Letter from Colorado River District

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Mr. Jeremy Casterson Bureau of Land Management Little Snake Field Office May 16, 2007 Page 2 Colorado General Assembly and the State's water users have spent a great deal of time and money building flexibility into Colorado's water law system. As most of the State's river systems are already over-appropriated(meaning there are more demands than supplies).we can not afford to lose flexibility in the system. Therefore,we recommend that the BLM select Alternative B, finding that none of the potentially eligible segments is suitable to be designated or managed pursuant to the WSRA. The River District supports and concurs with comments submitted by Juniper Water Conservancy District ("Juniper District"), Moffat County, and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association("Tri-State). In particular,the River District agrees with Juniper District and Tri-State's legal analysis relative to the BLM's suitability determination and incorporate their comments by reference. H. SPECIFIC COMMENTS A. The EIS does not contain an adequate analysis of the impacts of Wild and Scenic Designation. The BLM's Wild and Scenic Rivers Guidance document states that: `'[p]lanning records and documents must carefully describe all analyses and determinations made pursuant to this Manual. All such determinations shall be explained in public documents. A narrative and rationale shall be part of the planning record and included as a part of the RMP/EIS. It is necessary to establish and maintain a record of assessment for each river segment identified and examined." BLM Manual 8351.3.34(A), 1Vild and Scenic Rivers-Policy and Program Direction .for ldenl ification,Evaluation,and Management(1993)("BLM 8351"). Additionally. the National Environmental Policy Act's("NEPA")objective is to inform decision- makers about potential actions. 40 CFR 1502.1 (CEQ Regulations). The analyses of the impacts associated with the Wild and Scenic designation of five riversegments in the Yampa River Basin,including the impacts to water rights,is inadequate for the purposes of both the BLM's guidance and NEPA.