History of the ALP Project.

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Animas-La Plata Progect (ALP)
By: Virginia Beyale

Simply Science

History of the ALP Project

The Animas-La Plata Project (ALP), situated in La Plata and Montezuma Counties in southwestern Colorado and in San Juan County in northwestern New Mexico, was approved by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968. It supplied for a multi-purpose project primarily for irrigation and municipal and industrial utilization.  Although scheduled for construction, in the early 1980s, negotiations were initiated to accomplish a negotiated settlement of water right claims of the Southern Ute Indian and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes in southwest Colorado. The Colorado Ute Tribes and other parties subsequently signed the Final Settlement Agreement on December 10, 1986. The Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988 (Settlement Act) supplied language to implement the Final Settlement Agreement and supplemented the permission of the ALP. The Settlement Act permitted for future expansion of the region and at the same time sheltered existing water uses.

In 1990, founded on new biological information, and identifying the potential of ALP to affect endangered species like the Colorado pike-minnow, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a draft biological opinion with no logical and practical alternatives.  A final Biological Opinion was issued on October 25, 1991, enclosing a Reasonable and Prudent Alternative that would permit construction of several ALP features, but restricted project depletions to 57,100 acre-feet while an endangered fish recovery program was performed.  After Reclamation was sanctioned to kick off construction, several challenges were completed regarding the wholeness of the 1980 Final Environmental Statement and Reclamation subsequently repealing the authorization.  Reclamation released the Draft Supplement for public review and comment in October 1992, the FSFES was concluded and filed with EPA in April 1996.  In May 1995, reconsultation with the Service addressed new information and modification to the project. A Biological Opinion was issued by the Service in February 1996. This Biological Opinion enclosed a Reasonable and Prudent Alternative that would limit construction to only those project features which would primarily result in an average annual water depletion of 57,100 acre feet.  Following the completion of the FSFES in 1996, a process was initiated to search for resolution of the continual disagreement surrounding the Project, and to attempt to gain consensus on an alternative to the original project. The procedure concluded with the proposal of two alternatives, a structural and nonstructural proposal.

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On August 11, 1998, the Secretary of the Interior presented an Administration Proposal to build a down-sized version of ALP to apply the Colorado Ute water rights settlement, removing all irrigation, and included a nonstructural element as part of the settlement implementation. A Final Supplemental EIS (FSEIS) was completed and filed with EPA on July 14, 2000 pursued by a Record of Decision on September 25, 2000. On December 21, 2000, Public Law 106-554, the Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendments of 2000 was endorsed. Public Law 106-554 provides for the construction of a scaled down project: Ridges Basin Dam and ...

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