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Of\\150? tn.. Q.., 918 ECOLOGY lAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 28:903 Operating Criteria, the annual target release at Glen Canyon is 8.23 mat,76 and the Secretary can only exceed this volume under "surplus" or flood conditions that justify the release of additional water into the Lower Basin.77 Under the authority of the Operating Criteria, the Secretary issues an Annual Operating Plan (AOP) that guides reservoir operations each year.78 The AOP also determines whether hydrologic and other conditions justify a shortage, surplus, or normal flow determination for the year. As discussed below,79 the power to determine whether "surplus" or "shortage" conditions exist each year has transformed the Secretary into a major player among the water interests on the Colorado. 2. The Lower Basin Federal law primarily governs water allocation within the Lower Basin.80 The 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Acfll (BCPA) authorized the construction of Hoover Dam and the All-American Canal, beginning an era of massive federal water projects that transformed the Colorado into its present, highly controlled state.82 The BCPA also authorized the Lower Basin states to enter into a compact to apportion Lower Basin water, and required California to limit its right to Colorado River water to 4.4 maf, plus V2 of any surplus.83 76. Id. 77. David J. Guy, When The Law Dulls the Edge of Chance: Transferring Upper Basin Water to the Lower Colorado River Basin. 1991 UTAH L. REv. 25, 43 (1991) ("First, the active storage in Lake Mead must be less than the amount of active storage in Lake Powell. Second, the Lower Basin must have a beneficial consumptive use for the excess water. Finally, the Secretary must find that the release will not impair Upper Basin uses and that Lake Powell storage is not 'reasonably nece8sary' to meet the delivery requireinents under the Colorado River Compact [and the li"eaty of 1944).") 78. Id. at 43-44. 79. See discussion infra Part N.C. 80. See discussion of the various federal statutes and regulations that govern the Lower Colorado, infra. Under the Supremacy Clause, the states may regulate the used water only to the extent that such regulation is not inconsistent with federal law. See U.s. Const. Art. VI. 81. See Boulder Canyon Project Act, 45 Stat. 1057 (1928), 43 U.S.C. ~ 617 (1928) [hereinafter "BCPA"), reprinted in RAy L. WILBUR & NORTHCUIT ELY, THE HOOVER DAM DOCUMENTS A213 (1948). 82. See REISNER, supra note 1, at 120-144, 255-305. 83. See Abbott, supra note 68. at 1400-01. The California legislature agreed to this limitation in the 1929 California Limitation Act, Cal. Stat. 16 ~1. However, due to its use of "surplus" Colorado River water (the unused apportionments of other states and excess flows), California has consistently used closer to 5.2 maf each year. See PONTIUS, supra note 3, at 13.