7397

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7397
• Author: Resource Consultants, I.
• Title: Draft Supplement to the Final Environmental Statement Colorado-Big Thompson, Windy Gap Projects Water Marketing Program for Green Mountain Reservoir, Colorado.
• USFW Year: 1985.
• USFW - Doc Type: Fort Collins.
• Copyright Material: NO

1. PURPOSE AND NEED FOR ACTION

1.1 Introduction

This chapter establishes the purpose, need and scope of the Supplement
to the Final Environmental Statement for the Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT),
Windy Gap Projects. For several years the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau)
has made water available from Green Mountain Reservoir for various purposes
under interim (year-by-year) sales contracts. Several ski areas, for
example, have obtained interim sales contracts for Green Mountain water
since 1981. One of the purposes of the revised Operating Policy (December
1983) was to establish conditions under which water can be made available
through long-term contracts. This Supplement evaluates the environmental
consequences of alternative levels of water sales under long-term contracts
from Green Mountain Reservoir. Section 1.2 reviews the purpose and need
for the action based on legislation relevant to the project and current and
anticipated requests for water contracts. Section 1.3 summarizes the scope
of the environmental issues to be addressed, and Section 1.4 reviews the
authorizing legislation and existing revisions to the operating policy.

1.2 Purpose and Need for Water Sales

The United States, acting through the Secretary of the Interior, is
authorized to operate Green Mountain Reservoir of the Colorado-Big Thompson
Project, pursuant to Senate Document 80, decrees and stipulations entered
into in Consolidated Cases 2782, 5016, and 5017, and applicable Reclamation
laws (See Section 1.4). The final notice of Operating Policy for Green
Mountain Reservoir was published in the Federal Register on December 22,
1983 (USBR, 1983--See Appendix D). The Bureau of Reclamation, Lower
Missouri Region, acting through the Regional Director is required by the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ) regulations, and other federal and state laws to evaluate the extent,
if any, that marketing water in accordance with the final operating policy
will have on the environment of the reservoir, including but not limited to
the upstream reaches of the Blue River and the downstream reaches of both
the Blue and Colorado River systems. The general area of interest is shown
in Figure 1.1.

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