BOARD00936

• Board Meeting Date: 1/25/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

the short term, but they believe it should improve their processing efficiency in the long run.
They expect the learning process to be continual.

If you have specific questions, please contact Kevin Riordan at R-2 Ditch Bill Coordinator, 740 Simms
Street, Golden, CO 80401,303-275-5091 or via email atkriordan(al.fs.fed.us.

Congressional Legislative Update: A first status report about introduced federal legislation is attached
for your information.

A WRA Hosts 2nd National Water Policy Dialogue: On Feb 14 the American Water Resources
Association (A WRA) will host a meeting in Tucson, AZ, to address present and future stresses on water
resources and discuss the need for balanced water policies at all levels of govemment. Keynote speakers
include The Honorable Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona; The Honorable Pete Domenici, U. S.
Senator from New Mexico; The Honorable John Linder, U. S. Congressman from Georgia; and Kathleen
McGinty, Secretary of the Environment, State of Pennsylvania.

Three key issues have been selected for discussion by panels comprised of experts from around the
nation. The three key issues are:

. Water Resources Supply And Demand
. Infrastructure Management
. Environmental Quality

For more information, visit htto://www.awra.org/meetings/Tucson2005/index.html.

Raley Resigns, Replacement Named: Bennett Raley, the Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and
Science, resigned in December 2004 and was replaced by Tom Weimer.

Bennett stated in his letter of resignation that he was returning home to Colorado to spend more time with
his family and resume his law practice.

Immediately following Raley's announcement, Secretary Norton named Tom Weimer to replace him.
Weimer has been serving as principal deputy assistant secretary for Water and Science for the past three
and a half years. He has served previously at Interior as Chief of Staff under Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr.
Weimer worked on the professional staff of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and
served as a sub-committee staff director on the House Committee on Science. Before assuming his current
position, he was legislative director for National Laboratory Affairs at the University of California.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: Maryanne Bach has been named Reclamation's Research and
Development Director and assumed her new duties in Denver in mid-December. Previously, Ms. Bach
was the Regional Director of the Bureau's Great Plains Region headquartered in Billings, Montana.

President Signs Arizona Water Settlement Legislation; On Dec. 10,2004 President Bush signed the
"Arizona Water Settlements Act" (S. 437). The signing culminates more than a decade of negotiations
among representatives of the federal government, the states of Arizona and New Mexico, local
governments, the Gila River Indian Cornmunity, the Tohono O'odham Nation and other Native American
communities in the region.

The Act approves three separate settlements and addresses water rights claims of the Gila River Indian
Community, which are among the largest Indian water rights claims in the West. The legislation also
addresses the Southern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement, which had only partially resolved the
claims of the Tohono O'odham Nation. Finally, the Act implements a settlement stipulation that brings
federal and state entities into agreement over how to ensure the reliable allocation of water supplies from
the Central Arizona Project (See P.L. 108-451).

.

.

.

4