Pete Domenici: “first, I thank Senator Bingaman for recognizing my participation in the past on this issue. Obviously, believe it or…”

“first, I thank Senator Bingaman for recognizing my participation in the past on this issue. Obviously, believe it or not, about 26 years ago, when I was essentially the mayor of the city of Albuquerque, this problem was already there. We spent a lot of money on Federal assistance around the edges, but we still have a very seriously heavily-populated area. There is no way to get water- sewer type systems in. We found that this would be one of New Mexico's most serious environmental problems. I think the Senator would agree that it is growing into that. We have water pollution beginning to show up in very serious proportions. So if the country is going to be helping communities like this--and I understand there is an intention to do some of this on the part of the National Government--clearly, this urbanized part of an unincorporated community attendant to Albuquerque deserves every consideration. We will be working with the Senator, the same as he has worked with us, to see if we can bring this to a finalized state where, after that, we can look for the money from one source or another--perhaps the $500 million already appropriated for projects like this, which are defined but awaiting specificity. In any event, I am very grateful that Senator Baucus has given words of encouragement here on the floor, because that will resonate well with our people, who have been waiting for a long, long time.”