BOARD00949

• Board Meeting Date: 5/21/2001
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

9S

Federal & Int~rstate Issues

New Federal Officials:

· Interior Solicitor -- William Gerry Myers III was nominated to be the futerior Solicitor. An .
attorney with the Boise, Idaho office of Holland & Hart, he has served as an Assistant Attorney
General in the Justice Department, Deputy Chief Counsel in the Energy Department, and
Executive Director ofthe Public Lands Council.

. Deputy Interior Secretary -- Steven Griles was riominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of
Interior. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Water under President Ronald
Reagan.

. Water & Science -- BeIUlett Raley was nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for
Water and Science. He is President of Trout and Raley, P.C. in Denver. He served as Staff
Counsel to U.S. Senator Hank Brown in the 102nd Congress and was Chief Counsel at the Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights during the 104th
Congress. He also served as a Co-Chair of the Federal Water Rights Task Force. He is a graduate
of Colorado State University and received his law degree from the University of Colorado.

· Assistant Attorney General-- Tom Sansonetti, an attorney with Holland & Hart from Cheyenne,
was nominated to be the Department of Justice'~ Assistant Attorney General for the Environment
and Natural Resources. He has served as Solicitor ofllie Department of Interior, Chief of Staff to
Rep. Craig Thomas (R-WY) and serVed on the Bush transition team. He will be the lead attorney
for the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, fut~rior and EP A.

. EP A (Deputy) -- Linda J. Fisher was nominated,to be the Deputy EP A Administrator. Fisher
served as Assistant Administrator in the Office 9fPolicy, Planning and Evaluation and the Office
of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances,~during the Reagan and earlier Bush .
Administration. Most recently, she was Vice President of Government Affairs for Monsanto.

. EP A (Toxies) -- Stephen 1. Johnson was nominated to be the Assistant Administrator for Toxic
Substances. He has served as Acting Administrator of EP A's Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and
Toxic Substances since January. He has held a variety ofEP A positions.

. EP A (Water) -- George Tracey Mehan, ITI, was ~ominated to be the Assistant Administrator for
Water. He is currently the Director of the Office of Great Lakes within the Michigan Department
of Environmental Quality. He served as Associate Deputy Administrator of the EP A from 1992 to
1993, and was Director ofthe Missouri Department of Natural Resources from 1989 to 1992. A
St. Louis University graduate, he also graduated from the SLU Law School.

More Federal Budget Details: The President's FY 2002 budget proposes $3.9 billion for the Army
Corps of Engineers and $814 million for Reclamation.

Reclamation' s Water and Related Resources accowit request is $648 million for management,
development and restoration of water and related n~tural resources; including the operation,
maintenance and rehabilitation ofreclamation facilities. The budget calls for extending authorities
under the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act. It also provides $2.8 million more for
the Minidoka Project in Idaho, and $34.9 million for the Central Utah Project. with $10.8 million of
that amount to be transferred to the Utah Reclamatipn Mitigation and Conservation Account.

The Corps funds will not be used for any new proj~ts, but rather to complete a backlog of ongoing
projects. The budget includes: $130 million for Getieral Investigations; $1.3 billion for General
Construction. $1.7 billion for General Operations at!1d Maintenance, $280 million for Mississippi .
River flood control, $128 million for Regulatory Programs, and $153 million for General Expenses
(the only area to see an increase in funding).

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