[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12828]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         EXPLANATION OF ABSENCE

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, on Friday, June 29, I was necessarily 
absent because I was needed in New Mexico. Anyone who is familiar to 
New Mexico knows that water is a matter of life and future for us. On 
this day, the Department of interior, the Attorney General for the 
State of New Mexico, the State Engineer, the Interstate Stream 
Commission, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the city of 
Albuquerque all reached a 3-year agreement regarding one of the 
endangered species, the Silvery Minnow on the Rio Grande River.
  There are many parties interested in the needs and recovery of the 
minnow and many groups have been working on river and riparian 
ecosystem restoration efforts upstream. The settlement proposal 
mentions that naturalized refuges are a necessary component of saving 
the silvery minnow and I remain committed to helping make that happen 
over the next three years.
  This agreement temporarily solves one of the most difficult to solve 
water problems on the Rio Grande. I can't think of an issue that 
affects more New Mexicans, for this reason I decided that it was 
essential that I be in New Mexico and therefore, necessarily absent.
  I would have voted for the First substitute version of the Patients 
Bill of Rights had I been in Washington.

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