BOARD00155

• Board Meeting Date: 9/21/1998
• Description: Summary Minutes and Record of Decisions - September 21-22, 1998
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
721 Centennial Building
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone],3441
FAX: [phone]

Resolution
Ofthe
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Adopted September 22, 1998

Roy Romer
Governor
James S. Lochhead
Executive Director, DNR
Dariese. Ule, P.E.
Director, ewes
Peter H. Evans
Acting Director, CWCB

WHEREAS Ballot Initiative 16 is a proposed amendment to Colorado's Constitution
directed at one water conservation district and that wonld require payments of $40.00 per
acre foot based on a proration of the amount of water pumped from under State Land
Board lands covered by Water Decree W-3038; and

WHEREAS such payments are required not only on water to be pumped in the future,
but on all water that has been pumped since operation of the Closed Basin Project began
in 1985; and

WHEREAS it has not been established that the State Land Board has legal rights to the
water discussed in the initiative; and

WHEREAS the proposed initiative wonld limit the value of the Closed Basin Project and ..
reduce the benefits which include Colorado's ability to comply with the Rio Grande .
compact obligations; and

WHEREAS the Colorado Water Conservation Board contributed to the development of
the Closed Basin Project because the benefits to the state are substantial;

NOW THEREFORE, the Colorado Water Conservation Board finds that:

1, Initiative 16 mandates payment of an excessive amount for water, rights to
which the State Land Board has no legally established rights, thus
potentially raising liability to the State for improper taking.

2. The use of the initiative process and the State Constitution to resolve local
disputes is bad public policy.

For these reasons, the Colorado Water Conservation Board opposes Initiative 16,

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Peter H. Evans, Acting Director