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COMMENTS OF CENTRAL NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER AND <br />IRRIGATION DISTRICT <br />state what these Projects should be required to do.H1 <br />Presumably this approach was formulated because FERC now has <br />jurisdiction over these Projects, and will never have <br />jurisdiction over many of the other water users on the <br />Platte River.& It is, nevertheless, legally and equitably <br />without support. <br />CEN -7 1 I. DOI's Section In ti <br />+pmt ndatione nre <br />Directed to he Basin and Not the Projects <br />Comparisons of basin -wide plans and <br />recommendations with DOI's section 10(j) recommendations <br />,"' On numerous occasions the DOI has coyly evaded <br />specific recommendations for the Projects. Sep, e.g., DOI, <br />7C May 19, 1994 Comments at 3 (stating that "the Department <br />w .does not expect the licensees will be able to meet the flow <br />targets 100 percent of the time. "); DOI, The Department of <br />the Interior's Comments on Scoping Document and Workshop <br />Report for the Revised Draft Environmental Impact_ <br />Statement 5 (Feb. 11, 1993) ( "DOI, February 11. 1993 <br />Comments ") (stating that "the Department's Instream flow <br />recommendations do not constitute a proposed operating <br />regime . . . [but DOI] intends that its recommended instream <br />levels be maximized. "); The Department of the interior's <br />Comments on the Draft Environmental Imact Statement 10 <br />(June 10, 1992) ( "DOI, Comments on the DEIS ") (stating that <br />"[w]e recognize that . . . the projects' facilities do not <br />have sufficient water to meet the target flows 100 percent <br />.of the time. "); DOI, Comments Under Section 10(j) of the <br />Federal Power Act (Nov. 15, 1990) ( "DOI, 1990 10(i) <br />Comments ") ( "[t]he licensee shall manage water releases from <br />Lake McConaughy and other project facilities to maximize the <br />occurrence of the following flows ." (emphasis in <br />original)). <br />3s1 Most of the smaller upstream water users are <br />irrigators not required to seek any type of federal <br />authorization. Most larger upstream projects were built by <br />and are operated under the auspices of the Bureau of <br />Reclamation or the Army Corps of Engineers. It is ironic <br />that basin -wide improvements are sought by DOI in this <br />proceeding without discussing potential contributions of <br />projects controlled by sister federal entities. <br />- 21 - <br />RESPONSES TO CENTRAL NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER AND <br />IRRIGATION DISTRICT <br />CEN -7 We agree that Interior's 100) recommendations represent basin -wide goals <br />that cannot be fully satisfied solely by these projects. <br />