Office of the Deputy Secretary

For Immediate Release: September 26, 2000

Contact: Noel L. Gerson 202/208-6444

Department of the Interior Issues Decision on Finalizing the
Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement

September 26, 2000 - Yesterday Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt issued a Record of Decision defining a course of action to finalize the 1988 Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act and resolve the status of the Animas-La Plata (A-LP) Project. The decision adopts the Bureau of Reclamation's recommended alternative contained in its recently completed Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. This alternative, representing a modified version of an Administration proposal made in August, 1998, utilizes a scaled-down A-LP project in conjunction with a water acquisition fund to provide the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian Tribes with a water supply that satisfies and implements their water rights. This approach is the best means to implement the 1988 Settlement, while also representing the environmentally preferred alternative.

"With release of this decision, the Administration is fulfilling its commitment to the Tribes to do everything within its authority to bring much-needed closure to the 1988 Settlement and A-LP," said Secretary Babbitt. "Our analysis confirms, and the Tribes as well as the State of Colorado agree, that the settlement can be honored with significantly less environmental impacts. All that is now needed to resolve this matter is for Congress to enact appropriate legislation."

Implementing the Department's decision would yield other benefits in the San Juan River basin. First, it fulfills the federal government's trust responsibility to address the Tribes' water rights. Second, it achieves this result in a way that respects existing water rights held by non-Indian water users throughout the basin. Indeed, if the settlement is not implemented, non-Indian water users are likely to be put at risk in litigation brought by the Tribes to secure their water rights. Third, the project would furnish the Navajo Nation with a water supply for domestic use in the Shiprock, New Mexico area and a pipeline to deliver that supply. Fourth, the decision will allow for additional municipal and industrial water for non-Indian communities in the Four Corners area. Finally, the Department's decision would provide an increased level of certainty for water managers in the San Juan basin. Noting that the basin is host to a number of ongoing issues concerning endangered species and the needs of other Indian tribes, the Secretary reiterated that "the time is now to fulfill our commitments to the Colorado Ute Tribes and resolve A-LP. Clarity on this matter is an absolute necessity to move forward and address other important water issues in the Four Corners region."

To request copies of the Record of Decision, contact Mr. Pat Schumacher, Four Corners Division Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, 835 East Second Avenue, Suite 300, Durango, Colorado 81301; telephone (970) 385-6500; Internet address [email protected]. The document is also available on the Internet at http://www.uc.usbr.gov under the Environmental Programs heading, Animas-La Plata EIS site.

U.S. Department of the Interior