09d

• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

granted an extension of time (March 17t'') to respond. Following the granting of the extension, the GCT
filed a motion for summary judgment the response to which Reclamation must also file by March 17t1i.
We strongly disagree with the claims the GCT is making and we will rnonitor this case closely.
KANSAS SEEKS QUICK RESOLUTION TO REPUBLICAN RIVER DISPUTE -The
Kansas attorney general is asking administrators of the Republican River Compact to make the latest
dispute with Nebraska over water use a "fast-track issue." Attorney General Stephen Six wants compact
administrators to address Kansas' concerns within the next 30 days. The state says Nebraska is failing to
comply with court-mandated water usage. Six is likely to file new arguments with the U.S. Supreme
Court within eight months over the compact. Kansas sued Nebraska and Colorado over the river in 1998,
saying it wasn't getting the water it was due. In 2003, the Supreme Court approved a settlement among
the three states.
REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE UTILIZATION OF POWER REVENUES FOR
UPPER COLORADO AND SAN JUAN BASINS RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION
PROGRAM FEBRUARY 2008 - P.L. 106-392 requires the Secretary of the Interior to submit a
report to the appropriate Committees of the United States 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 a recommendation regarding the need for continued annual base funding from power
revenues beyond fiscal year 2011 that may be required to achieve the goals of these recovery programs.
Unless reauthorized by Congress, the utilization of power revenues for annual base funding of recovery
program actions, other than operation and maintenance of capital projects and monitoring, will cease after
fiscal year 2011. This means funding from power revenues for the following activities would be
eliminated from both recovery programs.
~ Nonnative fish removal and translocation to recreation areas.
~ Research.
~ Public information and involvement programs.
~ Program management funded with annual base funds.
The report recommends that P.L 106-392 be amended to allow continued use of power revenues
through 2023 for annual base funding of all activities as originally authorized and which are
necessary to achieve recovery. Finally, one of the most significant recommendations in the report
is the one that states:
"To assure that annual base funds are available in the event that the balance in the Upper
Colorado River Basin Fund cannot meet annual base funding needs for the recovery programs,
Congress should:
a) add authority to enable Western Area Power Administration to borrow from the Colorado Water
Conservation Board Construction Fund the annual base funds that would otherwise be derived f •om
the Upper• Colorado River Basin Fund (Basin Fund) and to repay those borrowed funds from the
Basin Fund, as is currently authorized for capital construction projects funded with the Basin Funa;~
and
b) add specific authority for congressional appropriations for annual base funding if annual funding
of the recovery programs cannot be provided from the Basin Fund or the Colorado Water
Conservation Board loans in a given year or• years, and direct Reclamation, in consultation with
Western Area Power Administration, to inform Congress if such a situation is reasonably foreseeable
as far in advance as possible. "
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