After accepting thanks for his work on the Western Water Proj-ects bill, Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, sounded a word of warning to the Central Utah Water Conservancy District board that was honoring him.
The staunch conservative grimly recounted hearing President-elect Clinton tell a morning news show host the day after the election that Western water projects would be the first target of his budget cuts."It was shades of James Earl Carter in 1976," Hansen said. "Jimmy Carter had the same attitude toward Western water proj-ects, but we educated him and we'll just have to educate Bill Clinton."
But environmentalists and district officials don't share Hansen's dire predictions. They say Clinton's new interior secretary knows enough about the politics of Western water and changes in the CUP to prevent Clinton from incurring the wrath of Western water lords, like Carter did when he tried to slash funding.
Before the election, Congress authorized the CUP and President Bush signed it into law. But not before the project, which is a system of dams and aqueducts designed to steer Utah's share of Colorado River water from the Uinta Mountains to the Wasatch Front, was transformed into what supporters say is the most environmentally innovative water project to date.
Several years of negotiating between environmentalists and water managers resulted in water conservation requirements, local cost-sharing limits and environmental restoration standards unheard of in previous water projects handled by the federal Bureau of Rec-lam-a-tion.
"I think the CUP will be among the first projects in line for funding even if funding for reclamation is cut," said David Conrad of the National Wildlife Federation, which will throw its support behind CUP funding.
Conrad suspected Clinton's view of Western water projects is based on the BOR's reputation of wasting millions of tax dollars on environmentally damaging, and in some cases unnecessary, waterworks. Ironically, Clinton's choice for interior secretary, former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, was a supporter of the Central Arizona Project, a $4 billion boondoggle that has failed to generate the income necessary to pay back the federal government's funding.
Central Utah Water Conservancy District officials share Conrad's optimism. But they are also formulating a strategy to prevent Clinton from receiving negative reports about the CUP.
District spokesman Elden Laird said local officials and Utah's congressional delegation won't approach Clinton directly, but will first seek an audience with Babbitt, to brief him on the changes in the CUP and its backing by local and national environmental groups."If we didn't have the environmental portions in there we wouldn't have the confidence that we do," he said.
District officials also will have to "educate" Utah's new governor about the project's new $900 million lease on life, which also includes a $179 million cost share that the state must pick up.
Gov.-elect Mike Leavitt has reportedly decided to hold off committing state funds to the project until he has a better understanding of where the money will be spent.