Bill Earmarks Funding for Water Projects, Silvery Minnow

The endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow is deemed one of the key barometers for measuring the Rio Grande's health

U.S. House and Senate negotiators have settled on the language of a federal spending measure that earmarks money for projects in the middle Rio Grande region, according to Sen. Pete Domenici.

The New Mexico Republican said lawmakers reached a final consensus Monday on the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for the next fiscal year. The $30.5 billion measure will fund the Energy Department and water programs administered by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation.

"We finally agreed on key funding to support the riparian system related to the middle Rio Grande and our work to sustain the silvery minnow,'' Domenici said. "I'm happy that this bill will allow our federal agencies to carry on their cooperative efforts to improve the river.''

The endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow is deemed one of the key barometers for measuring the river's health.

The small fish once swarmed the waters of the lower Pecos River and most of the Rio Grande to the U.S.-Mexico border before the 1970s. Habitat has dwindled, and now the fish is found only in the Rio Grande between Cochiti Dam and Elephant Butte Reservoir.

The spending measure sets aside just over $28 million for the Bureau ofReclamation's Middle Rio Grande Project, Domenici said. About $2 million would go toward a minnow sanctuary that was started in October along the river in Albuquerque.

The Army Corps of Engineers would get another $5 million to continue water infrastructure projects in Bernalillo, Valencia and Sandoval counties and $4 million for the ongoing restoration of the Rio Grande bosque.

Copyright 2005 The Albuquerque Tribune - Reprinted with permission


 

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