Organizing for Endangered and Threatened Species Habitat Draft

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CHAPTER FIVE: NEBRASKA AND WYOMING ENTER THE FEDERAL NEXUS Nebraska Kingsley Dam and Lake Mc;Conaughy, located on the North Platte near Ogallala, Nebraska, became part of the Missouri River Pick-Sloan plan that called for 98 reservoirs and dams storing 85 million acre feet oi'water plus miles of levees and floodworks. This vision was promoted by economic and political entrepreneurs during the golden age of surface water development in the 1940s through f;arly 1970's. For opponents, Pick-Sloan was a nightmare that promised wasteful destruction of wildlife and fish habitat, serious barge traffic problems, inundation of Native American lancis and mishandling of tribal rights, trapped sediment, and a mammoth drain on the federal treas;ury for benefit of a privileged few (Gaul 1993: 212-3). The Pick-Sloan wish list was never completed as imagined-55 of the reservoir projects were completed or were under construction by the late 1990's. CNPPID/NPPD Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID or Central) produces hydroelectric power at Kingsley Dam and delivers irrigation water to farmers working 215,000 acres of high quality farmland in ce:ntral Nebraska. Central's network of canals and hydroelectric production facilities stretch over 170 miles along the North Platte, the very lowest end of the South Platte, and the main stem. (See Figure 6). CNPPID operates a 75-mile long supply ditch-Tri-County Canal--that delivers water to three major distributaries that together serve a 105,000 acres in three counties and another 7,500 acres in two other counties. On Tri-county Canal, Johnson lake serves as a re-regulating pool to insure stable controllable flows into the three lower distributaries. Lake McConaughy releases flow through four district hydroelectric plants that together generate up to 104,000 kilowatts of electricity. Their'revenues subsidize operational costs of the CNPPID project, and make possible substantially lower irrigation water rates for agricultural users. CNPPID was formed in 1933, secured final approval for construction of the project in 1935, and closed the gates on the newly completed Kingsley dam in 1941. Central operates from headquarters in Holdrege, Nebrask;a. It sells its electric power production, and coordinates its water releases that turn the turbines under terms of several contracts with Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). It is a bit too simple, but the essence of the relationship is that CNPPID produces imgation water and electric power, while NPPD primarily conveys electric power to end-users. Basic CNPPID/NPPD management strategy is to release flows from Lake McConaughy to coordinate with and supplement Sauth Platte flows from Colorado. The largest component of the project is Kingsley dam holding back Lake McConaughy which, with a capacity of 1,800,000 acre feet, forms the largest reservoir in t:he Platte basin. Kingsley is a 3.1 mile long hydraulic fill dam across the North Platte. McConaughy is filled by the North Platte river and by return flows from irrigation diversions out of Wyoming's string of North Platte reservoirs. When filled to capacity 23