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The Denver Post Online: Today's News , 20f3 http://www.denverpost.comlnews/newsl744.htm Ju2746 "Do it through state legislatures and leave the federal government out of it," Campbell said. "I've suggested leasing water and using the money to build more water impoundments in Colorado but (Gov.) Roy (Romer) jumped all over me." The 1922 Colorado River Compact allocated amounts for each of the seven states in the basin, and California's excessive use of water over its compact limit led to Babbitt's decision to allow transfers in the lower basin. Colorado doesn't use all of the approximately 3.1 million acre-feet per year to which it is entitled in most years, using 2.2 to 2.6 million acre-feet annually, according to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. California sucks 5.2 million acrefeet from the Colorado River, well above the 4.4 million it is allocated. "California needs to go on a water diet," Lochhead said. David Robbins, a Denver water attorney and former Colorado deputy attorney general, said the secretary of interior has some authority to determine allocations in the lower basin, "but I question his authority in the upper basin." "In the lower, allocations are set by Congress and managed by the secretary. The upper basin is allocated by Congress (which approved the original compact) but managed by the Upper Basin Commission," ffiobbins said. State Rep. Russell George, R-Rifle, who serves on the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee, said Colorado has a statute prohibiting the sale of state water out of state. "Interstate sales of water would be bad for Colorado," George said. "It may force us to strengthen our statutes and precipitate a conflict with the federal government." Two Grand Junction men who worked on a now-derailed project to lease water to Las Vegas said the approach could work. Andy Williams, a water lawyer, and former Gov. John Vanderhoof pushed for the Roan Creek project, in which a reservoir would hold water owned by oil shale companies. Water would be leased to Las Vegas on a fixed-time contract, with the money used by the state of Colorado. When the lease period ended, the water would revert to Colorado, they said. "Now we're just giving the water away," Vanderhoof said. Romer has always opposed marketing water between the basins, said Jim Carpenter, the governor's press secretary. "It's our understanding that this deals only with the lower basin, not the upper basin," Carpenter said. "If it would impact the upper basin, we would have great 12/22/97 11 :26: 1 0