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<br />45. (The role of the Upper Colorado River Commission:) In its <br />Order Re: Arapahoe's Rule 56(h) Motions entered on April 11, 1991, <br />the Court concluded that a finding by the Upper Colorado River <br />Commission determining an apportionment of the capacity of the <br />Aspinall Unit to assure deliveries to Lee Ferry must be made before <br />the Court could be in a position to recognize that a certain <br />quantity of water stored in the Aspinall Unit ,for deliveries to Lee <br />Ferry can be called. In view of the comprehensive treatment of the <br />operation of the Colorado River Storage Project by Congress in <br />CRSPA, the 1968 Colorado River Basin project Act and the promulga- <br />tion of the long range operating criteria and having heard the <br />evidence on how the operations of CRSP are planned and executed in <br />consultation with the states and the Upper Colorado River Commis- <br />sion, the Court now concludes that no specific finding by the Upper <br />Colorado River Commission is required. To the extent the Upper <br />Colorado River Commission ever had a role in apportioning the <br />capacity of the Aspinall unit for the delivery of water to Lee <br />Ferry, the Court now finds that the 1968 Act displaced said role. <br />Thus, the Court hereby modifies its Order of April 11 accordingly. <br /> <br />46. The Coordinated Long-Range Operation provides for the <br />operation of the reservoirs in the upper and lower basins in a <br />coordinated fashion to assure that the purposes of the compacts, <br />treaties and laws authorizing the projects are accomplished. <br /> <br />47. In addition to the annual operating plan, the Bureau of <br />Reclamation prepares an annual report of the operation of the <br />Colorado River Basin and the projected operations for each year. <br />The report contains the actual operations of the current year and <br />a projection of the operations for the next year. The report is <br />submitted to Congress and the gove=ors of the Colori3.do River Basin <br />States by the Secretary of the Interior. " <br /> <br />48. The operation of the CRSP reservoirs is, thus, gove=ed by <br />the law of the river, the long-range operating criteria promulgated <br />by the secretary of the Interior on June 4, 1970, and the annual <br />operating plan. . <br /> <br />49. In operating the CRSP for the aforementioned purposes, the <br />Bureau of Reclamation has the following operational objectives: <br />maintain the reservoirs full and operate to avoid spills, bypass <br />minimum flows for recreation and fish and wildlife, maintain pool <br />levels for recreation, match releases with firm electrical power <br />load demands of WAPA, and flood control. <br /> <br />50. In January of each year the Bureau of Reclamation gets the <br />forecast of runoff for the April-July period from the National <br />Weather ~ervice and, in coordination with the Corps of Engineers, <br />determines how much storage must be evacuated for flood control and <br />the scheduling of the required releases for power production and <br />fish and wildlife benefits. Once the draw down is achieved, the <br />reservoirs are allowed to fill again to achieve the conservation <br />storage purpose. The Bureau holds the storage units relatively <br />full in the summer to maximize recreation benefits and draw the <br /> <br />25 <br />