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<br />Furthermore, around sunset, Secretary Raley informed the three negotiating teams present <br />that the latest proposed revisions to the QSA arrangements were not acceptable to Interior and <br />would not prevent the suspension of the Interim Surplus Guidelines. The negotiating teams <br />present all acknowledged that at that point, there was no possibility that a QSA acceptable to <br />Interior, Coachella, Metropolitan and Imperial could be executed before the expiration of the <br />December 31st deadline and negotiations ended. It should also be noted that Metropolitan's <br />officers and Coachella's officers lacked authorization from their boards to agree to the latest <br />terms being proposed by Imperial. <br /> <br />Imperial's attorneys nevertheless continued to send out draft legal agreements containing <br />terms unacceptable to Interior, Metropolitan and Coachella. For example, on December 31, at <br />10:02 am, Imperial's attorneys emailed to the negotiators drafts of Imperial's proposed versions <br />of a QSA, the IID-CVWD Acquisition Agreement, the IID-MWD acquisition agreement and a <br />Fourth Amendment to the IID-SDCW A transfer agreement containing terms previously rejected <br />by Metropolitan and Coachella. Buried in the Fourth Amendment was a provision never <br />discussed with Metropolitan and Coachella that would give Imperial a unilateral right to end the <br />QSA after 45 years, effectively shortening the term of the deal by 30 years. <br /> <br />With no set of documents agreed upon by all the negotiators, and not having time to carefully <br />review all of the changes that might be lurking in the latest Imperial drafts, Coachella's board <br />met at 1 pm on December 31, and after a short closed session adjourned for the year at <br />approximately 1:30 p.m. Following the adjournment of the Coachella Board meeting, <br />Metropolitan and Coachella notified the press that the QSA talks had ended without agreement <br />and Interior made the public announcement that the Interim Surplus Guidelines were being <br />suspended. <br /> <br />5 <br />