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OOOSgS / ,10- ,"j' , ._~ ! 1\/1~/8' j 1 I ! THE FORUM F".rio-Moorh~.d A pulitzer Prize Winning .\'e\','!-.p~pcr Published since 1878 William C. Marcil, Publisher William C. Lantz, Busine~5 Manager Charles T. Bohnet, Gener31 Manilger Thomas Andersen Adv. Director J J. Brodigan, Clr~ul:llion Manager Jo!'eph Dill, Editor John Lohman, :'Ilanaging Editor Jerry Ruff, EdItorial Page Editor W. James Reed, ProducLion J\Janager Editorial Garrison vote Few North Dakotans realize the critical situation which is confronting Garrison ir- rigation supporters in the U ,So Congress these days. . Construction of Garrison has been stopped by a federal district court -in- junction issued by a District of Columbia Judge Charles Richey. The judge contends that an out-of-court selllement reached by former Secretary of Interior Cecil Andrus and the National Audubon Society during the Carter administration effectively can- cels the construction appropriations au- thorized by Congress. The decision is being appealed, but in the ,meantime North Dakota's two sena- tors, 'Republican Mark Andrews and Dem- ocrat Quentin Burdick, have allached an amendment to the new appropriations measure which they say nullifies the An-' . drus.Audubon Society agreement.. . The two senators had litHe trouble get- ting Senate approval o[ their amendment, but North Dakota's lone member of the U.S. House, Democrat Byron Dorgan, says that odds are not good that the House will agree to the amendment. Garrison suppor- ters in North Dakota are doing whatever they can to &et the House to vote approval of the amenament, and Rep. Dorgan is the key to success there. He was successful in getting House approval of a $4 million ap- propriation earlier this year, an action which antagonized the Audubon group. . Dorgan's expressed pessimism con- cerning getting the Andrews-Burdick amendment through the House makes us wonder about his psychology of per- suasion. There apparently is a job to be done in the House on this issue, but we do not understand why congressmen would be .reluctant to vote for an amendment which protects the wishes of Congress against a two-party decision made by a former Cab- inet member and a non-governmental or- ganization and upheld by a judge who has a reputation for ruling against Garrison, Dorgan has wrillen a leller to Secr"tary of Interior James Watt asking that his powers of persuasion bc worked with re- luctant congressmen. It might have been . House vital In . \ beller for Dorgan to talk to Watt. rather' than to write a letter and release it to the' press as he did. This unduly politicizes . Garrison diversion. which has a history in ' North Dakota of being a bipartisan, .or nonpartisan issue_ Dorgan has expressed views that per- haps some changes could be made In the project in order to overcome some of the Audubon Society opposition. He has of- fered no proposal to the House, however, and is working to get the Oakes area irri- gation started, The Audubon Society makes it 100 per- cent clear that it will not be happy until the project is completely dead, If a so-called compromise is offered to the House by influential members of the Democratic party, there is no doubt the Audubon Society would urge its approval. j' Any restriction of the Garrison project would be a signal that the project 'could, ' well be canceled at any time: At the pre-' sent moment, the authorization 'provides. for 250,000 acres of irrigation, and there is, hope that successful completion of . .this . . phase of the project will lead to' irrigation i" of an additional 500,000 to 800,000 acres in' ". the future. . . If the project is restricted to 60,000 or' 70,000 acres, as the Carter administration' " proposed, the cost-benefit ralio goes down and the project becomes. endangered. , We trust that Rep. Dorgan will under- stand the vital need for keeping faith with the Garrison supporters who have worked consistently for the last 35 years to get the irrigation project going. If the project is started and irrigation is provided for the Oakes area, then experience should pro-. vide the answers to questions raised by op- ponents. Without the fully authorized proj- ect, there is no need for the talks With Canada to continue. If changes have to be made,~ they should come at some future date. There is no need to sound pessimistic or to com prom ise the project. .1 -'