Tamarack Plan Implementation and Governance Issues

• Description: related to the Platte River Endangered Species Partnership ‎( aka Platte River Cooperative Agreement [CA]; aka Platte River Recovery Implementation Program [PRRIP])‎
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Title: Tamarack Plan Implementation and Governance Issue
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Contract/Agreement

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