Now that governors have signed off on the three-state agreement to protect threatened and endangered species on the South Platte River, the search is under way in Denver and Washington D.C. for money to fund the more than $187 million program over the next 13 years. A bill before Colorado lawmakers seeks $6 million in severance taxes to pay Colorado's bill for 2006-07...Negotiations began in 1997 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed three birds and a fish with critical habitat along the Platte in central Nebraska under the federal Endangered Species Act. They were the whooping crane, piping plover, least tern and pallid sturgeon...Severance tax collections generally are believed to be decreasing because oil and gas companies are taking deductions for property taxes they paid two years ago. The forecast could indicate collections are insufficient to allow the transfers proposed in this bill...If actual revenues are lower than what had been forecasted, the operational account may face a revenue shortfall in the future. Among other programs funded through severance taxes are soil and conservation programs, feasibility and environmental studies for water projects requested through water basin roundtables, financial assistance for paying utility bills, and the Clean Energy Development Fund.

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