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<br />'-0 <br />u0iJjo <br /> <br />diverts about 750 cfs year round under their senior water rights for irrigation, hydropower <br />generation, and municipal and industrial purposes. <br /> <br />Two proposals for non-federal projects in the Gunnison Basin are under study. The AB Lateral <br />Hydropower Project would be downstream of the Unit, and the Upper Gunnison River Basin <br />Project (Union Park Transbasin Diversion Project) would be in the headwaters of the basin. <br /> <br />The AB Lateral Hydropower Project is sponsored by Montrose Partners as a joint venture with <br />the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association. This project would increase annual <br />diversions from the Gunnison River through the Gunnison Tunnel by approximately 300,000 <br />acre-feet. Reclamation is the lead federal agency for environmental compliance on this project. <br />In cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers, Reclamation is working with the sponsors to <br />supplement a 1990 final environmental impact statement for this project. This supplement could <br />be completed in 2001. <br /> <br />The Upper Gunnison River Basin Project was studied under Federal Energy Regulatory <br />Commission regulations. An application for a preliminary permit for the project was filed with <br />the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 1997 by the County of Arapahoe and <br />Town of Parker, Colorado. In its comments to FERC, the Department of the Interior concluded <br />that authority for hydropower development at Taylor Park Reservoir rests with Interior. This <br />project would include a 900,000 acre-foot reservoir and use Taylor Park Reservoir as a fore- and <br />afterbay in its pumped storage reservoir. In 1988 and 1990, Arapahoe County, Colorado, filed <br />applications seeking conditional water rights for the Union Park Project to move water from the <br />Gunnison Basin to eastern Colorado. These rights were opposed by the United States to the <br />extent they would interfere with the purposes of Reclamation projects in the Gunnison Basin. <br />Gunnison County, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and other water users in the <br />Gunnison River Basin have also opposed these water right applications. <br /> <br />Following a 1991 trial, the District Court issued an Order that held there was only 20,000 acre- <br />feet of unappropriated water available for the project. In 1995, the Colorado Supreme Court <br />partially reversed the 1991 Order on the basis that the District Court adopted improper guidelines <br />in determining water availability, and sent the ava~lability issue back to the District Court. A <br />trial was held in 1997 and a district water court judge ruled that not more than 15,000 acre-feet of <br />unappropriated water (average annual yield) was available to the project. Since Arapahoe <br />County previously stated that at least 20,000 acre-feet of unappropriated water would be needed <br />for a feasible project, their applications were denied and dismissed. We are now awaiting a <br />ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court on the project proponent's appeal. In addition, the judge <br />also agreed with Reclamation's position that a depletion allowance of 60,000 acre-feet above the <br />Aspinall Unit was limited to benefitting only in-basin junior users. Thus, the proposed transbasin <br />project cannot benefit from Reclamation's depletion allowance. <br /> <br />The National Park Service has also initiated a resource protection study on lands within the <br />National Park and National Recreation Area. Access, maintenance, and replacement issues with <br />both the Aspinall Unit and the Uncompahgre Project will need to be considered in this study. <br /> <br />10 <br />