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Executive Summary <br />Briefing Report: Platte River Endangered Species Program Agreement <br />Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and the U.S. Department of Interior (Interior) have reached <br />agreement in principle on a program to protect endangered species in the Central Platte <br />River Valley in Nebraska. The program will allow water use and development activities in <br />each of the three states to continue, in compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) <br />and in accordance with state water law and state entitlements under interstate compact. If <br />final agreement is reached, the three governors and the Secretary of the Interior will sign <br />the Agreement in late June or early July. <br />The agreement is in two phases: the Cooperative Agreement and the first phase of the <br />Proposed Program. The Cooperative Agreement establishes a three -year period during <br />which the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will review the Proposed Program as <br />required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the ESA. During this <br />review period, milestones establish activities the states and Interior will undertake to <br />prepare for program implementation. Water users will have regulatory certainty under the <br />ESA upon the payment of specified mitigation fees. <br />The Cooperative Agreement establishes a ten - member Governance Committee, composed <br />of representatives of the states, Interior, water users and environmental organizations. The <br />Governance Committee will oversee activities under the Cooperative Agreement and the <br />Proposed Program, and will serve as a forum for dispute resolution. <br />After ESA and NEPA review, the states and Interior will enter into a new agreement that <br />will formally establish the Program. Based on the review, the FWS may determine that the <br />Proposed Program is inadequate or -must be modified. In that event, the states and FWS <br />will need to renegotiate the program. If the parties do not enter into an agreement <br />establishing a program, the FWS will reinitiate its original consultation on all permits that <br />have relied on the interim protections offered under the Cooperative Agreement. <br />The Proposed Program will extend indefinitely, but will be implemented in increments. <br />The first increment will be from ten to about thirteen years. The parties will negotiate a <br />second increment, and any activities to be implemented, based on the results of the first <br />increment. The FWS will reopen federal permits relying on the Program at the end of the <br />first increment, to include any new terms relevant to the second increment. <br />If the Program terminates or expires, or if the activities under the Program are not <br />adequately completed, the FWS may reinitiate ESA. consultation on all permits that have <br />relied on the Program as a reasonable and prudent alternative. If the FWS reinitiates <br />consultation on any one permit on this basis, it will reinitiate consultation on all such <br />permits. <br />To serve as the reasonable and prudent alternative for the impacts of existing water <br />projects, the Program must make progress towards and ultimately attain two goals in the <br />first increment. First, the parties will protect and restore at least 10,000 acres of land, and, <br />secondly, will deliver 130,000 to 150,000 acre -feet of water to the Central Platte habitat <br />area. This water will be measured as reductions of shortages against the target flows that <br />i <br />