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CENTRAL UTAH \\'ATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT General Manager's Message Don A. Christiansen During the last month, there has been a flurry of favorable activity in the halls of Congress regarding funding for the Central Utah Project. The House and Senate passed an appropriations bill which included more than $100 million for continuing con. struction on CUP projects. I express my personal thanks and that of the entire CUWCD board to the Utah Congressional delegation for their support of Newsletter this legislation. The appropriation will keep construction on CUP projects going through the fall of 1991. A far greater challenge has been the task of increasing the overall CRSP funding ceiling to complete CUP. Questions have been raised in Congress and else- where whether there is enough CRSP ceiling left to obtain this appropriation. The methods used by the Bureau of Reclamation to figure the available ceiling have been heavily scrutinized. Dur- ing a recent high.level meeting in Washington, the Bureau ex- plained the methods used to cal- culate the ceiling. It was very clear from the results of that meeting that the ceiling is being deter- mined in a manner consistent with the law and with the intent of Congress. The Bureau was able to show without question that there is enough ceiling to com. plete important CUP projects, including the Jordanelle Dam and the Diamond Fork System down to Monk's Hollow Reservoir. Currently before Congress is a bill IHR 3960) designed to raise the ceiling to fund completion of the CUP irrigation and drainage system. We are very happy to see SUMMER 1990 this bill pass the House Interior Committee, thanks again to the support of the Utah Congres. sional delegation and other key Congressional leaders. Compromises on the legisla- tion helped obtain the support of Congressman George Miller, D- CA, chairman of the House Sub- committee on energy and Water Development, who previously opposed CUP funding. Support from Congressman Morris Udall, D-AZ, chairman of the House Interior Committee, also was instrumental in helping the bill pass the full committee. When Congress returns from its August recess, the bill \.ViII go to the House floor then ,the process will be repeated in the Senate. Our time frame is very short as there are only six legislative weeks to get the bill through Con. gress before both houses adjourn in October. There have been great efforts extended by the Utah Congres- sional delegation and our consul- tants in Washington to keep this bill moving. Support from the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Interior, the Office of Management and Budget and the White House also has been