Rep. Hurd Stands Up For Rural Colorado and the Third District, Urges Override of Arkansas Valley Conduit Veto

WASHINGTON – Today, Representative Jeff Hurd spoke on the House floor in defense of his constituents in southeastern Colorado, urging Congress to override President Trump’s veto of H.R. 131, the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act.

“In 1962, Congress authorized the Arkansas Valley Conduit to deliver safe drinking water to rural communities in southeastern Colorado,”  Rep. Hurd explained. “Sixty-four years later, that promise remains unfinished. These communities grow watermelon, cantaloupe, and chiles and support families who ranch and raise livestock. When we talk about honoring federal commitments, we are talking about whether the people who grow our food can count on clean water. These are real families in real towns facing real public health consequences.”

H.R. 131 does not expand the project, authorize new construction, or increase the federal share. The legislation simply provides rural communities more time and flexibility to repay the federal government by extending the repayment period and lowering interest rates in cases of economic hardship. More than 50,000 of Hurd’s constituents in southeastern Colorado currently rely on contaminated and radioactive groundwater for drinking. Eighteen water systems in the region are under enforcement orders for violating EPA standards. 

“For those of us who represent the American West, this vote is personal,” Rep. Hurd said. “In the West, water means survival. It determines whether communities grow or disappear, whether agriculture survives, and whether families can trust what comes out of their taps.”

Hurd also reminded his colleagues that President Trump’s own administration previously celebrated this project as a victory for rural Colorado. In October 2020, the Trump Administration broke ground on the conduit, issuing a press release promising to “bring safe, clean water to rural Colorado communities.” President Trump visited Colorado that year and told voters, “We got the money to begin construction.” His own Secretary of the Interior broke ground on the project.

“Rural Colorado—and rural America more broadly—voted overwhelmingly for this President, and for an agenda that promised they would not be forgotten. They voted with the expectation that Washington would keep its commitments to rural America—not abandon them midway. If the project was worth supporting in a campaign rally and celebrating at a groundbreaking, surely it is worth finishing,” Rep. Hurd said.

Hurd warned that if Congress walks away from a sixty-year commitment to rural Colorado mid-project, it sends a devastating message about the value of federal promises to Americans.

“I ran for Congress to fight for my district, even when it is difficult, even when it is uncomfortable, and even when the outcome is uncertain,” Rep. Hurd said. “This is one of those moments.”

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