Montrose Chamber Letter c.1958

~

~ontrose

C?ounty C?hamber of C?ommerce

r:a.ter Ccu1 ttee Ucmbera and

Chamber of Comce~ce Pre~1dents •esV-!rn Colorado

1ll.w-k Canypn or tl'le GWlllllon. Doar t''ester'O Color~tdan: ... u . . . . , ot Montrose ...

c. s. llfgb\\...,. i t

·rllis 1rnpox-taut letter 1s dupUcated as ti~.V maltcO:I 1 t

nnce.3sary slcce it 1e so vital to ll'estern Coloro.do.

Tm lfllter stcrage p:roblem 1'or l'&atern Colorado ia apparar•Uy-gE:ttillg 'liOr&CJ 8$ each ~on.th coe• by, ~ 'lie r ... el o;be.t sOJ!e Corm or action is neeeasar,..

Our nt.:!r <:O""'.Jl1ttee 1s gol.cr: to preeex:t the attached resolution to the tr1-countl' f'¥.ter CCIIlservatlOZl Bonrd,

(DeltE>, llcntrose, 09U"e.y Count1ea) at their meetlng

f.loniJay, April 7th e.t 7:~0 p.m. at the Uontrose County Courth0\t3e.

Te arc eoliciting add1t1onal reaeti~s to preaent for iurtl-or action. re wcr,tld apprGe1ate your attondnnce

if it is possible tor you to come. rr you cannot nttez:d <mil .1ioh to mal~c so:M cor.rnent please addr&zsll

your letters to tho Montrose CountT Chaober of Commerce, Uontrose, Colorndo.

Dear Bill:

Uontrose County Chu:.ber of C~ree

~~

Thl action tor the petetion was brought about by your article 1n the March 28th Sentlnal, plus the hearlng

information between Seaton and the Colorado delegation

1n Washington.

-RESOLUTION

~REAS, the Bureau or Reclamation and the Department

cf the Il'lterior plan to delay start of construction on the

Paonia Project until fiscal year 1961, and no construction ~ould be initiated on the Curecanti Storage and Power Unit on

the Gunnison River until Fiscal year 1965; these dates are

listed in the schedule or construction and advanced planning tor the Colorado River Storage Project in the Financial and Economic Analysis of the Project recently published by the

Bureau, and

rHEREAS, Glen Canyon, Navajo, and Flaming Borge Holdover

Storage and Power Generating Generation Dams of the Project would be nearing completion by 1965, and construction of no participating

irrigation projecta with connection until 1961, and

~REAS, so far as engineering is concerned, construct}on could have been commenced on the Paonia Project this fiscal year,

but tbe administration decided first to delay work a year and then two years. Tbe reason given is the desire to avoid too high

a construction bill for the Colorado River Storage Project in fiscal 1960 and 1961. The Administration wished to complete some

projects now under construction and to get more done an Glen

Canyon, Navajo and Flaming Gorge before starting any participating

irrigation projects of the Storage Project. Revenue from the sale

of electricity generated at tbe big dams will help pay for

irriga-tion projects scattered throughout the Upper Basin States, Fiscal

1961 starts June 1, 1960. Thus, unless the adllinistration plan is

changed, no work would be done on Paonia Project for two more years

and construction of tbe dams or the curecanti Unit, two to four depending upon final plans, would spread over a decade, fiscal i965

through 1975, and two other restern Colorado Projects would be built starting in 1963. Pine River Extension in Southwestern Colorado, and Smith Fork in Delta Countyi Silt in Garfield County

and Florlda in Southwestern Colorado wou d not be started until

1966, and construction or other restern Colorado Projects now being investigated, such as Fruitland Mesa 1n Delta County, rest Divide

in Garfield County, Animas-I.aPlata in Southwestern Colorado, San !Uguel in the rest End or Montrose County and 1n San Miguel County

and the Dallas Divide Project and the Bostwick Park Unit are not listed in the schedule. Only the eleven participating projects given complete authorization in the Storage Projects are 1n the list. The inference is that all the original eleven would be built first before any other participating projects were started, and

li'HEREAS, the Department of Interior and the Bureau of the Budget seem to be giving the Representative• and Congressmen of the State ot Colorado the run-around in attempting to find out why

projects in Western Colorado are not being authorized for construc-tion, and

WHEREAS, the vast natural resources ot ?'estern Colorado can

only be developed if there is an assured water supply for the development thereof, and

WHEREAS, the vast majority ot the water running in the

Colorado River arises from Western Colorado, and development of

Western Colorado should be at least on an equal basis with

develop-ment of Storage Projects 1n other states,

NOW THEREFORE, 1E IT RESOLVED that the 'l'RI-cOUNTY n'l'ER

C<JISERVAllCY DISTRICT propose to the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of the Budget that development of storage projects in

Colorado be put at least on an equal basis with the development of

water storage projects in other states, and propose for the

consideration of the ezist1ng organizations and the unified restern

Colorado organization for their further consideration that as a means of accomplishing sueh purpose that all future appropriations

be opposed until appropriations are made available for the

construc-tion of Storage Projects in Western Colorado, and that any further

diversion of water fr011 ?'estern Colorado be opposed until the

present and anticipated needs for the development of 11'estern Colorado

are provided for by storage, and that the development of

participa-ting projects 1n restern Colorado be put on a proportionate basis