A-LP passed by Congress after 32 years

A-LP passed by Congress after 32 years

Dec. 16, 2000

By MATT KELLEY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — A scaled-back plan to build a reservoir in southwestern Colorado to provide water for American Indian tribes won final congressional approval Friday.

The proposal for the Animas-La Plata project would provide water for more than 3,000 tribal members, as well as businesses and farms on and off reservations in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. Lawmakers attached the plan to a huge spending bill — a must-pass measure that wrapped up Congress’ work for the year.

President Clinton is expected to approve the proposal. Cost estimates vary from about $250 million to more than $340 million.

The Animas-La Plata project will build a reservoir along the Animas River near Durango to provide water for the Ute Mountain Ute, Southern Ute and Navajo tribes and other area water-users. Congress had approved a larger version of the project 32 years ago, but it has been bogged down in controversy and lawsuits over its size, cost and environmental impact.

The impasse eased after its supporters and the Interior Department agreed to a compromise plan that scaled back the project, removing most of the non-Indian irrigation districts which would have gotten water in the original plan. Interior officials released a final environmental impact statement this fall that cited the scaled-back project as the best alternative to meet the Ute and Navajo tribes’ water needs.

"This legislation will enable us to at last meet the commitments to the Ute tribes made by the United States long ago," Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt told a meeting of Colorado River water-users Thursday.

Opponents say they will not give up their fight against the project and have threatened to file another round of lawsuits seeking to block construction.

"It’s a total waste of money. It has fiscal problems and environmental problems," said Jill Lancelot of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group aligned with environmentalists on the issue.

The current Animas-La Plata proposal would build a reservoir to hold about 120,000 acre-feet of water, or about 39.1 billion gallons.

Congress approved a $754 million version in 1968, but the water project has been bottled up for years amid lawsuits and criticism that it is too big, too costly and too damaging to the environment.

Most of the water is meant to satisfy water rights retained by the Ute tribes under an 1868 treaty.

Congress passes A-LP