New Mexico Infrastructure

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 8:45 a.m., in the city hall chambers, 800 Municipal Drive, Farmington, N. Mex., Hon. Pete V. Domenici, chairman, presiding.

Present: Senator Domenici.

Also present: Administrator Raymond Barnhart, Federal Highway Administration.

Staff present: William Hoagland, senior analyst for agriculture and physical resources and Linda Findlay, legislative assistant to Senator Domenici.

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN DOMENICI

Chairman DOMENICI. Good morning, everybody. We are going to start the hearing. I apologize for the hearing starting late. We are going to ask all the witnesses to stay on schedule as much as they can, because we have to finish as close to 12:30 as possible.

I want to welcome all of you, particularly those who come from long distances to be here with us. I have a few announcements before we start.

It is my pleasure to have here, sitting to my right, Ray Barnhart, who is the Federal Highway Administrator. We in Washington are very proud of him. He was taken by the President from a State job where he was running the highway program for one of our neighboring States, the State of Texas. Therefore, we think he understands the problems that the State highway department, the State highway commission, and the local units of government have with reference to applying the very complicated national transportation and highway laws. I personally want to thank you for all you have done for us, for your cooperation on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and for your agreeing to be here with us today.

If any of the State or local people have specific questions of Mr. Barnhart, I assume that in due course during the day, we can find a little time for, perhaps, the chairman of the highway commission, Sosimo, and some of your people to sit down and chat with Ray about some of the problems they have.

I would like to announce that Senator Bingaman had planned to be here but really could not make it, and he has asked me to make

a letter with his statement regarding transportation needs part of the record, and I will do that.1

I have a rather lengthy opening statement that outlines the problems we have here in the Four Corners area, the problems we have in our Nation with reference to all kinds of public projects, water, public buildings, those kinds of public projects that we know are so necessary to keep a growing country solid and strong. I am going to just make that statement a part of the record in deference to the time. But I would like to discuss one aspect of the infrastructure need, and that is highway transportation—that is, interstate, primary, and the other roads. We are very fortunate that in the "lame duck" session of the last Congress, we made a significant dent in that problem for the next 5 or 6 years. The new act that we passed, the Surface Transportation Act, will result alone in $57 billion being made available to the States over the next 4 years for highway and bridge construction and highway safety. Our State alone will receive about $420 million as a result of the new formula and the new fund resulting from the 5-cent gasoline tax.

NAVAJO NATION TRANSPORTATION FUNDS

Likewise, I am pleased that the Indian people of the country will receive a permanent fund for highway transportation needs. I do not think there is anyone in this part of New Mexico who would disavow the desperate need for some surface transportation on the Navajo Nation, and that used to be an annual, hit-or-miss proposition. It would come out of an appropriation, and if the appropriators put money in, they got money. We now have made that a permanent thing each year-the first year, $75 million nationally, and then the next three, $100 million each year, divided in an equitable manner-to the Indian people for surface transportation needs. In this part of New Mexico, that is extremely important. The Navajo Nation will receive an allocation each year, and it will be a rather substantial amount. I think we could figure it out exactly, but we will do that when we have our Navajo witnesses later this morning. Suffice it to say that that is going to require some planning, and that is going to require the Bureau and the Navajo Nation to get together and decide what they want to do, so that we can get on with some contracts in that area. I hope we can mesh the Navajo plans with the State's plans in the surrounding areas, so that we begin to develop a much-needed network for our Indian people and those who work and use the Indian lands.

My prepared statement addresses some general issues of how much we ought to be spending as a Nation; whether local units of government are going to be able in the future to finance public works needs.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN DOMENICI

It is a real pleasure to begin this week of meetings and hearings on New Mexico's infrastructure, here in Farmington. This community, indeed the entire San Juan basin area, is clearly aware of the complex problems and challenges related to establishing and maintaining viable systems for water, transportation, sewers, and other public services.

1 See p. 4.

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