BOARD00896

• Board Meeting Date: 3/21/2006
• Description: Report of the Attorney General
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

2. Kansas v. Colorado, United States Supreme Court. No. lOS, Ori!!inal.

The Special Master was forced by illncss to postpone the status conference he had scheduled .
for March 15. The states have fully briefed the issue of costs and remain about $9 million
apart, so an agreement seems out ofreach. We have exchanged comments on the latest
version of the final decree. Finally, the engineers from the two states are still discussing an
issue regarding the updated calibration of the model for 1997-2004 - which resulted in
additional depletions for Colorado. The Special Master still hopes to have a final report that
is not subject to exeeptions and is willing to take a little more time to completc the decree
and report if nccessary.

3. Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes' Settlement, Case Nos. 7-W-l603-76F &
76.J, 02-CW-llS, & 02-CW-86.

These five cases are two applications to modify the 1991 consent decrees to match the
final configuration of the Animas-La Plata Project (A-LP), two change applications for the
newly-configured tribal water rights, and one diligence application for the full original A-LP
conditional watcr right. Citizens' Progressive Alliance (CPA) is the opponcnt in all five
cases, all of which are in pre-trial discovery.

The settlemcnt parties are busy preparing for the pre-trial hearing for ease 0lCW54 (the
diligence case) on Mareh 17. The trial is set for April 17-22,2006. The Southwestern
District is the Applicant, and its conditional water rights cncompass all water for the Animas-
La Plata Project as well as for the larger initial version of the Project. The State and other
settlement parties are Opposers in Support of the District's application. CPA's counsel so far
refuses to exchange exhibits or witness lists, and we pray that the Judge will limit the issues
to a manageable scope at the pre-trial hearing.

On March I, the Court granted the State's request for oral argument on CPA's motion for
summary judgment in the other four cases (the change cases and the motions to modify the
consent decrees on the tribal reserved water right claims), whieh motion is still pending after
more than a year. The court listed ten issues raised by CPA it wants to consider. Many are
related to the law governing off-reservation use of the tribal rights. The hearing date has not
been set.

CPA's motions to compel the State are pending in all five cases, and CPA's replies are
due March 16. CPA seeks all State correspondence relating to the Animas La Plata Project
and the State's privileged engineering studies concerning the scope of the tribal reserved
rights claims. These documents were not produced because they are not relevant to any issue
before the court in any of the five pending cases. If the court rules that they are relevant, the
State will begin to defend its privilege against disclosure of the majority of the documents.

.

4. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Reserved Ri!!hts Case, No. W-437.
Water Division 4.

The state water court case remains stayed, awaiting resolution of the environmental
. objectors' federal action before quantification can proceed. The oral argument before Judge .

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