| Show sen watkins reports central otah utah project Is still far in the future senator arthur V watkins R of utah warned utah people not to be too optimistic that a bill which he introduced recently in the united states senate for the auth onza oriza tion and construction of the giant central utah project would come up for immediate considers con cons sidera tion this warning was made in a recent radio release beamed to the people of utah the warning was based on a statement in the release in which the senator pointed out that the bureau of reclamation had not pro ceedee with its to the point where it could offer sup porting data before a senate corn cittee he also pointed out that an agreement has not yet been reached allocating the waters of the colorado river among the upper basin states increased appropriation for general investigation purposes will also be necessary before the bureau can proceed as it should to get the factual information which will have to be presented to congress to justify the proposed legislation bi in connection with this matter the senator declared in the first place it Is necessary to get larger appropriations tor for investigation purposes in the state of utah but remember em ember if the measure is pend ng before a committee in 1 con congress ging it provides a starting point for asking for the money not only of the he congress but of the bureau of reclamation which makes the apportionment portion ment of the investigation funds after the congress has made the appropriation to the bureau in the second place it puts me in a position to insist on the secretary of the interior reporting to the congress on the feasibility of the project in order to do that he must have investigations made with the bill pending I 1 can now ask for a report from the secretary and with a bill pending he will have a strong reason for going ahead ead with investigations As a third reason tor for introducing the bill at this time although it will not come up for hearing for some time to come the senator stated that he desired to center the a attention of congress and the bureau of reclamation on the possibility of the project so that it would not be overlooked it also he said would stimulate the negotiators representing the colorado river up per er basin states in the negotiations for an agreement bement on the divi sion slon of the waters of the colorado incidentally he remarked that this conference has been making little progress for approximately two years his hope was that the bill would help to speed up the agreement |
