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<br />Slurry plan challenged
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<br />. LINCOLN, Neb. - A railroad, tbree
<br />farmerS groups, the Sierra Club and the
<br />states of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri
<br />mounted a legal challenge Wednesday to
<br />South Dakota's proposed sale of Missouri
<br />River water for a 1,400-mile coal slurry
<br />pipeline.
<br />The attorneys general of the three pro-
<br />testing states joined in a suit, filed in U.S.
<br />.District Court here, against a variety of
<br />federal officials who approved plans for
<br />the deal. .
<br />
<br />A similar suit was filed by the Kansas
<br />City Southern Railway Co" the Sierra Club
<br />and the Nebraska, Iowa and Rocky Moun-
<br />tain chapters of the Farmers Union.
<br />
<br />Among the defendants in both suits were
<br />U.S. Interior Secretary James Watt; Col.
<br />William R Andrews Jr., district engineer
<br />of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and
<br />Joseph. B. Marcotte Jr., Upper Missouri
<br />regional director of the Bureau of Recla-
<br />mation.
<br />Also named was the company behind the
<br />project, Energy Transportation Systems,
<br />Inc., of San Francisco.
<br />ETSI plans to begin construction in 1983
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<br />of a 1,387-mile pipeline to move at least 25
<br />million tons of coal annually from Wyo-
<br />ming to Oklahoma, Arkansas and a ~is-
<br />sippi River barge facility.
<br />The pulverized coal would be mixed
<br />with water in Wyoming. The water would
<br />reach Wyoming via a 288-mile pipeline
<br />from the Oahe Reservoir on the Missouri
<br />River in South Dakota.
<br />At issue is the authority of South Dakota
<br />'to sell Missouri River water for use out-
<br />side the region.
<br />The suit seeks to invalidate a water
<br />service contract executed by the U.S, Bu-
<br />reau of Reclamation and a water intake
<br />facility permit granted by the U.S. Army
<br />Corps of Engineers in Omaha.
<br />Nebraska Attorney General Paul Doug-
<br />las said the suit, filed jointly with Attor-
<br />neys General Thomas J. Miller of Iowa
<br />and John D. Ashcroft of Missouri, seeks to
<br />stop "unlawful actions by federal bureau-'
<br />crats" that jeopardize access to Missouri
<br />River water.
<br />The suit alleges that the Corps and the
<br />Interior Department violated federal laws
<br />establishing strict limitations on diver-
<br />sions from the Missouri River basin.
<br />Federal officials "completely ignored
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<br />the requirements and limitations placed
<br />upon them by Congress ...," Douglas
<br />charged,
<br />Iowa's Miller said the proposal sets two
<br />precedents. First, he said, it is the first
<br />time water will be used outside the basin.
<br />Second, the water would be used for trans-
<br />portation - a fact not lost on the Kansas
<br />City Southern Railway Co., who claims the
<br />ETSI pipeline would unfairly deprive it of
<br />freifiht business. '
<br />. T e p.pelme project would have rela-
<br />tively little direct affect on Colorado wa-
<br />ters. The pipeline from Gillette south : I
<br />would cross a portion of northeastern Col-
<br />orado; a pumping station would channel
<br />underground Colorado water into the line,
<br />resulting in a net water loss, according to
<br />Jon T, Brown, a Washington attorney for
<br />most of the plaintiffs.
<br />Robert Warrick, spokesman for the Ne--
<br />braska Sierra Club, said the proposed wa-
<br />ter sale would adversely affect users of
<br />the river, cause environmental problems
<br />and set a precedent for future water sales.
<br />He added the project would discharge
<br />'''significant amounts of highly polluted
<br />,slurry water into receiving streams in
<br />.Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana."
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