President Donald J. Trump has vetoed H.R. 131, known as the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, returning it to the House of Representatives without his approval.
The Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) is a water pipeline project designed to deliver municipal and industrial water to communities in southeastern Colorado. The AVC was originally authorized in 1962 as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project under President Kennedy. For decades, construction did not proceed because local participants were unable to meet the original repayment obligations required by federal law.
In 2009, legislative changes reduced these obligations when President Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, lowering local repayment requirements from full cost to 35 percent and allowing miscellaneous revenues from the larger Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to be used for cost sharing on the AVC. Despite these adjustments, construction only began after Colorado provided $100 million in loans and grants for the project.
H.R. 131 would have extended the repayment period on this reduced obligation by an additional 25 years—bringing it to a total of 75 years—and would have halved the interest rate charged on repayments.
According to President Trump’s statement: “More than $249 million has already been spent on the AVC, and total costs are estimated to be $1.3 billion. H.R. 131 would continue the failed policies of the past by forcing Federal taxpayers to bear even more of the massive costs of a local water project — a local water project that, as initially conceived, was supposed to be paid for by the localities using it.”
He continued: “Enough is enough. My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation.”
President Trump concluded: “For these reasons, I cannot support the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act. Therefore, it is my duty to return H.R. 131 to the House of Representatives without my approval.”
