argument will, no doubt,
<br />surface again in the context of yet another
<br />large water project. State agencies aI-
<br />read y are discussing plans for a series of
<br />reservoirs on the Bear River in southern
<br />Idaho and northern Utah,
<br />When measured in terms of water de-
<br />livered to the Wasatch Front, proponents
<br />say, it could be even bigger than the CUP .
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<br />UTAH HOUDAY. JUNE 1991 47
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