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001243 BLACK CANYON INFORMATION PAPER Oct. 2000 The Commissioner's letter of November 13, 1953, to the Secretary of the Interior, p. 38 provides a supplemental report on the CRSP dated October 1953, stating at p. 42: 15. After reviewing the proposed report the State of Colorado recommended that the Whitewater unit on the Gunnison River not be included as an initial unit of the Colorado River storage project. Although desiring one of the initial units to be located on the Gunnison River, the State at that time had not decided which of the several possible units should be selected, and recommended that certain further studies be made of the Gunnison River units before final selection is made. Further study was given by the Bureau of Reclamation to the location of storage units on the Gunnison River, in accordance with this recommendation, and information was made available to the State. The director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board has recently advised us 'that the board has approwd a reservoir at the Curecanti site with a storage capacity of 940,000 acre-feet, and has urged 1 hat this project be included as a part of the initial authorization of the Colorado River storage project. Analyses of the Colorado River storage project with both the large Curecanti (2,500,000 acre-feet) and the small Curecanti (940,000 acre-feet) are included as attachments to this j"eport. These analyses indicate that power from either unit would be more expensive, under present-day estimated costs, than power from alternative sources. We believe that power needs of the western slope area can be taken care of, for the time being at least, by use of energy from the recommended units. Colorado will need more power as well as storage capacity in the immediate future. Every effort should be made to assure means of meeting that need, and to that end the Congress may wish to consider authorization of the Curecanti or some other storage in western Colorado. The Regional Director's Report of December 1950, on CRSP and Participating Projects, Region 4, is at page 59. This was an Interim report on the Colorado River storage project and participating projects. 2. The Colorado River storage project would consist of a combination of dams, reservoirs, powerplants, and other appurtenant structures on the upper Colorado River and its principal tributaries. Included as appurtenant structUrf:'S would be facilities recommended by cooperating Federal agencies for multiple-purpose development of the upper Colorado River Basin's water resources. The project reservoirs would regulate the flow of the river, assure the delivery of water to the lower basin as required by the Colorado River compact, and further the use in the upper basin of water apportioned by the compact. Part of the capacity of some of the reservoirs would store water for direct use in the upper basin. Revenues from the sale of project-generated power would be sufficient to pay all reimbursable Colorado River storage-project costs and assist irrigators in payment of costs of other projects that would utilize water of the upper Colorado River system. Projects that would be so assisted are refe"ed to as 'participating projects. ' All projects authorized subsequent to approval of the upper Colorado River Basin compact that would consume water of the upper Colorado River system are considered to be dependent on the storage project for an assured water supply. Such projects, therefore, are designated 'dependent projects. '(po 69) In the plan of development for the CRSP: 10. Ten units, each including a dam, reservoir, and appurtenant power facilities, would constitute the Colorado River storage project. The dams would be located above Lee Ferry on the Colorado River and its principal tributaries. Eight of B-4