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<br />.. <br /> <br />although severance taxes are in fact based on the notion of <br /> <br />allocating a share of the wealth distributed by nature in the <br /> <br />form of mineral deposits or timber stands to those who happen to <br /> <br />live in the adjoining area.4 <br /> <br />It is true that water may be <br /> <br />appropriated without payment of a market-established price but <br /> <br />the same is true for hard rock minerals on the public lands. <br /> <br />An often-cited illustration of the need for area-of-origin <br /> <br />protection for water resources is the Owens Valley in <br /> <br />California.5 <br /> <br />To supply its burgeoning water requirements in the <br /> <br />early part of this century, the City of Los Angeles bought up <br /> <br />much of the agricultural land and accompanying water rights 1n <br /> <br />the Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. <br /> <br />A major <br /> <br />aqueduct was constructed to transport this water to Los Angeles. <br /> <br />The effect was to virtually eliminate what had been a thriving <br /> <br />agricultural economy. <br /> <br />Though Los Angeles paid for the water <br /> <br />rights and much of the agricultural land, it did not have to <br /> <br />provide any compensation for the other costs associated with the <br /> <br />loss of this economy. <br /> <br />In Colorado, a recent presentation by a West Slope county <br /> <br />commissioner reflects many of the concerns that charge this <br /> <br />issue: <br /> <br />4Another interesting parallel can be found in the statutes <br />passed in the 1970's to provide special protection to local areas <br />impacted by the rapid growth accompanying energy and mineral <br />development. See, e.g. MacDonnell, "Regulating Socioeconomic <br />Impacts: Comparing the Colorado and Wyoming Approaches," 20 Land <br />& Water L. Rev. 193 (1985). <br /> <br />SA full account is provided in R. Nadeau, The Water Seekers <br />(1950) and E. Cooper, Aqueduct Empire (1968). <br /> <br />4 <br />