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<br />DD1Sl0 <br />966 <br /> <br />ECOLOGY lAW QUARTERLY <br /> <br />[Vol. 28:903 <br /> <br />the limitations of the Mexico-U.S. Water Treaty, and the difficulty <br />of enforcing instream flows under Mexican domestic law.376 Since <br />the fall of 2000, the Institute has actively sought the support of <br />both the U.S. and Mexico for such a program.377 <br /> <br />2. The Clinton Engineering Proposal <br /> <br />The Fall of 2001 also saw the emergence of another <br />purchase-and-transfer based Delta restoration program. In <br />September 2000, a natural resources engineering firm; Michael <br />Clinton Engineering (MCE) , submitted a report to the Packard <br />Foundation that investigated methods of supplying water to the <br />Delta (the "Clinton proposal") }78 Spearheaded by Michael <br />Clinton, who is a former Interior Department official and former <br />general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, and Mallssa <br />McKeith, a Los Angeles attomey,the Clinton proposal advanced <br />two alternative solutions to the Delta water supply problem. <br />First, MCE suggested retiring marginal agricultural land in <br />Mexico and its associated water rights, and using the water <br />savings to benefit the Delta region,379 Second, MCE proposed a <br />complex water-trading scheme, in which land and water rights <br />purchased in Mexico would be exchanged for increased deliveries <br />of high salinity water from the U.S. and improved water quality <br />in the primary Mexico-U.S. Water Treaty deliveries at Morelos <br />Dam. 380 <br />Under its first proposal, MCE planned to initiate <br />consultations with the Comision Nacional de Aguas (CNA), a <br />Mexican water agency that is essentially BOR's counterpart in <br />Mexico, which is responsible for managing water rights and <br />irrigation in the Mexicali Valley.381 Working closely with CNA, <br />MCE intended to identify marginal agricultural lands in the <br />Mexicali Valley region that could be purchased, and identify an <br />entity to purchase and hold those rights (for example, a non- <br />profit organization like The Nature Conservancy, the Sonoran <br />Institute, or a Mexican equivalent).382 Lands suitable for wetland <br />habitat- would be restored using the property's corresponding <br />"" <br /> <br />""" <br /> <br />376. See id. at 36-37. <br />377. Cornelius & Propst, supra note 363. <br />378. Michael Clinton Engineering, Proposal for Packard Foundation: Water <br />Augmentation for the Colorado River Delta, Sept. 14, 2000 (unpublished proposal) <br />[hereinafter "Clinton Proposal"). <br />379. Id. at 2. <br />380. Id. <br />381. ld. at 4-5. <br />382. ld at 5. <br />