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Bolts Ditch Access and Use Act

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 6, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Infrastructure Natural Resources

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I thank Chairman Bishop for bringing H.R. 4510, the Bolts Ditch Access and Use Act, to the floor today.

I introduced this simple but very important piece of legislation at the request of the local community of Minturn, in Eagle County, because it improves public land, water, and communities in my district.

This bill has bipartisan support from the Colorado delegation. I thank Mr. Tipton and Mr. Lamborn for partnering with me on this bill here in the House. In the Senate, Senator Gardner and Senator Bennet have partnered to pass this bill as well. I am also thankful to the town of Minturn, to the conservation community, and to water utilities for working together for a commonsense solution that we can all support. This is an example of how we can solve a problem when everybody comes together.

The need for this legislation is to solve a vital local problem for the people of Minturn, Colorado, a town of about 1,000 people in Eagle County, which is in our Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The problem it fixes results from a mistake in the 1980 Wilderness Act, which inadvertently left Bolts Ditch off of the list of existing water facilities which it should have been included on. This legislation would authorize a special use of the Bolts Ditch headgate and the segment of the Bolts Ditch within the Holy Cross Wilderness area, allowing Minturn to use its existing water right to fill Bolts Lake.

The residents of Minturn who brought this bill to me, as well as Coloradans across the central mountains, have long relied on water infrastructure like Bolts Ditch to access clean and affordable drinking water. This bill will ensure that the town of Minturn is able to utilize a crucial resource and to do so without compromising the sanctity of the surrounding wilderness areas.

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority and minority staffs of the committee for working with us on this bill. It is very important to the people of Minturn and to our central mountain region in Colorado, so I urge its passage.

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