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performed as part of the San Juan Forest/BLM Draft Plan Revision. The DRD will incorporate the <br />scientific work it already has performed into this process. The process is anticipated to take <br />approximately 18 months to complete. (Linda Bassi) <br />DOLORES RIVER DIALOGUE (DRD) UPDATE: The DRD Technical Committee met on <br />August 19, 2008 in Cortez. Attendees included representatives of the Dolores Water Conservancy <br />District, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, Colorado Environmental Coalition, the San Juan <br />Citizens Alliance, the San Juan Public Lands Center (USFS and BLM), and the CWCB. The group <br />expressed its appreciation for the CWCB Director's approval of its $99,000 funding request for <br />developing alternatives to Wild and Scenic designation on the lower Dolores River. The group discussed <br />how to begin implementing the work plan and formed two subcommittees to work on strategy and <br />institutional issues, and to identify scientific and technical information needs. Mike Preston informed the <br />group about temperature sensing on the Dolores River to assess how reservoir releases affect river <br />temperatures. The District has installed a temperature sensor on McPhee Dam and intends to install <br />another sensor at the Bradfield Bridge. The next DRD Technical Committee meeting will be held on <br />September 25, 2008 and a full DRD meeting will be held on October 28, 2008. (Linda Bassi) <br />UPDATE ON TACOMA POWER PLANT RELICENSING PROCESS: The Public Service <br />Company of Colorado d/b/a Xcel Energy is in the process of relicensing its Tacoma Hydroelectric Project <br />before FERC. The Tacoma Project is located on Cascade Creek and the Animas River just north of <br />Durango. Xcel owns the water rights to divert the flows of Cascade Creek into a conduit that then <br />delivers those flows to the Little Cascade Creek watershed, and hence into Electra Lake. From Electra <br />Lake, the water is diverted into a penstock to the Tacoma Powerhouse in the Animas River canyon. The <br />relicensing process, which started in July 2004, is scheduled for completion in February 2010. Based <br />upon a request from Xcel to proceed as contemplated in the Apri12004 MOU between the USFS and the <br />State of Colorado, representatives of Xcel, the CDOW, the CWCB, the DNR, and the USFS and BLM <br />have been meeting regularly to collaborate on developing an alternative approach to a bypass flow to <br />meet the USFS requirements for mitigation of the impacts of the operation of the power plant. <br />Representatives of the Southwestern Water Conservation District and the San Juan Citizens Alliance also <br />participate in the meetings. Xcel filed its final license application on June 25, 2008. On August 28, 2008, <br />FERC issued an amended procedural timeline for processing the application, set forth below: <br />• Notice of AcceptancelNotice of Ready for Environmental Analysis September 2008 <br />• Filing of Comments, Interventions, Preliminary Terms and Conditions, <br />and Fishway Prescriptions November 2008 <br />• Reply Comments Due December 2008 <br />• Issuance of Draft EA March 2009 <br />• Comments on Draft EA Due April 2009 <br />• Submittal of Agency Final Recommended Terms and Conditions July 2009 <br />• Issuance of Final EA September 2009 <br />'~ 22 <br />~~ <br />~~ <br />