DENVER — President Trump has vetoed a bill aimed at providing reliable, clean drinking water to rural communities in southeastern Colorado.
It's another setback for the decades old "Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act" that would have completed a 130-mile pipeline bringing drinking water to 39 Colorado communities on the Eastern Plains.
This is the president's first veto of his second term in the Oval Office. He rejected the bipartisan bill that passed both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate unanimously, saying the project would cost federal taxpayers too much money.
The Arkansas Valley Conduit was first approved back in 1962, but according to the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, it wasn’t built for decades because of local users unable to repay construction costs.
In 2009, Congress amended the plan for the project to be funded 65% from federal dollars and 35% from local dollars.
According to the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the local funds would have been repaid to the federal government over a period of 50 years.
In a letter to Congress, President Trump said changes over the years, like longer repayment periods and lower interest rates, have shifted the cost to federal taxpayers. He said it's added more than $249 million to what's already been spent on the project, and that the total costs are now estimated at $1.3 billion.
The president's veto is getting a lot of attention across the state.
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who sponsored the bill, said she was disappointed by the veto saying in part:
“This action blocks completion of a critical water infrastructure project that would deliver clean drinking water to 50,000 people in Southeast Colorado. This fight is not over.”
Senator John Hickenlooper also weighed in saying:
“Donald Trump is playing partisan games and punishing Colorado by making rural communities suffer without clean drinking water.”
Although the bill has been vetoed for now, both state and federal leaders say the fight to complete the project is far from over.
