25d ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/18/2007
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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FEDERAL AND INTERSTATE
UPPER COLORADO RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM AND SAN JUAN
RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM REPORT TO CONGRESS: Public Law 106-392
signed into law on October 30, 2000 provided additional funding for the Recovery Programs and
extended the capital construction portion of the Programs through 2011. The law also required the
Secretary of Interior to submit a report to the appropriate Committees of the US Senate and House of
Representatives by the end of Fiscal Year 2008 on the utilization of power revenues for annual base
funding of the Recovery Programs and to make recommendations on the continued use of power revenues
beyond 2011 required to achieve the recovery goals. Base funding, which totals $6 million annually,
provides for the operation and maintenance of the Programs capital projects as well as for monitoring and
research activities, program management and other activities such as non-native fish removal. The report
recommends that power revenues continue to provide base funding for the Programs through 2023 and
that further reporting be required to extend base funding beyond 2023. The report also recommends that
the Western Area Power Administration be authorized to borrow from the Colorado Water Conservation
Board Construction Fund if the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund contains insufficient funds and to seek
federal appropriations as a last resort. Some may recall that Western currently has a loan with Board.
Finally, the report recommends the continuation of depletion charges on new water development. These
actions are all contingent on the respective Programs extending the cooperative agreements establishing
the Programs through 2023. The report should be completed by the end of the year. The
recommendations are supported by all the Recovery Program participants.
BUSH VETOES WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT: This October is the first time in
seven years that Congress has sent the President a Water Resources Development Act ("WRDA"),
however, President Bush vetoed the bill, H.R. 1495, on November 2, 2007. President Bush argued that
the bill is not fiscally responsible and it does not set priorities. A copy of the veto statement of President
Bush is attached to this Director's report. However, this legislation is very popular and aveto-override is
probable, perhaps between the time of the printing of this report and the Board meeting.
WRDA includes a number of projects that are important to the State of Colorado. WRDA, as passed
provides: $79 million for the Arkansas Valley Conduit; $10 million for a pipeline from Carter Lake to
Boulder; $5 million for a statewide study regarding Selenium; $13 million for flood mitigation and habitat
restoration along the South Platte River in Denver; and $25 million for the Rio Grande Environmental
Management Program. (See Attachment 25D-15)
PLATTE RIVER ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT RECOVERY PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION
PASSES HOUSE: The U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 1462, which will fund a recovery
program for threatened and endangered species that have significant habitat along the Platte River in
Nebraska. The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program and Pathfinder Modification
Authorization Act was sponsored by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo. Similar legislation, S. 752, sponsored by
Senators Wayne Allard (R-Colorado), Ken Salazar (D-Colorado), Ben Nelson, (D-Nebraska), and Charles
Hagel, (R-Nebraska), is pending in the U.S. Senate.
The legislation would authorize a 13-year recovery program for threatened and endangered species that
have a designated habitat in Nebraska. The species include the whooping crane, the least tern, the piping
plover, and the pallid sturgeon.
Under the recovery program, land will be obtained and managed to create additional habitat for the
affected species and time water releases to meet their needs. Using adaptive management techniques, the
program's effectiveness in species recovery will be evaluated and fine tuned.
On Oct. 10, the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed Udall's proposal. The Senate
Flood Protection • Water Project Planning and Finance • Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection • Conservation Plarming