Agenda Item 13

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

Page 6
of Work for implementation and completion of the project, and drafting the contract with the
contractor authorized to image the documents currently in the Commission's library.
12. Civil Litigation re~ardin~ the Colorado River
The Colorado River Subunit represents the state of Colorado with respect to civil litigation
regarding the Colorado River that implicates issues important to the State. Recent examples
of such litigation include Consejos de Desarrollo Economico de Mexicali ("CDEM") v.
Norton, Appeal Nos. 06-16345, 06-16618, 06-16664 (9`h Cir. 2007) and Center for
Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Reclamation, Case No. 3::06-CV-00494 (D. Ariz. 2006).
The Colorado River Subunit anticipates representing the state of Colorado in Grand Canyon
Trust v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Case No. CV 07-8164-PCT-DGC, environmental
litigation recently filed by the Grand Canyon Trust in the U.S. District Court in Arizona that
implicates the Bureau of Reclamation's operation of Glen Canyon Dam.
The Subunit also monitors federal case law that may create binding precedent regarding
interpretation of the Colorado River Compact and the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact.
Examples of such litigation are the interstate suits of Montana v. Wyoming and South
Carolina v. North Carolina recently filed in the U.S. Supreme Court pursuant to its original
jurisdiction.
13. Assistance with Colorado River Administration
In addition to providing the state of Colorado with legal counsel regarding interstate issues •
related to the Colorado River and the Colorado River Compact, the Colorado River Subunit
provides legal counsel to the State Engineer and the Department of Natural Resources with
respect to intrastate administration of water rights. Specifically, the Subunit assists the State
Engineer and the Department of Natural Resources in analyzing state and federal law as
applied to proposed water supply projects that involve the waters of the Colorado River
Basin.
14. Compact Curtailment Rulemaking Research
The Subunit assists the State Engineer in addressing legal questions that may arise in the
event Colorado must curtail use of Colorado River water pursuant to its compact obligations.
Legal issues already addressed include:
• The State Engineer's legal authority to administer compact curtailment through
promulgation of rules.
• The legal process that such compact curtailment rulemaking must follow:
• The general requirements of Colorado law on compact curtailment rules.
• Description of legal issues implicated by compact administration.
The multitude of legal issues still to be addressed fall generally under the following topics
for analyses: the parameters and constraints imposed by Colorado law and the Law of the
River on compact curtailment administration, possible legal claims and defenses for use in