OCR Text |
Show Endangered tfish is critical issue for Whitfe Kiver Dam Water officials are becoming increasingly in-creasingly concerned over whether four species of rare fish may delay or halt construction of the White River Dam to be built by the state of Utah south of Vernal near Bonanza. Lynn Ludlow, secretary-manager of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, told the board of directors that the problems and effect of the Endangered En-dangered Species Act on water resource development in the Colorado River continues to become more complex. "Unless some changes in thinking are made or reverse action taken, it could result in a shutdown of all future water resource development in the upper regions of the river," Ludlow told the directors. Ludlow said this concern was expressed ex-pressed at the meeting of the Upper Colorado River Commission in early October at Big Piney, Wyo., over the threat to the project. Sen. Orrin Hatch has warned members of the Senate that the four species of fish may delay or halt construction con-struction of the White River Dam. Hatch said the situation is especially ironic because the four fish involved have been targets of government-sponsored government-sponsored eradication campaigns in the past. Hatch told the Senate that the White River Dam is essential to synthetic fuels development in regions of Utan and Colorado. Hatch said that water reclamation nroiects, upon which some of the proposed synthetic fuels development hinges could be halted because of X to protect habitat for the Colorado River Squawfish, the humped hum-ped back chub, the bony-tail chub and the razorback sucker. Hatch told the Senate members that recent Department of Interior rulings "concerning the Endangered Species Act leave no flexibility in the law and may be used to halt the beginning of the dam. Hatch said it only took the tiny snail darter and overzealous dam opponents to thwart completion of the Tellico Dam. "Bad rules are born when good laws are twisted like that," he said. The Utah senator said his concern. is that if a conflict develops over any of the four Western fish, the issue may be used to keep the dam from being built. "It would be tragic to let this past error of government stand in the way of a much-needed dam and stand in the way of this nation's energy independence," in-dependence," Hatch said. Danile F. Lawrence, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, told Hatch that he could see a real controversy con-troversy in the endangered species issue as a threat to the states' effort to develop water for energy resources. "The White River Dam is now being designed, and the endangered species issue is the biggest threat to the state's effort to develop . water for energy resources," he said. Lawrence said Utah has taken the lead in showing the federal government and other states how to develop oil shale. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has stated, after preliminary hearings, that further deletion of flows in the river would likely jeopardize the existence of the endangered species. All agencies are continuing investigation in-vestigation of the problem, but the Wildlife Service says its primary concerns for the endangered species include changes in water temperature, blockage of migration, and further depletion of flows in the river system. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the Vernal Field Office for its Colorado River Fishery Porject about two years ago. The Vernal station is composed of three permanent fishery biologists and several part-time field personnel. The main project office is located in Salt Lake City. According to the Field Supervisor, Harold M. Tyus, the Vernal office has been conducting field work on approximately ap-proximately 300 miles of the Green River from Jensen to near Moab. "The main emphasis of the Green River study has been on the Colorado squawfish, but we have also collected data on three other rare fishes as well as general fish and aquatic resources background information for the Green River," stated Tyus. A detailed study of the White River was not included in our original work, but recent developments would indicate in-dicate such a study should be make of this river too, Tyus reported. In a report to the White River Shale project, Daniel F. Lawrence said that the White River Dam was planned to start construction by August 1981, but now since the position taken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, the proposed timing and building of the White River Dam is uncertain. Lawrence assured White River Shale Project that the Board if necessary, "will attempt to construct temporary facilities to allow for the use of state water on an interim basis from White River if necessary. Such water might be used to supply the needs of energy companies prior to the completion of the White River Dam Project." In the event the state does not receive the necessary permits and right-of-way easements to build the proposed White River Project or even provide interim facilities, the Board would consider making water from its water rights out of the White River available to energy companies on an individual company-by-company basis, Lawrence pointed out. |