FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 1998
CONTACT: Christopher M. Changery
(202) 224-2251

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) today warned of the legal and economic dangers Colorado faces if the federal government does not follow through on its commitment to build the Animas-La Plata project.

Campbell spoke as chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee at a joint hearing of his committee and Energy and Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Water and Power to discuss the Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendments of 1998. The bill -- supported by the state of Colorado, the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes and all affected water users -- authorizes a scaled back version of the project first signed into law in 1988. Any change to the original settlement act requires Congressional approval.

"The clock is ticking on this project," Campbell said. "If it is not completed by the year 2000, the tribes will go to court to pursue their senior water rights in many of the rivers and streams in southwest Colorado. There will be years of costly litigation involving the federal government, the State of Colorado, and water right holders throughout the region, wreaking havoc on the economies and water administration in Colorado. Everyone has heard of the `Year 2000 problem' that will cause computers to fail. This is southwest Colorado's `Year 2000 problem.'"

Both tribes today confirmed their intention to sue the federal government.

Campbell also criticized the Clinton administration for announcing today they do not support the new ALP project despite having Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Colorado Governor/Democratic National Chairman Roy Romer head more than one year's worth of negotiations that produced the scaled-back ALP project. However, he pointed out, many of the reasons given for that opposition -- such as no delivery of water to the tribes -- exist in a Montana project the administration supports. The administration witness, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Eluid Martinez, agreed that this was inconsistent but could give no reason for the administration's two conflicting positions.

Campbell also addressed the question of ALP's cost. "I have always been a supporter of keeping a tight rein on government spending," he said. "Those who opposed the project have used the courts and environmental regulation to increase the costs of the project far beyond what was originally authorized. Why are the billions that go to foreign countries justified, when we cannot find a pittance of that amount to help American Indians? And, keep in mind this project is not a gift to the tribes. When they signed treaties with the United States, the tribes gave up what is now the land of the State of Colorado. This project is the payment for that land. And today, the tribes were yet again betrayed."