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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 2,0 PROPOSED ACTION HISTORY SJGS currently has the ability to obtain 16,200 AF of its existing water supply annually from a contract with the USBR from Navajo Reservoir (USBR contract), contract # 14-04-400-4821 and Office of the NM "...."-_..... .-, 1I...........n ........'..,__,. "."_.L __ __._.".....n...... _ _ I .__ld__ll""nn__..~___... ..nau;; CII~lIn::::t::1 lilt:: tt.,J",.)O. rl....lvl IIdU 1I1111i1I1Y lli:::lJUt:"~It;U U':>D"-. LU u::.:m::.:w elllU C;,'\lli:::IIU Lilt: UJUPo. \"'ullua\"~ upon its expiration on December 31.2005. In connection with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultation for the USBR contract (then Consultation #2-22-00-1-469), the Jicarilla Apache Nation requested that the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) include the tribe in the consultation in accordance with Secretarial Order 3206. At that juncture, PNM began discussions with the Jicarilla Apache Nation for an alternative water supply to the USBR contract. As a result of the Jicarilla Apache Water Rights Settlement Act of October 23,1992,106 Stat. 2237, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the United States entered into a contract dated December 8, 1992 (the Federal Contract). The Settlement Act and the Federal Contract authorize the Jicarilla Apache Nation to divert up to 40,000 AF of water per year from the San Juan River, 25,500 AF of which may be depleted from the Navajo Reservoir Supply as it is defined in the Federal Contract. When this water is not being used by the Nation, the Settlement Act and Federal Contract permit the Jicarilla Apache Nation to enter into subcontracts with third parties, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The amount of water requested under the Jicarilla Apache Nation Water Subcontract is the same as is provided by the existing USBR Contract, 16,200 AF per year. Furthermore, PNM's depletions will continue to occur in the same manner as current depletions by the SJGS at its weir. The only difference will be that the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and not USBR, will be acting as the supplier of the water for those depletions. 3,0 PURPOSE AND NEED As decribed above, the Jicarilla Apache Nation has the right to deplete up to 25,500 AF from the Navajo Reservoir Supply. The hydrologic modeling used in recent consultations with the USFWS under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, including the consultation on the Animas-La Plata Project (ALP) completed in June 2000, suggests that only 5,000-6,000 AF per year of water can be developed in the San Juan River Basin consistent with conservation measures imposed by USFWS for the benefit of endangered fish. The calculation of this amount of water available for development assumed an environmental baseline consisting of water use by various existing water users. including the 16,200 AF per year used by SJGS, and the development of certain projects such as ALP. The Jicarilla Apache Nation has disputed some ofthe depletion figures in that baseline and other assumptions in the hydrologic modeling, but has not challenged the validity of the existing SJGS depletion. Although the environmental baseline used in the past ESA Section 7 consultations does not establish the environmental baseline for future ESA Section 7 consultations, the USFWS may continue to make the same assumptions about what is included in the baseline. USBR's approval of the Jicarilla Apache Nation Water Subcontract would allow the Nation to exercise 16,200 AF of its depletion rights under the Federal Contract and Settlement Act by becoming the supplier for the existing SJGS depletion. The SJGS generates electrical power for wholesale and retail customers in New Mexico and four other western states. The generating station is operated by PNM on behalf of itself and eight other owners. ~ OOHgS