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!\brCCllll'l1t seems to 1~111 within the plain language delinition of"administcr". Moreover. the 1\~rcClllCl1t tits within the administrative I"ramework of the Law of the River. tl"thc Sc\en Basin States Agreement is nol deemed an exercise of the ()overnor's authority to adlllillislcr the ('olorado River Compact and Upper Colorado River Compact. then the (imCrlHlr likely does not have authority to negotiate and sign the agreement. The Governor's authority \\'ould arise out of either Article 4, ~ 2 of the Colorado Constitution or CR.S. ~ 37- (,()_ I ()l). Ilmvever, neither Artic Ie 4, ~ 2 nor C. R.S. ~ 37 -()O-l 09 seems to provide the (iovernor with sufticient authority to negotiate and sign this Agreement without legislative apprmal. B. The Governor does have the power to delegate his authority to negotiate and sign the Seven Hasin States Agreement to Commissioner Halcomb, Analogous case law suggests that the Governor possesses the power to delegate his signature authority. C. It is unlikely that the Governor has properly delegated his negotiation and signature authority to Commissioner Balcomb. The executive letter signed by Governor Owens improperly rei ies on C. R.S. ~ 37-60-109 lor the Governor's authority to negotiate and sign the Agreement. rather than C.R,S. ~ 24-1-1 ot). III. BACKGROUND. In May of 2005, the Secretary of the Interior dirccted the Bureau or Reclamation ("Reclamation") "to develop Lowcr Basin shortage guidelines and coordinated management stratcgies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead under low reservoir conditions:'1 The development of these guidelines and strategies necessarily implicates the National Environmental Policy Act C"NEP^,'), which in this instance requires Reclamation to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement ("LIS"). The preparation of an EIS is a collaborative process consisting ofa scoping period in which interested parties may submit their comments regarding the proposed action. 40 C.F.R. ~ 1501.7. On February 7, 2006, the Seven Basin States collectively submitted their comments through a letter addresscd to Secretary of the Interior, (/ale Norton. Two documents were attached to this letter tor the Secretary's review, The first is a consensus document entitled '"Seven Basin States Preliminary Prnposal Regarding Colorado River Operations" ("Proposal") wherein the states recommend: (I) an approach to shortage management; (2) a moditication and extension of the Department of Interior's Interim Surplus Guidelines to incorporate operations tor all reservoir conditions; and (3) an approach to implement shortages pursuant to the U.S.-Mexico Treaty of 1944. The second document is a draft agreement between the Seven Basin States in whieh each state would agree to support the Secretary's adoption of the Parties' proposal in a Record of Decision ("ROD") and to ..take all necessary actions to implement the terms" of that ROD. 2 See Draft Agreement, ~ 3- 5. I Bureau of Reclamation, Development o('Lo\\'('/' Basin Shortage Guidelines III/ll Coordinated Management StrategiesfiJr I,ake Po\t'elland Lake Mead under Loll' Rl.'s('/'voir Conditions, available at http:// www. usbr. gov lIe! re gion/programs/ s tra tegies/ fac tsheets/F e b2 006. pdf. 2 There are several additional items to which the parties are set to agree upon in the Draft Agreement: pursuing system augmentation within the Colorado River System, annual consultations amongst the parties concerning the operations of Lakes Powell and Mead, and pursuing the settlement of claims or controversies through mutual agreement prior to initiating judicial or administrative action. The Southern Nevada Water Authority is set to withdraw its application to the BLM for a right of way, which would have been used to develop Permit No. 5859t. 2