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<br />001631 <br /> <br />2002] <br /> <br />THE lAST GREEN lAGOON <br /> <br />957 <br /> <br />description of the many species and habitat areas south of <br />Morelos Dam thatwill be affected by the new Surplus Criteria,329 <br />the evaluation of potential impacts is for the most part limited.to <br />a determination that ". . . the change in benefits to species and <br />habitat would likely be insignificant. The riparian vegetation <br />existing along the Colorado River corridor in Mexico is extremely <br />resilient. "330 <br />BOR's belief in the "resilient" nature of this riparian <br />vegetation may help explain the EIS's apparent understatement <br />of human impacts on the Delta. In describing the effects of the <br />historic reductions in Colorado River flows on the Delta, BOR <br />noted only that they had "affected the ecosystem of the delta. "331 <br />However, BOR's belief is also quite clearly contradicted by a later <br />admission that the majority of the existing riparian vegetation <br />was restored as the result of surplus flows (flood events)332 - <br />precisely what the new Surplus Criteria will reduce in both <br />frequency and volume. Unfortunately, the Pacific Institute <br />proposal is now essentially moot, as Secretroy Babbitt, before <br />leaving office, issued a.. Record of Decision confirming a <br />continued BOR policy ofignOfing the impacts of its U.S. reservoir <br />operations on Mexico and the Delta <br />Whatever the merits of the Pacific Institute proposal, it had <br />little chance of succeeding in the high-pressure context of the <br />Surplus. Criteria negotiations. Rather than taking water away <br />from desperate water interests, BOR could . - and did - <br />manipulate the rather flimsy requirements of NEPA. Actual <br />implementation of the Pacific Institute proposal against the <br />wishes of the Lower Colorado water users would require far <br />greater political support. <br /> <br />2. Defenders of Wildlife v. Babbitt <br /> <br />The Interim. Surplus Criteria EIS is not the only setting in <br />which BOR has argued that it has limited discretion to protect <br />the Delta. In the mid-1990s, a group of federal agencies and <br />environmental interests began to develop the Lower Colorado <br />River Basin Multi-Species Conservation Program (MSCP) as part <br />of an Endangered Species ACt consultation on the Lower <br /> <br />329. See Id. at 3.16-23 - 3.16-41. <br />330. Id. at 3.16-18. <br />331. Id. at 3.16-23. <br />332. See id. at 3.16-24. <br />