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<br /> <br />ARAPAHOE COUNTY COLORADO <br />BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />5334 S. Pr;nce Street. Littleton. Colorado 80166-0001 <br />(303) 795-4630 . FAX:303) 794-4657 <br /> <br />John J. Nicholl. District No.1 <br /> <br />Thomas A. Eggen. District No.2 <br /> <br />Polly Page. District NO.3 <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />December 3, 1996 <br /> <br />Representative Lewis Entz <br />Colorado State Capital <br />200 E. Colfax Ave. <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br /> <br />RE: POTENTIAL LOSS OF THE COLORADO RIVER <br /> <br />Dear Lewis <br /> <br />Two recent events call into question the ability of the State of Colorado to continue to develop any <br />significant ponion of its Colorado River Compact water entitlement. At present, Colorado has an <br />entitlement to over one million acre feet of water which it is entitled to develop as against the demands <br />of California and the othe, LOWe! Basin states. That wate' may be close to becoming an historical <br />footnote due to the actions of our Department of Natural Resources. <br /> <br />We have heard repeated claims by the DNR and its attorneys that they are .protecting" Colorado's <br />compact water for purposes set forth in the State Constitution. We see no reason. to believe this is <br />true. <br /> <br />) <br /> <br />First, the Water Conservation Board has filed a claim for all supposedly unappropriated water in the <br />Colorado River for "instream flows" to protect endangered fish. The protection of endangered fish is <br />not a use specifically contemplated by the State Constitution, nor is it a type of "use" contemplated for <br />compact water. Colorado needs to be able to consume Colorado River Water, not to simply shunt it <br />across the state line using flows intended to benefit fish. <br /> <br />Second, and not as well known, the State has convinced the Division 4 Water Coun, in a case <br />involving Arapahoe County's Union Park Reservoir Project, that the Federal government can callout <br />the entire flow of the Gunnison River to operate its 5400 cfs hydropower turbine at Morrow Point, the <br />largest unit, on the Gunnison River. This move effectively sends Colorado's compact water flow from <br />the Gunnison River into the Colorado River and thence across the State line for free use by the Lower <br />Basin sUtes. <br /> <br />To send Colorado's compact water across state lines in the name of "conservation" is appalling. This <br />at a time when even small users are required to develop plans for augmentation to replace depletions to <br />the stream system. This is not conservation: it is a waste of Colorado's. entitlement. Even then, the <br />Fish and Wildlife Service says that Colorado's unilateral sacrifice may not be enough! <br /> <br />Incredibly, the State of Colorado, in Arapahoe's Division 4 Union Park Case, reversed its position of <br />some 40 years and agreed that the Federal government, not Colorado, controlled the river. For 40 <br />years, Colorado was protected from the government's huge power-generating turbines by Section 620 <br />(f) of the authorizing legislation of the Colorado River Storage Project Act ("CRSPA"). CRSPA was <br />the statute under which the Blue Mesa and other reservoirs were built. <br /> <br />Section 620 (I) prohibited the federal government from calling out upstream domestic and agricultural <br />uses by Colorado for federal power generation. "Domestic use' is defined in federal law as including <br />