Show Major surgery on NEPA needed By C Special In the Gary Mid In an Interview this past week that he believed the Western states should have a next month to hammer out their own water failing he Colorado should have Its own summit meeting to spell out a state water policy to present to the Hart was asked what the follow-up had been on his speech to the Colorado River Water Association last month recommending that all Western states get together on a water Such a policy should be a modern water policy for the future which recognizes new realities and but which is founded on traditional practices and Hart stated at the Las Vegas Hart replied that his speech had generated backing for his proposal from the two big Denver daily papers and interest throughout the His speech was circulated among a number of Western water including Metropolitan Water District of Southern the biggest water wholesale agency in the But there should be a Hart such as a regional or state sum- mil meeting on water policy next Hart spoke before the Administration came out with a carefully leaked task force proposal to center all water planning and budgeting in one newly proposed Department of Natural The President has not approved the plan but there are indications he will do and Hart has been given the details of the heart of the but he has not yet responded beyond the want to know more about The same response has come from the Western Governors' Policy according to Jack Donahue of the task who briefed the Conference in Denver last As things now with the West uncertain what the plan means and not ready to spell out a of its It may be left at the President Carter has been urged to use his reorganization authority to put the plan In operation at under one of the key recommendations of the task If he waited for regular Congressional authorization to set up the new he might have to wait for the entire or for a two-year The plan is so extensive that it will be referred to several Congressional Hart proposed at the Las Vegas meeting on 30 before the water users group that modern water policy designed to serve the West must include four major planning and financing water keeping our agricultural economy improving the efficiency of water uses in and resolving uncertain legal particularly the federal and Indian water rights reservation He did not focus any new thinking on these four which have been widely discussed for some except in the field of There he proposed a couple of alternatives to the President's proposal to the states pay of the He proposed establishment of a revolving trust similar to the highway trust with the water users paying same as they do now the payments would not be tied to any individual the repayments would go into a trust fund-either national or including payments from federal revenues from the sale of hydroelectric trust rather than appropriations from the federal would then be used to build future Each state would be given a key role in deciding which projects it would finance from the trust he A second alternative is to have the states do the building with the federal government advancing money to them through loans and loan Hart It is unlikely that either the Administration or Congress would the financial as outlined by Hart because the Administration is adamant on having the states pick up more of the costs of water development projects-on many the states pay nothing if only flood control or navigation benefits are involved-and Congress is wary of a further erosion of its annual appropriation Scott M. who spoke ad lib at the same noted that the Administration has established four task forces to implement the President's water policy announced last and the conservation task force has omitted water storage as a valid and viable conservation The Carter Administration persists in the delusion that curtailment of demand and efficiency of use are the only acceptable conservation Matheson |