Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt will speak June 8 at the CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø Natural Resources Law Center program on western water law and policy, discussing the controversial report of the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission: "Water in the West: Challenge for the Next Century."
The free Babbitt program, scheduled at 7 p.m. in Macky Auditorium, will kick off a three-day conference sponsored by the Natural Resources Law Center.
At the conference, titled "Strategies in Western Water Law and Policy: Courts, Coercion and Collaboration," 30 experts in western water law, including Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science Patricia Beneke, Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt and a number of high-ranking federal and state officials, environmentalists, scholars and lawyers will discuss the legal issues and challenges facing the West and its water for the next century.
In 1993 President Clinton appointed Bruce Babbitt secretary of the Interior. Within a year he shocked western politicians with his announcement that he wanted to be the "first secretary to tear dawn a big dam." Four years later with sledgehammers and wrecking balls he fulfilled that wish at the McPherrin dam near Chico, Calif.
Against a backdrop of controversy over water in the West, Congress directed the President to undertake a comprehensive review of Federal activities in the 19 western states affecting the allocation and use of water resources, and to submit a report of findings to the President and Congress.
The President appointed the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission composed of 22 members chartered by Secretary Babbitt in 1995.
The Commission's final report, complete in June 1998, will be the subject of the Law Center's free, public program.
Secretary Babbitt will be joined on the program by CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø law Professor David Getches, Denise Fort, chair of the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, Craig Bell of the Western States Water Council and William de Buys, author and conservationist.
A fee is required to attend the conference. Reduced rates are available for students and CU faculty.
For additional information on the free Babbitt program or the conference, call 303-492-1288 or visit the NRLC homepage at and choose "Upcoming Events."