[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 155 (Saturday, September 27, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2065]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO AMEND PUBLIC LAW 106-392 TO EXTEND THE 
    AUTHORIZATIONS FOR THE UPPER COLORADO AND SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN 
                   ENDANGERED FISH RECOVERY PROGRAMS

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                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 26, 2008

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a 
bill today that will extend authorization of the Upper Colorado and San 
Juan River Basin fish recovery programs. I am pleased to be joined in 
doing so by Representatives Mark Udall, John Salazar, Jim Matheson, 
Marilyn Musgrave, Diana DeGette, and Heather Wilson.
  The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the San 
Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program were established under 
cooperative agreements as multiagency partnerships in 1988 and 1992, 
respectively.
  This bill will allow the continuation of two already very successful 
programs. Established in 1988 and 1992, the Upper Colorado River 
Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the San Juan River Basin Recovery 
Implementation Program are run as partnerships between water users. 
These partners include the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and 
Wyoming; Bureau of Reclamation; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Western 
Area Power Administration, Bureau of Land Management; National Park 
Service; Bureau of Indian Affairs; Southern Ute Indian Tribe; Ute 
Mountain Ute Tribe; Jicarilla Apache Nation; Navajo Nation; 
environmental organizations; water users; and power customers. The 
cooperation and compromise that emerges from the union of such diverse 
parties has been key to the past success of these programs, and to the 
preservation of western fish species.
  State, tribal, and community partnerships have allowed these fish 
recovery programs to succeed without compromising the rights and 
wellbeing of surrounding communities and water users. Recovery programs 
have actually helped 1,600 Federal, tribal, and non-Federal water 
projects meet Endangered Species Act, ESA, compliance in their 
consumption of three million acre-feet of San Juan and Colorado River 
basin water per year. Passage of this bill would help ensure the 
recovery of endangered fish and the continued compliance of water users 
to ESA standards. Water and fish habitat, so scarce in the arid West, 
can only properly be managed through the kind of cooperation and 
coordination that is made possible by the Endangered Fish Recovery 
Programs Improvement Act.
  Upper Colorado and San Juan River basin recovery programs focus on 
four fish species, including humpback chub, bonytail, Colorado 
pikeminnow, and razorback sucker. Successful restoration projects have 
included the construction of fish passages, fish screens, hatcheries, 
flood plain and instream habitat, and even a reservoir to provide flow 
augmentation. These facilities, costing approximately $100 million to 
date, will require rehabilitation and replacement into the future as 
the natural impact of floods and debris wears on them. Extended 
authorization and increased funding, as included in this bill, will 
allow for continued upkeep of these facilities, and completion of other 
habitat preservation projects.
  With bills such as this, we are clearing a sound path for addressing 
our future water scarcity issues. Through the programs authorized in 
this bill, western water users are able to gain access to this vital 
resource while not compromising the habitat and survival of the species 
who share that water.

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