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OS7000 Zeutschel, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 10,771,328 bytesU.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary Washington, D.C., July 14, 1969. Hon. HENRY M. JACKSON, Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for the views of this Department on S. 203, a bill to amend the act of June 13, 1962 (76 Stat. 96), with respect to the Navajo Indian irrigation project. We recommend the enactment of the bill if it is amended as discussed in this report. The bill amends the act of June 13, 1962 (75 Stat. 96), with respect to the Navajo Indian irrigation project by providing for the acquisition of certain additional lands to be included in the Navajo Indian irrigation project in lieu of certain other lands now in the project, by increasing the total estimated cost of the project, and by authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to pay compensation to individuals for the loss of grazing privileges resulting from the cancellation of grazing permits, licenses, or leases. The act of April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105), as amended by the act of June 13, 1962 (76 Stat. 96; 43 U.S.C., 620-620o), authorized the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Navajo Indian irrigation project as a participating project of the Colorado River storage project. Section 2 of the 1962 act, supra, provides that the Navajo Indian irrigation project is for the principal purpose of furnishing irrigation water to approximately 110,630 acres of land in New Mexico. A portion of this 110,630 acres is located outside the boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation and is federally owned. Section 3(a) of the act authorizes the acquisition of those lands outside the Navajo Indian Reservation, described by township and range, in order to provide for the most economical development of the Navajo Indian irrigation project. Subsequent to the act of June 13, 1962, supra, the authorized restudy of the 110,630 acre Navajo Indian irrigation project indicated that certain reservation lands west of the Chaco Wash, and included in the original feasibility study, were not suitable for sustained irrigation. These lands were removed from the project. However, in order to maintain a project area of the size authorized, an equivalent, area of land was found east of the Chaco Wash. Part of these new lands is located on the reservation and the remainder in areas outside the reservation and outside the particular townships and ranges as set forth in the authorizing legislation. These alternate lands not only contain soils of an equal or better classification than the lands excluded from the original project area, but also provide a more compact project. Moreover, by the inclusion of the alternate lands within the project, such consolidation of lands will eliminate the necessity of the construction of a large 17 mile long siphon, which would otherwise be needed to carry the waters of the main canal and two small canals. As the new areas outside the reservation are located in different townships and/or ranges than originally authorized, amendatory legislation is required before steps can be taken to acquire the necessary land