08 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/18/2007
• Description: WSP Section - Request to obtain authorization to expend funds from the Litigation Fund to defend and protect Colorado's allocation of water from the Colorado River
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF COLORADO
John W. Suthers

September 7, 2007

Request for Expenditure from Litigation Fund
for Protection of Colorado"s Allocations in the Colorado Riwr

Dear Board rvlembcrs:

I request by this Ictter the expenditure of S6l5,452. in addition to expenditures already
approved by the \Vater Conservation Board (Board). over the next two fiscal years (FYOS
and FY09) from the Board"s Litigation Fund under Section 37-60-121(1.5)(a)(lIl). C.R.S.
That section authorizes the Board to expend money from the Litigation Fund at the request
of the Attorney General for the costs to defend and protect Colorado' s allocations of water
in interstate streams and rivers. I believe this expenditure is necessary to adequately
defend. in negotiations and litigation. Colorado's allocations of the Colorado River.

The Board gave approval in November 2004 to expend $250,000 on Colorado River
Compact defense issues. In FYOS and FY06, funds mainly were expended on an experi
historian to obtain obscure documents relating to the Colorado River. In FY 07, the Bourd
approved the expenditure of an additional $758,880 to continuc docLlment gathering and to
hire legal staff at the Department of Law to research and draft legal memoranda on issues
identified b.y the State's Colorado River Compact representatives. including the drafting of
rules for Colorado should compact enforcemcnt be required. The request also funded the
collection, coding and imaging of relevant documents to create an all-inclusive Colorado
River database for use in negotiations and potcntiallitigation. To date, $629,332 has been
expended on these identified tasks as well as on the filing of the State's motion to
intervene in CCIIler for Bio!or;ica! Dil'as/A 1'. B"r(,l/I/ of Reclall/l/tiol/ and Colorado's
. l.... . .
(ill/ic"s participation in COllscjos de Desl/rrollo E(,ol/olllico de Mexicali v. iVortol/ before
the 91h Circuit COllrt of Appeals. Both these cases resulted in outcomes 1~I\'orahk to
Colorado.

The Department of Law. with the support of the Board's stafr. proposes that you continue
funding Ollr efforts to secllre Colorado's water under the Colorado River Compact for
FY08 and FY09. As you kno\\', Colorado River concems arc of a massive scale.
Colorado River issues impact every basin in the State ofCoJorado. The legal issues we
continue to tackle involve seven states, the federal govemment, and the Republic of
Mexico and encompass two interstate compacts, an intemational treaty, a U.S. Supreme
Court decision. and a host of federa1laws, with a historical record stretching back nearly a

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