7417

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7417
• Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Title: Flaming Gorge Operations Study December 15, 1988-Preliminary Draft.
• USFW Year: 1988.
• USFW - Doc Type: Denver, Colorado.
• Copyright Material: NO

FLAMING GORGE OPERATING CRITERIA
Flaming Gorge was constructed and is operated under the authority
of House Document 346, 83d Congress 2d session. The Authorization
act was passed on April 11, 1956, and provided for the
construction of the Colorado River Storage Project and 11
participating projects. Flaming Gorge is one of the four units of
CRSP and is operated to provide benefits to the public. These
benefits include hydroelectric power, municipal and industrial
water supply, recreation, flood control, and fish and wildlife
preservation.
Flaming Gorge helps provide water to satisfy the requirements of
the Colorado River Compact. This responsibility is also shared
with the Aspinall Unit, Navajo Reservoir, and Lake Powell.
Compact Releases are made from Powell based upon the "Criteria for
Coordinated Long-Range Operation of Colorado River Reservoirs".
Within these annual releases, monthly and daily releases from each
of the four CRSP reservoirs are scheduled to meet contractual
obligations to power customers, provided such daily releases are
sufficient to ensure minimum flows for recreation and fish and
wildlife.
Currently Flaming Gorge is being
ensure that compact requirements
drought conditions. Within this
primarily operated for power, but
water resources, compact releases
operational criteria.
maintained as full as possible to
can be met in the event of
constraint, Flaming Gorge is
t as the Upper Basin developes its
s will become the primary
Flaming Gorge is tied into an electrical grid which stretches
across most of the western third of the nation. The production of
power fed to the grid is controlled by the Western Area Power
Administration (Western). Western is responsible for the Federal
electric power marketing and transmission function in 15 central
and western States. Western sells power to cooperatives,
municipalities, and various electrical utilities. Western
schedules and controls reservoir operations (most operations are
remote controlled) from its offices in Montrose, Colorado.
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