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Show Claims Problems are Governors Concern Hatch Says He Won't Help Settle Dispute Over CUP Aqueduct Plan wants no part of. He asserts that his role in Congress is simply to acquire federal funds once everyone back home agrees on one plan or the other, and he said it would be "very presumptuous" for a federal representative "to make any suggestions on how the local people should handle" local water lines. "I certainly am not going to do that," he said. "This has got to be a decision that is made within the state. And you have to put pressure on the Conservancy District through the governor." Hatch's attitude has cooled considerably con-siderably since 1979; at that time he didn't hesitate to make suggestions. When Pleasant Grove first asked for his help, the senator responded with an extensive staff study comparing the canal option to the pipeline option, and he listed specific criteria the city must meet to earn his assistance. Now he says his job is only to fund ' whatever local groups decide is the " best project -- and he doesn't want to participate in the decision making. "I'm not going to intervene in anything," Hatch said. By RANDALL WRIGHT Three years ago, when Pleasant Grove City appealed to Senator Orrin G. Hatch for help in changing plans for Central Utah Project's Jordan and Alpine aqueducts, Hatch didn't hesitate to charge full speed into the fight on behalf of the city. But his apparent eagerness was short-lived, and what started out as support quickly collapsed when meetings with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD) convinced his staff that Pleasant Grove's plan - to use the existing Murdock Canal instead of pipelines -was not economically feasible. In a December 1979 letter to Mayor W. Cornell Haynie, Hatch withdrew his support after giving the city only 19 days to respond to his own criteria . Today the issue is heating up politically - Pleasant Grove has been joined by an army of supporters, including 36 cities in six counties, nine county commissioners, and Salt Lake Mayor Ted Wilson (Hatch's opponent in toe upcoming senate race) - and now the Utah Republican says he doesn't want to get involved at all. Instead, Hatch is pointing a finger at Utah Governor Scott Matheson, saying the choice between the canal plan and aqueducts belongs with the state alone, not with its federal representatives - despite the major planning and construction role of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. "The governor of the state ought to be able to resolve this problem without bringing in federal people," he said. Seven cities in north Utah County claim they would be irreparably hurt if the twin aqueducts are built as planned. The lines would carry water from Provo Canyon to Salt Lake Valley. And while the cities have accumulated broad support for an independent review of their substitute plan, local mayors still fear the suggestion to use the Murdock Canal will be ignored by the CUWCD board of directors, CUP's governing body. But that's a problem Hatch says he Hatch claims he doesn't have any authority to intervene in the CUP anyway - despite the heavy involvement in-volvement of the Bureau of Reclamation. Local officials disagree, however, saying that Utah's federal delegation is the only group that can legally influence specific plans, since the CUWCD was set up to deal with the federal government independent of any other political entity. But for the time being, at least, fog remains over the question of who has the greater responsibility for the design of water facilities - the state or the feds. Speaking on a KRCL radio talk , show Tuesday, Robert Hilbert, manager of Salt Lake County Water Conservancy District (a primary buyer of CUP water), said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation "is responsible respon-sible for planning, engineering and construction" of the project. Only after those steps are completed, he said, is the project turned over to the CUWCD for management and for repayment of facility costs. But Hatch maintains that because the CUWCD was established by the Utah Legislature, project decisions are out of his jurisdiction. Is the CUWCD subject anyone at all? Numerous critics are saying the act establishing the CUWCD is so broad that it places board members outside everyone's jurisdiction -including the governor's. "They have become a law unto themselves," said one water official. "And the only ones who can get them to respond to the desires of the people are Utah's congressional representatives --Hatch, --Hatch, Garn, etc. That's why Pleasant Grove turned to Senator Hatch in the first place." Hatch says he could influence Reclamation if it gets out of line with local desires. "They should be impartial im-partial in this," he said. "If you find that the Bureau of Reclamation is not treating this issue impartially, I'd be interested in hearing about it." |