Laserfiche WebLink
<br />128 <br /> <br />UBE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this Re,olution <br />shall be forwarded to the Colorado Senators and Representatives <br />in the Congress of the United States". <br /> <br />Motion for the adoption of the resolution was made by Dan <br />B. Hunter, seconded by John W. Beaty. On vote being taken, <br />the resolution was declared adopted. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Director Stone presented for the record a summary of the survey <br />made in the North Park area, under the 1945 Supreme Court decree for the year <br />19L8. This summary shows: <br /> <br />"That there were 130,023 acres of land irrigated in Jackson <br />County, Colorado, during the 1948 season. There is a probability <br />that, except for the limitation imposed by the Supreme Court de- <br />cree, the irrigated acreage in Jackson County will expand. The in- <br />creasingly severe restrictions upon the grazing of livestock in <br />the National Forest necessitates the development of additional <br />irrigated pasture land on the floor of North Park. That 4,475 acre <br />feet of water were stored in reservoirs in the North Platte Basin <br />in Colorado; and that a total of 1,913 acre feet bf water was ex- <br />ported out of the basin for- use in other basins in Colorado." <br /> <br />The Director announced that the Board's staff had completed such <br />investigations and compilations for each year since the entry of the North <br />Platte decree. <br /> <br />~ Director Stone, followed by Mr. Breitenstein and Mr. Tipton, dis- <br />cussed the resolutions sponsored by California pending in Congress for the pur- <br />pose of initiating litigation over Color-ado River water. The California pro- <br />.posal is that the Congress give consent to have the United States made a party <br />defendant in any litigation involving the waters of the Colorado River. The <br />-'Director said that the Upper Basin States advocate that litigation be limited <br />as far as possible to controversies in the Lower Basin of the River, and con- <br />fined to a judicial determination under the Colorado River Compact, the Cali- <br />fornia self-limitation statute and the Boulder Canyon Project Act. It was the <br />view of all of the Colorado River Basin States, except California and Nevada, <br />that no justiciable issue now exists. <br /> <br />Mr. Breitenstein predicted that a lawsuit will eventually material- <br />ize, and that Colorado.will undoubtedly be drawn into it. He said the State <br />should try to prevent' litigation, but if there is to be a suit, to try to limit <br />the scope of the litigation. Mr. Breitenstein read the text of a resolution, <br />opposing the California suit, and a statement in regard thereto, adopted by a <br />subcommittee of the Upper Colorado River Basin States Committee. The resolu- <br />tion and statement were prepared originally for presentation to the House <br />Judiciary Committee. The resolution reads as follows: <br /> <br />"WHEREAS, H.J.Res. 3, and allied resolutions have as their <br />declared purpose the granting of consent to joinder of the United <br />States as a party to interstate Supreme Court litigation involv- <br />ing the use of water of the Colorado River System, and <br />nirHERFAS, such litigation is of vital interest to the Colo- <br />rado River Basin States because of the effect thereof upon the de- <br />velopment of water use projects dependent upon the Colorado River <br />System for a water supply, and <br /> <br />I <br />