Letter Concerning Facts about Central Arizona Project

Letter: To Editor, Arizona Republic, draft, no date, page 1Editor, The Republic: Because it seems to be an article of faith of your editorialists--to be repeated on every suitable occasion--that Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall "was largely responsible for blocking the Central Arizona Project as a single project" by advocating a larger, Pacific Southwest basin plan, feel that just once before we again hear this "Old Refrain" your readers should be given an opportunity to read the facts as I see them. One basic fact which almost everyone directly concerned with water problems on both sides of the Colorado have come to accept is that before a major project of this size can be authorized by Congress there must be a semblence of agreement between Arizona and California, with its large bloc of Congressmen. And that to achieve this, something in the nature of guarantees must be given to California. A simple Central Arizona Project bill could have been and could now be passed by the Senate with or without a favorable report from the Administration--an administration which includes in addition to the Department of Interior, the Bureau of the Budget. But getting the bill through the House of Representatives while major, unsettled arguments continue unabated continues to be difficult if not impossible, as important members of Congress from outside Arizona and California have pointed out repeatedly to Arizona audiences. The word "grandiose," as applied to a regional water plan which has the support of every membr of Congress from Arizona, the present governor and his predecessor, and the statee's official water leaders is a poor choice for an Arizona editorial writer to use. Particularly when to meet the water needs of Arizona, Southern California, Nevada and other southwestern areas, much larger projects will be needed in the next 30 to 50 years.Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 2,306,604 byte