{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://tipton.house.gov/press-release/members-colorado-delegation-advocate-arkansas-valley-conduit", "Members of Colorado Delegation Advocate for Arkansas Valley Conduit", "2013-08-09", "2013", "2013-08", "Republican", "House", "CO", "Scott Tipton", "T000470", "tipton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Members of Colorado Delegation Advocate for Arkansas Valley Conduit\nWashington, DC \u2013\u00a0U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall and Representatives Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner this week urged the Administration to provide\u00a0adequate\u00a0resources for the Arkansas Valley conduit in future federal budgets.\u00a0\nIn a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the Department of Interior, the\u00a0members\u00a0outlined the importance of supporting\u00a0the conduit,\u00a0which will\u00a0bring clean drinking water to up to dozens of municipalities, towns, and water providers in the lower Arkansas valley. Recognizing the project\u2019s importance to residents of southern Colorado, the Administration has signed legislation committing to supporting a substantial share of the project, but the amount budgeted for FY2014 is far less than the project\u2019s cost.\n\u201cAdequate funding to compensate for this shortfall in 2015 will be essential to complete the project on schedule,\u201d the\u00a0members\u00a0wrote in their letter to the Department of Interior.\u00a0\n\u201cProviding clean and safe water to all Americans should be at the forefront of the Department\u00a0[of Interior]'s mission, and these water quality issues underscore the urgent need for progress on the conduit,\"\u00a0the letter continued.\nThe Arkansas Valley Conduit is the final component of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.\u00a0The Fryingpan-Arkansas project is a water diversion and storage project constructed to deliver water to families, producers and municipalities throughout the lower Arkansas Valley, as well as provide supplemental irrigation water.\n\u00a0\nFull text of the letter follows:\nAugust 8, 2013\nDear Assistant Secretary Castle and Commissioner Connor:\nAs the Department of Interior begins consideration of its FY 2015 budget, we write to express our strong support for robust funding of water conservation and delivery studies, projects and activities.\u00a0 In particular, we want to highlight the Arkansas Valley Conduit project in southeastern Colorado.\u00a0 Adequate funding is essential in order to meet federally mandated water quality standards in the region.\u00a0\nThe Arkansas Valley conduit is a planned 130-mile water delivery system from the Pueblo Dam to communities throughout the Arkansas River Valley in Colorado.\u00a0 The conduit is the final phase of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which Congress authorized in 1962. When completed, it will help bring clean drinking water to up to 42 municipalities, towns, and water providers in the lower Arkansas valley.\u00a0\nMany of the wells in these areas have been contaminated with radon or uranium.\u00a0 As a result, many of the water providers in the region are out of compliance with federal water quality standards.\u00a0 More importantly, however, because of the lack of funding for water projects like this, the populations of these regions have been denied clean high quality water. Providing clean and safe water to all Americans should be at the forefront of the Department\u2019s mission, and these water quality issues underscore the urgent need for progress on the conduit.\nThe federal government has already funded planning and feasibility studies for four years in order to make the conduit a reality, and President Obama signed legislation in 2009 committing to fund a substantial share of the project costs.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the Administration\u2019s budget proposal for FY 2014 did not fund the project adequately. While planners in the Arkansas valley expect costs to exceed $15 million in FY 2014, the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s budget justification requested just $1 million for the project.\u00a0 Adequate funding to compensate for this shortfall in 2015 will be essential to complete the project on schedule.\nAs you know, the final Environmental Impact Statement will be released this month. Following a 30-day comment period, a Record of Decision (\u201cROD\u201d) will be announced.\u00a0 The issuance of an ROD stating a preferred alternative removes any regulatory barrier to moving forward with the project, and signals the start of the design and engineering phase.\u00a0 The Office of Management and Budget indicated that the lack of the ROD was the reason for reducing the funding to only $1 million for FY 2014.\u00a0 With the ROD due to be announced soon, adequate project funding is essential for moving this vital infrastructure and water quality project forward in a timely manner.\u00a0\u00a0\nThank you for your consideration of this request.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://tipton.house.gov/press-release/members-colorado-delegation-advocate-arkansas-valley-conduit"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3635652139782906, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}