DURANGO — A coal-fired power plant is the top potential use by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe if the Animas-La-Plata Project is built, according to an environmental report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Experts think a new power plant is unlikely because of demand and regulatory hurdles.

The report released Friday includes the potential impacts of a 120,000-acre-foot reservoir and how 57,100 acre-feet of water per year from the Animas River would be divided among various tribes and non-Indian water users.

About 129 acres of wetlands will be destroyed in the Ridges Basin south of Durango, as well as 1,490 acres of wildlife habit and the project could impact about 380 cultural resources sites, the report said. Also, the project does not provide sufficient water flow to satisfy federal requirements for the San Juan Basin and it would make it more difficult for the Jacarilla Apache Tribe and the Navajo Nation to develop water rights on the San Juan River, the report said.

The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribes are entitled to water from the project through water rights established when the reservations were formed in the 1800s and subsequently renegotiated. The project would pump water from the Animas River through pipes to the reservoir south of Durango and then south through a series of canals.

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s share is 14,580 acre-feet per year, about 13,500 which could be used for the coal-fired power plant, the report said.

The plant would be on the Southern Ute reservation between Colorado Highway 140 and U.S. Highway 550, near the New Mexico state line.

Dan Israel, the Ute Mountain Utes attorney, said Monday the possible water uses by the tribes were arrived at by an economist who talked to the tribes and the community and then asked how the water might be used 40-50 years down the line.

"It’s a way of filling in how the reserved water rights might be used," Israel said. "It’s the nature of the Indian water rights settlement."

Israel said there was a slim chance the tribes would build a coal plant. "It is unlikely. There are many market and regulatory hurdles," he said.

Lori Potter, a Denver attorney who works for environmental groups, said the proposed uses are still speculative and contrary to Colorado water-use law.

"Water development entities that normally can’t get away from speculation would be hitching their fortunes to purely speculative water use that would be 80 to 100 years away," Potter said Tuesday.

After the power plant, other potential uses for the water in descending order include a coal mine, which would require 415 acre-feet per year, and a golf course in Ridges Basin that would need 398 acre-feet. The remaining water would go for housing, an industrial park, a resort and for livestock and wildlife.

An acre-foot of water is equal to about 326,000 gallons, the amount needed to cover one acre with one foot of water, typically the amount used by a family of four in a year.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is in line to receive 3,299 acre-feet per year and would potentially use the water for a resort in the La Plata River drainage that would need 2,300 acre-feet of water a year.

The Towaoc-based tribe would then use water for a Mancos Canyon golf course which requires 489-acre-feet-a-year and a gas-fired power plant that requires 313 acre-feet-per-year. The remainder would go for housing, a resort, golf course, a dude ranch and for livestock and wildlife.

Sage Remington, spokesman for the anti-A-LP Southern Ute Grassroots Organization, said the proposed uses only confirm that the project is wrapped in an Indian blanket to get through the legislative process.

U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., has sponsored a bill in Congress, H.R. 3112, that would allow A-LP to be built following the Department of Interior’s final decision in June.