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Show fSftWSSfSffifl Burton Reports On Colorado River Bill Everybody in Utah knows by the House passed the Colorado River Basin Project bill. It may be that we politicians in Washington have talked so much about the bill as it has progressed, step by step, through the laborious legislative process that the news that it has finally passed the House now, I am sure, that of Representatives may seem anti-climact- ic. But, believe me, it is not. This is the biggest step toward for water development in our water-po- or state that the House of Representatives has taken since authorization of the Upper Basin Storage Act in 1956. Why is it such a big step? Well, in brief, here is exactly what the bill does for Utah: the Dixie (1) It authorizes Project, a $58 million reclamation development on the Virgin River in Washington County. It authorizes the Uintah (2) Unit, a $43.8 million reclamation development in Duchesne County. (3) It directs the Secretary of Interior to complete all feasibility studies for the Ute Indian Unit of the Central Utah Project by 1974. This moves ahead the deadline for completion of these advance studies by six years, and means that the project can be gotten underway that much sooner. The Ute Indian Unit is a complex and far- - reaching project that wiU cost $620 million and bring benefits to the Uintah Basin, the middle and lower Wasatch Front counties, and the counties of the Sevier River drainage - - a rather substantial part of the state of Farm Bureau 109 million people are potential voters this fall Mutual Fund , Inc. delicate compromises had been worked out. Rep. Mills inpresided over the cidentally, debate as chairman of the committee of the whole. The battle has only been won in the House. The Senate last year passed a simple Arizona Project bill which did not contain any of the provisions outlined above, nor others included in the House bill that I did not mention because they do not specifically apply to Utah. A conference committee made up of members of both Houses will now be appointed to work out the differences between the two Net Asset Values (NAV) For Week Ending June 12 Dale NAV $13.49 Thursday, June 6 Friday, June 7 $13.65 Monday, June 10 $13.62 Tuesday, June II On election day November 5 there will be 109,950,000 potential voters in the 50 states. And of these, 11,424,000 will have reached voting age since the Presidential election of 1964. These and other interesting data are contained in a report issued early in May by the Bureau of the Census. group had the best record of If the 1968 election brings out participation in the 1964 election (75.9 percent). Only about the same percentage of voters elec1964 half of the eligible voters in the the as (69.3 percent) 21 tion did, a total of 76,215,315 group cast ballots. Wednesday, June 12 Fund not reporting. Marlcet closed. studies all along because of a fear that his Pacific Northwest may be called upon to supply some of its surplus water for use in the Colorado Basin. It is questionable, however, whether Sen. Jackson can muster the force necessary to make his views prevail now that the versions. Hopefully the Senate conferees House has acted so decisively. There may yet be a compromise will accept the provisions of the or two that will have to be made. House bill. But there will undoubtedly be a fight over some of But it is my prediction that our the water Colorado River bill, in substantthem, particularly section. Sen. Henry ially the same form as it passed augmentation M. Jackson who chairs the House, will become law bethe Senate Interior Committee, has fore the present Congress been opposed to the augmentation adjourns. -year-old ' v 3r . s 7" t j. . . S'-- . : . , It provides for study and of reports on a preparation number of other proposed reclamation projects in Utah. These are the San Juan County, Price River, Grand County, Gray Canyon and Juniper projects. (5) It directs the Secretary of Interior to conduct feasibility studies for augmentation of the stream-flo- w of the Colorado River by 2.5 million acre-fe- et annually. There water in the as much isn't simply Colorado as there was thought to be at the time it was divided among the seven states that are drained by the river. More water is needed to meet the demand. This water may possibly be provided through weather modification, water importation from surplus areas, or - " r.S- ii. $i- acre-fe- et (p-Ark- .), ' s ' . ' . ,( ' , ''T-S- ,. 'r - t v t .. 'X :uy r Jv ' - t 0 t&e River water is guaranteed annually to Mexico, shall be an obligation Basin states. This will make the United States treasury responsible for meeting the costs of delivering the water and relieve the seven Colorado River states, Including Utah, of course, of a substantial burden. The debate on the bill took up two days on the House calendar. Those who witnessed it saw the House of Representatives at its best. I say this not because of my Interest in the bill, nor because I happened to have been a participant in the debate. No less an expert than Rep. Wilbur Mills a 30 year veteran of the House and one of its most prominent members, commented to a group of us that the arguments both pro and con were among the finest he had heard in a long time. He said it reminded him of a well tried law suit where attorneys for both sides were so competent that the judge -which Rep. Mills once was - -couldn't bring himself to choose a winner. The House itself had no such problem, however . The bill won in a landslide, but only because of months of grueling work by its supporters and after a number of V , of Colorado of the United States as a whole and not just the seven Colorado ' 6 desalination. (6) It provides that the Mexican Water Treaty, under which million . - , v - ut 's'4s" 4? -- v v ut te .v,' y ri UTAH led all the states in of 79.2 1964 with a turn-opercent of the eligible voters. was also high in The turn-oNew England and in the Midwest. Voter participation was the Southeastern lowest in states. But the average there was depressed by inclusion of the District of Columbia where only two out of five eligible voters cast ballots. ballots will be cast. In 1964, the Census Bureau reports, 71.9 percent of the eligible male voters cast ballots. For women, the percentage was 67. In that year, 70.7 percent of the eligible white voters took part in the election. For Negroes, the percentage was 58.5; for other non-whigroups it was lower. People in the h.), Utah. (4) 1.5 June 1968 FARM BUREAU NEWS UTAH Page 6 (fat-- PiUe Saueee Your head pounds and throbs as you go over your books again. Yes, there it is higher production costs have eaten up the profit you planned on. You plain as day break your back to earn higher prices, you sharpen your marketing skills, trim waste, improve efficiency, but once again costs of all you buy have skyrocketed faster than you can keep up. This is the kind of a headache that aspirin will only temporarily relieve. The longterm cure for this is something that will only come with lots of work and plenty of thought and planning. Farm Bureau's answer to the farmer's number one headache is to improve farm prices through marketing programs and to cut costs by cooperative purchasing programs. By working with Farm Bureau, members can take advantage of the money to be saved through the Farm Bureau tire program, the twine and wire program, and the fertilizer program. These programs apply action at the point of the problem but they're only as big or as effective as the members themselves make them. If the program is not as big, as extensive or as effective as you'd like, roll up your sleeves and go to work to make it what it ought to be. Farm Bureau is a membership organization, run by members for skull-bust- er members. e Farm Bureau believes that in spite of the twinges and pains of the squeeze, the future of agriculture is bright and that by working together, we'll cure that headache! cost-pric- faun bureau HUMBER 0HE PAIN RELIEVER |