Agenda Item 13

• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: Report of the Attorney General
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

t
Page 3
D
SE OF THE CO
O
8. Leal Counsel wi
The Colorado River Subuni continues to provide the Colorado Water• Conservation Board, the
Governor of Colorado's Re resentative, and the Upper Colorado River Commission with legal
counsel on developments co cerning the Colorado River. Most recently, the Subunit has:
- Participated i strategic planning concerning whether and when the state of
Colorado sh ld intervene in the Grand Canyon Trust v. U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation itigation. The Grand Canyon Trust asserts that the Bureau of
Reclamation's operation of the Glen Canyon Dam violates the jeopardy and
taking provis ons of the Endangered Species Act ("ES,A") as well as the
consultation rovisions of the ESA and National Environmental Policy Act. The
state of Colo ado has a direct interest in this lawsuit because it has the potential to
change opera ions at Glen Canyon Dam, which, in turn, could directly impact
water suppl ,hydropower production, and power revenues that fund
environment 1 projects in the Upper Basin. The Subunit currently his coordinating
with interest d stakeholders within Colorado and among the other Basin States as
well as with a Bureau to determine the timing and substance of a Colorado
Motion to Int rvene.
- Provided leg 1 counsel to CWCB staff regarding proposed changes to the
. Colorado Ri er Annual Operating Plan for 2008. In January, Arizona provided
the Bureau o Reclamation with proposed changes to the language ~in the 2008
AOP that att mpted to "read out" the concept of 602(a) storage for~the duration of
the Interim S ortage Guidelines. In response, the Subunit worked I ith CWCB
staff to devel p comments to Arizona's proposal, and to provide a counter-
proposal.
- Prepared fo al comments on behalf of the CWCB re€;arding the Bureau of
Reclamation' Environmental Assessment on Experimental Releases from Glen
Canyon Dam Arizona 1008-2012 ("EA"). In particular, the Subunit coordinated
with CWCB taff to notify the Bureau of the state of Colorado's concerns and
interests in p rforming the planned experimental releases from Glen Canyon
Dam.
- Evaluated the memorandum of understanding ("MOU"') and related addendums
regarding Co rdinated Tamarisk Management in the Colorado River Basin on
behalf of the WCB. The primary purpose of the MOIU is to meet an obligation
the 7 Basin S ates imposed during the Lower Basin Shortage Guidelines, namely
to take action designed to augment the supply of water available for use in the
Colorado Riv r System. The Subunit reviewed the MOU for compliance with
Colorado law and provided recommendations for clarification befire the CWCB
became a si atorv.
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