BOARD00195

• Board Meeting Date: 3/20/2000
• Description: Water Resources and Power Authority Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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F~X NO.

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STATE OF COLOHADO

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MEMORAJ'fDUM

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TO:

DATE:

Ken Salazar, Executive Director
Department of Natural Resources

Peter Evans 7~€-/
Randy Seaholm[;l.~

October 29, 1993

FROM:

SUBJECT:

GUNNISON RIVER ISSUES & TAYLOR PARK RESERVOIR

At the August 4, 1993 meeting of the Interim Committee, Dave Miller provided you
a copy of his August 2, 1993 letter to Governor Romer in which he accuses us of giving
away state waters to the federal government. This accusation is simply a continuation of
previous efforts to twist facts for the benefit of the Union Park Reservoir Project in which
Mr. Miller has a significant financial interest. Mr. Miller's motivation for writing this letter
(and hundreds more like it) is his majority interest in a payment of 2.2 million dollars (plus
7% interest on portions thereof) that Natural Energy Resources Company (NECO) will
receive if Arapahoe County obtains a conditional decree for the Union Park Project and
successfully defeats, or obtains subordinations to, a sufficient quaotity of conditional water
rights to provide a safe yield of 60,000 af\year from the Union Park Project by August 28,
1998. The following is a statement of facts relative to Taylor Park Reservoir and the actions
which have transpired as we understand them.

Taylor Park Reservoir, located on the Taylor River at Taylor Park. is a feature of the
Uncompahgre Project. The Uncompahgre Project was originally authorized by the Secretary
of Interior on March 14, 1903, under the provisions of the Federal Reclamation Act. The
original project consisted of the Gunnison Tunnel, which diverted water from the Gunnison
River in the Black Canyon, through the tunnel and into a series of canals and laterals to
irrigate approximately 80.000 acres of land around Montrose. Colorado. The irrigated lands
are producing approximately $30,000,000 worth of crops annually. Taylor Park Reservoir
was constructed between 1935 and 1937 by the US Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation)
as part of the Uncompahgre Project rehabilitation approved by President Franklin Roosevelt
on November 6, 1935.