American Notes COLORADO

Time and time again, the Environmental Protection Agency has been outflanked by White House officials more concerned with economic growth than environmental protection. So the EPA's decision last week to block construction of Colorado's Two Forks Dam was a victory not only for picnickers and sportsmen but also for the Administration's in-house conservationists.

The billion-dollar water project would have turned Cheesman Canyon into a vast man-made lake, covering an area between two forks of the South Platte River known to outdoorsmen as the "St. Peter's Basilica of trout fishing." The EPA decided to block the dam because it would destroy a valuable wildlife and recreational area. Colorado officials condemned the decision as "shortsighted." But biologist Carse Pustmueller of the National Audubon Society applauded the move. "The project is absolutely not viable under the Clean Water Act," said Pustmueller. "This whole Two Forks saga has educated everybody that water is finite. We can't just keep building more projects."