Patricia Schroeder: “the problem is that everything changes, and they cannot negotiate anything. They cannot negotiate anything for change…”

“the problem is that everything changes, and they cannot negotiate anything. They cannot negotiate anything for change, because it would become a taking. Furthermore, because the water right is considered a property right, if the individual decided to sell their water to another State, this could be very, very critical. Let me just say, I think this is all very confusing, and I am reading out of the Denver Post where it says spokesmen for Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona held that the 73-year-old Colorado Water Compact could break down effectively if private water marketing is allowed. This could happen, they said, by people being able to do this, and the Federal Government being stuck by the taking. I just want to finish my statement, if you do not mind. There was a wonderful article today in Roll Call that I think summarizes where we are. They said that we are moving to change these things so rapidly that it is like standing at the end of a conveyor belt with cream pies flying at you, and I think one of the reasons that no one is quite sure is we are changing things that have been around for a very long time. We are doing it so rapidly that we are all trying to make our best guesstimates. This, I think, is really very frightening, because water is life out where we live. That is why I am very concerned about the gentleman including the Bureau of Reclamation and getting the Federal Government in under that.”