Aspinall letter to Smith 1958

"

W8Jile N. Aspinall, H. C. Fourth District Colorado

CONGRESS OF THE OO'l'ED STATES House of Representatives

Wa.shingtcll,

n.c

..

1-flv

191 19.$8

Pbilip P. Smith, Secretacy-Eng:lneer

Colorado Ri.er Water Conservation District First National Bank Building

Glenwood Springs, Colorado Dear Phil~

I can certain]¥ undsrst.lmd ;your initial concem about the proposed reclamation program llhich I presented to the House Suboasdttee on Appropriations 1Ast weak.. It vas personal.q disappointing to me that in the scm:ple proposal, wh~.ch waa not intendod aa establishing priorities, it was impossible under the criteria assumed to progr Curecanti, Florida, and SUt

tor

construction bafore fi8cal

1963

..

There is nothing I vould like better, and for the accampliahraeut

ot

which I intend to work bardar, thsn to see construction begin at the earliest possible date on all d.,r

ot

.

ths Westem Slope

Projects authorized for construction in P"L ..

48S,

as well as on all

ot

tbe 19 projects listed .for priorit7 in planning.. I need not. tell TOU that i f it were possible to realize rq personal desires, I voa.l.d like to see ever;y drop

or

water to 'Which Colorado is entitled and which can be used in the Western Slope area put to beneficial UIJ8

within the n8Yt .few years. Unfortunately, a1though the Westem Slope produces

b7

far th3 biggest percentage ot the water (over 2/l 1n aount) ₁ we are not. the only otate 1n the Reclmation West that needs and deaires feas-lble projects; and, whether we like it or not., these matters are considered and decided an the larger baa:1s

ot

tlla national interest and not on our 01oJD specific desires and ambi:tiona .. We

awrt

take into consideratim the programs

ot

other reclamation people and other states •

.

A great deal or

stU«V',

work and thought vent into the preparatiCD

ot the

sample program that I submitted.. The policies involved were

n~ 11gbtq detendned. I waa

tul.lT

are that presenting this -program would not be

the

~ courae

to

follow, but I aa not

tor peracaal popular.Lt,-. ~time that SC%1180M becomes dadicated enOUgh to

get

tbe 0_{Bhc:nr on the road" agaiDJ othendee we sutter with} all the others. What I &Ill working tor is the realisation at the earliest possible date

ot

the tuU use

ot

the water resovcos 011 the Western Slope and in the Upper Basin.. I m willlDg to aacritice 8DJ' personal popula.r:1.t)'" tbat I

rra:r

have bes privileged to ejoy,

tor

the

Page 2

Fhil.ip p Smith

Mq

19, 19>8

long tem good of the hole area that I feel must result !roa

integrated and successf'ul deYelopaent., Although adnrl.tted:q dedicated.,

we haTe had too ma:oy persons in the past maldng plana and dec1siaoe tor the iDIDediate moment, the results of which have brought us but

veey little - - nothing of' which we can be particularly proJo' I

firaly believe that the end results of' a cCDmtm sense approach will tar outweigh au;y 1maediate advantages we might gain b7 seL.f'ish insistence oo construotian

or

our projects alone ..

We should continue to be aggressive and perai.stent in seeld.ng

developaent of' our projects. That has been done,. is being done, and

as

tar

as I per&onal.:cy' concerned I ahall continue to do that lcmg as I have IJZlT direct resporud.bil1t7 in the matter - and tbat

will be as long as I c::lrmr a breath,

m

office or out of of'f'ice.. In

too JDIIJJ.T instances in the past I think those

ot

us in Colorado who

are vita~ concerned with the development

ot

our vater resources

have taken a negative and "chip an the shoulder" approoch. lPor

too

long we have been engaged 1n argm:aents and bickering vi thin our om state. That shava up in the fact that aa far as the Western Slope

is concerned we have had very few Federal Reclamation Projects.. I

ld.ght point out, incidentall7, that Curecanti ,.-ould be under

construction todq U the peOple of WeStern Colorado themselves b&d

been able to agree on what the,y wanted. I mention this c:ml.y to 8111pbuiu tile

tact

that failure to coma to an agraaent 8li10Dg ·

ourselves has resulted 1n some of the delqs we currentq

race ..

In presenting JV proposal to the House Subcomittee I

speciticalq Ellpbadsed the point that it was only a aaple

yrogre

illustrating what could be done in the way c4 long rnnge p,l...,aiiiu.aw.iDg.a.&.IIO ····

ot

reclamation constrootion., There wae no atteapt to establish !!If !lstell

ot

priorities. I td.Jip:Qr said 1n etfect, 11_{LOOk., here is a}

1J811Ple

o¥ Wit

can be don.

e

"

I hope that ~ o~ the projects will

be started betore the dates indicated in JQ' sample proposal. I DOt,

b7

arq means, saying that. this 1 tho ~ vq S1JCh a program

could be outl.iDed, or that it is t beat vq, or t t i t could

not

be improved. ~solo purpose in pre enting this progr - and th1a ia a point that eo:. appear

to

have Jld.saed - lnlB

to

d st.rate tba~

it is desirable to lilGintain a strong, continuing reclemUcm

constructicm progr8Jl at higher levela

at

spending tbam in the past.;

aD4 further, that it is possible to elim»ete the erratic "peaks dipe• that baYe

l)r8douaJ.T

characterised reclamatiorl constructicm - 1lb1ch argu.nt., by the~- is used

b7

tho preaent adadnistrat:loll {and not

without sc.e logic) to oppose artT new atartso For :yo-ur ~onaticD

it

1a wrapped up in praot.ical politics, too.,

I believe that it we can arrive at same sort

at

program that w:Ul

stea.dy level we d1l be able vithin a nable length ~time to

realize the f'ull development of our water resources~ On the otb.er

band .. 1t lie continue, as w have ir. tb paet» to buUd in spurto and

allow reclamati<m construction to drop at t.im9a to allr..ost notbing:J thn

it will tak ma.n;yl-9 many more yeus to rea1..1z tbe goal .for which all o~

us are working.

li'r

lriiudy vi"fic:lly show that under a

S200

million

c~ mmu.al.ly little reclamatim advanc mtt em be had~ and that

1t reclaation spending is advlmeed to $)00 nd 111 on or uprsrda ~

a rea1i8tic progra:in line vitb uur nst.i.ODal econmv can b ttctned.,

Tbia is mere:cy another wq of~ that unless we em obtain

enlarged over-aU program, all reclanatim will. suffer and ve v1l1

t1nd project in Westem Colorado that are not naif started, 1Mll

u others in the 'West, del.a;yed and f'ur r lqedo

As I said befOl'G~ we should cont-inue to be aggre siva in ~lolillooY.IK

dt'mtloptent of those projects which re or most direct bensf'it to us.

I also beli v that 8fiT arguments we make choul.d be supported by ta.cts,

otherWise the House

ot

Represantativ dll not for long be fnvorab

to oar ~gr " AU too attGD tbe S'licoeaa of pager pol.i.tice s vitb

the iniH:vidualo I ngg st a cooperative pl"''gram which can live

1Jldetiniteq;.

!'be points in 7our letter rare well taken. I ebould l.ike to

point

out, however-, that ,.oU "'fJ2iT have miiM'lderstoocl or ad eazte o.t

tb8

proposals I 1'1"8aente4" Just for intornaticm and not ugwz:eni; - - CD

page 2 of your letter 1011 state that thrOvgb tiscal. y-ear

1966

Colorado

would have on17' five sta.rte 1mder th1 ~ vith a canbinGd cost

ot

127

,866,000J whereas utah, d\lrlng the T>8riod, ould ha'va

starts on three projects with a coaldlled coat

ot

$2laS,76),000

Actal.lJ:.-tbe

'Procr

I preeented provides fol" ai.x atarta at a total estiJated

cost

ot

$112₁

311

,ooo..

You v1ll also note that ell five

ot

tbe Sllggeatecl participating projects wauld not ~ be atarted, but; ~letecl

bT

~?66 ~ ad those f'ift are the 1-lestern cotora&i '&jects

tbllt

vere authorized 1D Public Iar

li8S.

Curecanti (a storage mit) alone would not haw been

ce~~pleted

b7

tiscal

19666

Under the proposal which I presented the total

appropriation

tor

Western Colorado projects tb.raogh fiscal •66 would

aiiOmlt to $54,-8;6»000 vh1l.e the total appropriatim tor Utah pMject

t.hrovgh f1 esl ·•6610 and 1nclucH,ng tbe CGitral tJtrm Project. would total

$34,S9b,OOO.

You also apparently ae that tho ev

Hen.Co

p:ro3actc

vill~ ae a

tter

ot

eour e .. be tarted b'j':

that

t'ileo It rk ou\

that

"

I CSD certa1nl.7 lllld.eratlmd yov.r t~ about the equi't\r ot

c.U.Yild.aD of v ters and

tanci.s,

tar u ~lorado is concerned, in tbe

various CaapaCta ch constitute the "lD

ot

r1:vw .. • But vbetb.G"

the decim.ozm in th B ·

t.s

right or 1fl"Clllg, the;y have

been made - -

thtv

c1o constitute tb8 "

ot

the

ri-ver• - -

rmd

wi""liha

no choice but tO

live

with th o By tbe aar:12 token, th tonr Baa1D

•

Pageb

Pb11ip P • S::d. th

Mq 19, 19;8

In closing, I eboul.d lika to point out that althaagh ve haft not been able to move as fast as we would bnw liked, the last.

t

yeara

have not been en~ devoid of progresao Indeed, I think w l l q

have reached the turn1Dg point where ve can look ahead with cantideuce

and optimi 8 I know that if' we continue to nark together can

real.ise our goals within not too J11BD:7 years,

It is interesting to note that from 1902-19$2 the Western Slope had a total

ot

si,.. Federal Projects authorized £or eonstr11cticm

-UDcompahgre~ Grand. Vallq, Pine River, Fruit G:rower's Dam, Mancos

aDd Paonia.. During that ;o..,-ear period, .five ot the six vere

~leted. Fraa 19S2 to the present, the Western Slopa bas bad BGV8D

Federal Projects authorized tor coost;ructicm ldtbin ita bonndarie&o

One of these

:tis

?resent~ being builtJ end i f the progr which I bave

st1gg98ted were .followed; all siy ot the ·others would b 1mder

construction within the nGYt four years., and tift

ot

"the& would be

ca..pleted. within the

nen

seven yea..~o

There

18 an additional value

which IID8t be considered aleo, and that i8 the!.~ that the power p!"Oe!actim 'Units

at

tile Upper eolorado River storage Project mll

prori.de the means for reclamatt<m ecmstruction 1n the nGxt

fif*-7

J'Nl'8 that baa never been equalled tmphere in the vorldo Thus I think ve have made cc:msiderable progresa, especial:cy'

ot

lat.e years, and I 87p8Ct that we ahal1 cmtinue to do 80o

Phil, I ma 1n 19'

SSth

,-ear iD Col.arado --- tbe Westem Slope~

Colorado·. I haTe been vorktng an and fighting

tor

vater resource

deTelopDent iD

:uv

h..a - Col.orado 1Ji paeral and Weatem Colorado in

particnll.ar...:... cont.izmal.q aince

1921

..

EniD before 1921 I wu st~

our probl8118:. I aa not an eny,ineer, I accept present situatioaa without wut.1ng tiJne far critJ.ci.-

ot

act1onJI of

rrrr

predeeeseora. In

the Vfll7 easeoce of things I sball soca be a pl"9decessor o But I prq

that I

mq

live long enough to see the dq of sma real and taDgible accc.pu abment for the efforts

or

the countlesa thousands who haft

been engaged in this noble et:f'ort ..

With best wiabea, I aa