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| 1/16/2009 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Jackson Gulch bill passes U.S. Senate
Joe Hanel
Journal Denver Bureau
Mancos water officials finally won approval from the U.S. Senate on Thursday to repair the canal from Jackson Gulch Reservoir.
Sen. Ken Salazar introduced the bill last year and helped bring it back this year.
"The water that is stored in our reservoirs and which flows through our water delivery systems is vital to the health of Colorado's communities. Rehabilitating the Jackson Gulch irrigation canal will ensure that farmers, ranchers and communities in Southwest Colorado receive the water they need to thrive," Salazar said in a news release.
However, the Congressional struggle is far from over for Gary Kennedy, superintendent of the Mancos Water Conservancy District.
"This is a big hurdle out of the way. It still has to go through the House," Kennedy said.
The bill authorizes $8.25 million for repairs. But Congress needs to take a separate vote to actually appropriate the money. Kennedy and three board members will go to Washington next month to start making the case for the appropriation.
Jackson Gulch's canal turns 60 this year, and it needs to be repaired.
The canal provides municipal water for Mancos and Mesa Verde National Park and irrigation water for area farmers.
In past years, the Department of the Interior has resisted spending money on the canal, Kennedy said. He hopes that Salazar's pending appointment to head the Interior department will help Mancos get the money.
The Jackson Gulch bill was wrapped into a much larger public lands bill that the Senate took up last year but never passed. This year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent the bill straight to the Senate floor, bypassing the traditional hearings.
The bill creates several new protected areas across the West. That angered Matt Smith of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, a gas and oil industry group.
"It is unconscionable to pass a 1,294-page bill just a week after new members of Congress were sworn in. Clearly there has been no deliberative process or thoughtful consideration of the consequences of this bill," Smith said.
Senators voted 73-22 for the bill. Salazar and fellow Colorado Democrat Mark Udall voted yes.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
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