ALP 3

STATE OF COLORADO
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1580 Logan Street, Suite 600
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us
September 15, 2012
Russell Howard, General Manager
Animas -La Plata Operation, Maintenance and Replacement Association
125 Smelter Place
Durango, CO 81303
Re: A -LP Membership
Dear Russ:
John W. Hickenlooper
Governor
Mike King
DNR Executive Director
Jennifer L. Gimbel
CWCB Director
At the August 13, 2012 Association Meeting, I provided the Association Members with a letter
dated August 8, 2012, summarizing the State's position on a number of issues that were a
concern to the Association. It was my hope that the letter would provide sufficient clarification
to those concerns and CWCB would be voted in as a member at the August 13, 2012 meeting,
but unfortunately that did not occur.
At the August 13, 2012 Association Meeting it was discussed that there were still some
remaining concerns over the State's Purchase Contract, specifically Section 5 "Allocation and
Use of Project Water ". Additionally it was discussed that there were concerns over the State
Engineer's Office (SEO) filing for retained jurisdiction and the impacts associated with that
decision. The following is my response to these concerns.
As you know, the State participated fully in the numerous drafting sessions of the IGA and the
"Concepts and Principles" in its Exhibit A. These reflect important concepts that we still
support. They include: (1) that the Project will be operated "in a manner that will benefit all of
the Project participants to the fullest extent possible," (2) that Project participants will "pursue as
a group any administrative or judicial steps required to assure that Project operations as set forth
in this document are in conformity with applicable law," and (3) that "each Project participant
has a right to make maximum beneficial use of its Statutory Water Allocation so long as such
use is consistent with applicable law and does not injure other water rights or other participants'
Statutory Water Allocations."
In developing Section 5 within the repayment contract, the CWCB was interested in using and
reusing its project water allocation to the extent permitted by the Project decrees and Federal
Authorization. Section 5 does make reference that the water can be used for compact purposes,
augmentation, or exchange, within the State of Colorado, but those uses are subject to Project
decrees and Federal Authorization. The IGA, as summarized above, allows each Project
Participant the right to maximize its Statutory Water Allocation, so long as such use meets
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