Case No. 3:07-cv-08164-DGC Grand Canyon Trust v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation December 7 2007

• Description: Case No. 3:07-cv-08164-DGC Grand Canyon Trust v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation December 7 2007
• State: CO
• Date: 12/7/2007
• Title: Case No. 3:07-cv-08164-DGC Grand Canyon Trust v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation December 7 2007
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Court Documents

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requirements with specific deadlines to address flows, a condition over which Reclamation
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has total control. RPA 1A requires Reclamation to operate Glen Canyon Dam under a
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"Seasonal' Adjusted Steady Flow" regime, or SASF, during all low water years.9 To
Y J
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ensure Dam operations mimic natural river flows and support all life stages of the chub in
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the Colorado River, RPA I requires high and steady flows in the spring, and low and
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steady flows in the summer and fall.'()
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RPA 1A offered two options for Reclamation to achieve seasonal steady flows and
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ensure ESA compliance. One alternative was for Reclamation to design its own flow
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pattern that achieved Seasonally Adjusted Steady Flows by October 1996 and to test this
be to
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p �' ro am by April 1997. Exh. 3 (1994 BO) at 35. The testing period had to sufficient
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allow for "biological processes to function and for variability inherent in riverine
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ecosystems to be expressed." Id. at 36. However, if Reclamation had not sufficiently
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designed or tested its program by April 1998, FWS required Reclamation to operate the
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Dam according to the Seasonally Adjusted Steady Flow program described in RPA lA. Id.
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at 35. Reclamation, however, has never implemented the requirements of RPA 1 since
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the 1994 Biological Opinion.
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As part of the 1994 Biological Opinion, FWS also provided an incidental take
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statement. An incidental take statement protects Reclamation from section 9 take liability.
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16 U.S.C. § 1536(0). In the incidental take statement, FWS stated that implementing RPA
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1A's Seasonally Adjusted Steady Flows requirement would "minimize take of the
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humpback chub" because it would redistribute sediment to "establish and maintain habitats
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for use of young life stages of humpback chub in the mainstem [of the Colorado River]."
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Exh. 3 (1994 BO) at 40. Accordingly, Reclamation's "safe harbor" from take liability was
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predicated on implementation of RPA I and protection and restoration of chub habitat in
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9 A low water year is when no more than 8.23 million acre -feet of water is released
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from Glen Canyon Dam, which is the minimum amount required to satisfy water supply
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�elivery mandates between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin states.
Steady flows also create beneficial conditions for the chub because they are more
adapted to high steady flows than nonnative fish. Exh. 3 (2007 BA) at 84 (steady flows
").
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provide "16 to 34 percent more habitat [for chub] than non - native fish
Memorandum in Support of Pls.' 12
Motion for Summary Judgment