[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 32 (Thursday, March 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2280-S2282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself and Mr. Brownback):
  S. 440. A bill to deauthorize the Animas-La Plata Federal reclamation 
project and to direct the Secretary of the Interior to enter into 
negotiations to satisfy, in a manner consistent with all Federal laws, 
the water rights interests of the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe and the 
Southern Ute Indian Tribe; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.


                  ANIMAS-LA PLATA PROJECT LEGISLATION

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I am introducing 
legislation to deauthorize the construction of the Animas-La Plata 
water project in Colorado. I am very pleased to be joined in this 
effort by the Senator from Kansas [Mr. Brownback]. This measure is 
identical to a bipartisan effort in the other body introduced on 
February 13, 1997, by my colleague from Wisconsin [Mr. Petri] and my 
colleague from Oregon [Mr. DeFazio].

[[Page S2281]]

  The Animas-La Plata project is a $744 million water development 
project planned for southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico that is 
largely taxpayer funded. Designed to supply 191,230 feet of water, it 
will consist of 2 major reservoirs, 7 pumping plants, and 200 miles of 
canals and pipes. The project will pump water over 1,000 feet uphill, 
consuming enough power to run a city of 60,000, to supply municipal, 
industrial, and irrigation interests.
  The legislation I am introducing today deauthorizes the Animas-La 
Plata Federal reclamation project and directs the Secretary of the 
Interior to work with the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes to 
find an alternative to satisfy their water rights needs. It is 
supported by a broad coalition of taxpayer and environmental groups 
that includes: Taxpayers for Common Sense, Americans for Tax Reform, 
Citizens Against Government Waste, Citizens for a Sound Economy, and 
National Taxpayers Union. This legislation was also profiled in the 
1997 Green Scissors Report, and the Animas project has shown up on a 
number of deficit reduction target lists, including one recently 
proposed by the Chairman of the Budget Committee of the other body [Mr. 
Kasich].
  I believe that Federal legislation to terminate the Animas-La Plata 
project is needed for four reasons. First, as a Senator who is 
extremely concerned about the Federal deficit and debt, this project 
has an extremely high price tag--a projected total cost of $744 million 
in fiscal year 1998. That total projected cost estimate has increased 
$30 million over the fiscal year 1997 estimate of $714 million. The 
Federal share of that cost now exceeds half a billion dollars, $503 
million to be exact, which is nearly 68 percent of the total cost. I 
believe, especially in these times of tight budgets, that commencement 
of significant Federal discretionary spending should be critically 
evaluated.

  By no measure or metric is this project cost effective, Mr. 
President. A July 1995 economic analysis by the Bureau of Reclamation, 
the only analysis that used economic procedures approved for Bureau 
analyses and a current discount rate, reported that the project's 
benefit-cost ratio is 0.36:1. In other words, Mr. President, the 
project will return only 36 cents for every taxpayer dollar invested. I 
am additionally concerned, Mr. President, because recent GAO reports 
have highlighted that Federal water projects, once built, do not recoup 
the costs of the projects from the users, who are supposed to be paying 
the government back for its investment. Municipal and industrial users 
are required under the Water Supply Act of 1958 to fully repay all the 
construction costs and operation and maintenance costs attributable to 
the supply of municipal and industrial water. Those repayment contracts 
are to be in place before construction begins. Currently, the Bureau 
has signed a repayment contract with two non-Indian project 
beneficiaries. Those that have been signed do not cover the 
construction costs of the full project, due to cost increases. It is 
questionable if the project will ever comply with the law and obtain 
full reimbursement of municipal and industrial costs from the project 
beneficiaries.
  Second, I am introducing this legislation because I believe that the 
Congress should support the State of Colorado's ongoing dialog over 
lower cost alternatives rather than proceed to initiate construction. 
The Animas-La Plata project has been the focus of controversy and 
litigation for many years. In response to legislative activities last 
Congress, which I will describe in further detail, Colorado Gov. Roy 
Romer and Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler convened a discussion process in 
October 1996 with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Southern Ute and Ute 
Mountain Ute Tribes, interested water districts, irrigators, and 
environmentalists in an attempt to resolve disputes among the parties. 
To assist in the success of this process, the Bureau and the other 
parties executed a legal ``stand still'' agreement establishing basic 
ground rules for the dialog and identifying the activities that could 
take place outside the process. While the eventual outcome is not 
known, a recommendation for a different formulation of the project is 
possible.
  Thus far, the Department of the Interior, acting through the Bureau, 
is committed to finding a solution acceptable to the parties in 
general, and to the Colorado Ute Tribes specifically, due to the 
Federal Government's tribal trust responsibility. My legislation will 
codify that direction by specifically directing the Bureau to continue 
with these negotiations, rather than proceed with Animas-La Plata.
  Third, this legislation has been drafted to acknowledge the 
importance of demonstrating support for ensuring that the Federal 
Government's obligations to the Colorado Ute Tribes are fulfilled. 
During debate over the fiscal year 1997 energy and water appropriations 
bill, colleagues will remember that I offered an amendment to terminate 
funding for Animas-La Plata. I believe that amendment was not 
successful last year due to concerns by colleagues that the project is 
necessary to fulfill Ute tribal water rights.
  As I made clear to colleagues during the appropriations debate, 
despite the contention that the project will address the Ute claims, 
Animas-La Plata was not initiated as a way to address these claims. 
This project was authorized in 1968 to supply irrigation water to 
farmers growing forage crops in arid areas. Even back then, in the 
heyday of big water projects, this one was riddled with so many 
problems it couldn't get going. In 1988, nearly 20 years after it was 
authorized, the settlement of the Ute Indian water rights claims became 
an additional justification for pushing this project through.

  Construction of this project has not yet begun because of a variety 
of factors, including concerns raised about the adequacy of the April 
1996 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, issues surrounding 
cost-sharing and repayment agreements, and compliance problems with New 
Mexico's water quality standards.
  Both the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute tribal governments 
formally support construction of Animas-La Plata. The water that the 
Utes will be provided from the project, however, is only a fraction of 
the project's total capacity. Of the 191,230 acre-feet of water the 
project will supply, two-thirds will go to nontribal interests with 
only 62,000 acre feet of the total to be supplied to both tribes. There 
is dissent within the Southern Ute Tribe about the wisdom of this 
project, and I am pleased that this legislation terminating the project 
has received the support of the Southern Ute Grassroots Organization.
  I am concerned that the Animas-La Plata as currently proposed cannot 
meet the needs of the tribes because the initial construction phase of 
the project will neither provide the delivery system nor the quantity 
of water needed to fully honor the Federal Government's commitments. We 
should not spend hundreds of million of dollars and still find the 
tribal needs potentially unmet. Rather, I want to see that the Bureau 
is engaged in actively solving these problems rather than half-
heartedly moving forward with construction and at the negotiating table 
to examine alternatives. The Ute Tribes' water rights settlement says 
that if the project isn't built and fully functional by the year 2000, 
the tribes may void the settlement and go back into negotiations or 
litigation. Last year, the Bureau indicated that it cannot complete the 
project before 2003. It is not unreasonable to expect that the Utes may 
seek to void their settlement, wherein the non-Indian irrigators will 
get their expensive project and Congress in the year 2005 or so will 
have to fund a new water rights settlement.
  Finally, I believe that there needs to be a proactive legislative 
solution put forward to address the Animas-La Plata project because the 
political support for continued appropriations for this project is 
eroding. Last year, during the 104th Congress, the other body voted 221 
to 200 to stop the funding for the Animas-La Plata project as it is 
currently designed. The chairman of the Budget Committee in the other 
body has put Animas-La Plata on a target list of corporate welfare 
cuts. I believe that during the appropriations cycle for fiscal year 
1998, the other body will again vote to terminate funding for this 
project.
  Politically, we may go back and forth for a few years with the other 
body terminating funding and this

[[Page S2282]]

body restoring the money. But eventually, both Houses of Congress will 
resist and we will have wasted millions of dollars.
  My bill seeks to put this project back on a positive track. It 
directs the Bureau of Reclamation to address legitimate water needs and 
explore all the alternatives to meeting those needs, and terminates 
this project that we can no longer afford. I ask unanimous consent that 
this measure be printed in the Record.
  Three being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 440

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DEAUTHORIZATION OF ANIMAS-LA PLATA FEDERAL 
                   RECLAMATION PROJECT.

       (a) Deauthorization.--The Animas-La Plata Project, Colorado 
     and New Mexico (a participating project under the Act of 
     April 11, 1956 (commonly known as the ``Colorado River 
     Storage Project Act'') (70 Stat. 105, chapter 203; 43 U.S.C. 
     620 et seq.), and the Colorado River Basin Project Act (43 
     U.S.C. 1501 et seq.)) is not authorized after the date of 
     enactment of this Act.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--The first section of the Act of 
     April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105, chapter 203; 43 U.S.C. 620), is 
     amended in the proviso by striking ``Animas-La Plata,''.
       (c) Negotiations.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
     promptly seek to enter into negotiations with the Ute 
     Mountain Ute Indian Tribe and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe 
     to satisfy, in a manner consistent with all Federal laws, the 
     water rights interests of those tribes that were intended to 
     be satisfied with water supplied from the Animas-La Plata 
     Project.
                                 ______