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<br />major issues. Accordingly, on December 1,
<br />1969, the Chief Engineer sent a letter to the
<br />Chairman containing California's position
<br />and an outline of the issues.
<br />On December 16,1969, the Secretary of the
<br />Interior transmitted the proposed "Coor-
<br />dinated Long-Range Operating Criteria for
<br />Colorado River Reservoirs Pursuant to the
<br />Colorado River Basin Project Act of Septem-
<br />ber 30 1968 (P.L. 90-537)" to Governor Rea-
<br />, .
<br />gan and to the governors of the other basm
<br />states. The Secretary requested comments on
<br />the proposed criteria by April 1, 1970, with
<br />the final criteria to be published by July 1,
<br />1970. The Secretary's letter also stated that
<br />the Glen Canyon Filling Criteria was consid-
<br />ered to be a separate matter and that com-
<br />ments on continuation of the Filling Criteria
<br />would also be received until April 1, 1970.
<br />In the Secretary of the Interior's proposed
<br />criteria, several major concepts advanced by
<br />California were adopted. Major features of
<br />
<br />the proposed criteria are:
<br />
<br />1. Upper Basin storage considered necessary to
<br />meet downstream requirements will be deter-
<br />mined annually by the Secretary of the Interior
<br />rather than by setting a high, rigid "rule curve"
<br />as initially proposed by the federal government
<br />in its July 25,1969, draft of operating criteria and
<br />strongly supported by the Upper Basin.
<br />2. Criteria for the release of water from the Upper
<br />Basin per Article III(e) of the Colorado River
<br />Compact was included. This was initially omit-
<br />ted by thefederal government in its July 25,1969,
<br />draft.
<br />3. The minimum release "objective" from Lake
<br />Powell is 8,230,000 acre-feet per year.
<br />4. All Lower Basin consumptive use requirements
<br />are to be met until the Central Arizona Project
<br />becomes operative.
<br />5. After the Central Arizona Project is operative,
<br />the normal release for Lower Basin states will be
<br />for beneficial consumptive uses of 7,500,000 acre-
<br />feet per year. The July 25, 1969, draft would have
<br />limited California to 4,400,000 acre-feet per year,
<br />but this restriction was deleted.
<br />6. The Secretary of the Interior will base his deter-
<br />mination for declaring surpluses at Lake Mead
<br />on evaluation of all pertinent factors rather than
<br />waiting until spill is imminent.
<br />7. Use of elevation 1100 at Lake Mead to trigger
<br />shortages as initially proposed by the federal gov-
<br />ernment was deleted. However, the language re-
<br />
<br />32
<br />
<br />quires the Secretary to consider most of the fac-
<br />tors (including water quality) that tend to sup-
<br />port Lake Mead's maintenance at a relatively
<br />high level.
<br />
<br />The proposed criteria were generally satis-
<br />factory to California.
<br />
<br />Glen Canyon Filling Criteria
<br />The Glen Canyon Filling Criteria, an-
<br />nounced by the Secretary of the Interior on
<br />April 4, 1962, provided that the United States
<br />would recompense either in power or money
<br />any deficiency in firm energy generation at
<br />Hoover Powerplant caused by the initial fill-
<br />ing of Colorado River Storage Project reser-
<br />voirs. If made monetarily, the allowance
<br />would come from the Upper Colorado River
<br />Basin Fund, to be repaid after 1987 from
<br />Hoover Dam power revenues. The filling
<br />period was defined as the time interval from
<br />initial storage in Lake Powell (March 13,
<br />1963) to the date when Lake Powell first at-
<br />tained elevation 3,700 feet (27.0 million acre-
<br />feet total storage) and Lake Mead was simul-
<br />taneously at or above elevation 1,146 feet
<br />(17.0 million acre-feet available storage) or
<br />May 31, 1987, whichever occurred first.
<br />The Colorado River Basin Project Act of
<br />1968, P.L. 90-537, modified the repaym~nt
<br />provisions of the Filling Criteria by provId-
<br />ing that $500,000 per year, beginning in fiscal
<br />year 1970, will be transferred from the
<br />Colorado River Development Fund (estab-
<br />lished by the Boulder Canyon Project Ad-
<br />justment Act) to reimburse the Upper
<br />Colorado River Basin Fund for deficiency
<br />payments made under the Filling Criteria. If
<br />any deficiency in reimbursement remains
<br />after 1987, the amount of the deficiency will
<br />then be transferred to the Upper Colorado
<br />River Basin Fund from the Lower Colorado
<br />River Basin Development Fund (established
<br />by P.L. 90-537). As of May 31, 1969, $4,047,
<br />901 had been paid out ofthe Upper Colorado
<br />River Basin Fund to compensate for Hoover
<br />deficiency energy.
<br />The Secretary's request for comments on
<br />whether the Filling Criteria should be con-
<br />tinued was due to a renewed campaign
<br />
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