BOARD01267

• Board Meeting Date: 11/16/2004
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

State Engineer's Office

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HERSCHlER BUIWING, 4-E CHEYENNE, WYOMING 82002
(307) 77T.1354 FAX [phone]
S8OIeg<<llslafe.wy.us
October 14, 2004

DAVE FREUDENTHAL
GOVERNOR

PATRICK T. TYRRELL
STATE ENGINEER

The Honorable Gale Norton
Secretary of the Interior
Office of the Secretary
Deparbnent of Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20240

RECEIVED

OCT 26 2&

. CldcnoIo~~ IlosnI

Dear Secretary Norton:

I am writing this letter to request that your Department include appropriation requests in
the President's budget for fiscal year 2007 in the event that Lake Powell's elevation would drop
below the minimum elevation necessary to produce power is 3490 or 4.126 MAP of live storage.
The ongoing drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin, now entering its sixth consecutive year,
is unprecedented during the period since completion of Glen Canyon Dam and continues to
present signilicant challenges to the Upper Basin States. If these historic drought conditions .
continue, there is a distinct possibility that the storage in Lake Powell could drop below the
minimum elevation for power production. Lake Powell's water level elevation as of September
30, 2004 was a little less than 3,571 feet with live storage being at 9.17 million acre-feet. Lake
Powell is projected to reach a low prior to spring mnoff of 3551.82, or 7.716 MAP of live
storage. At that point in time, the reservoir will be only a little over 60 feet above the elevation
at which hydropower generation would have to be suspended.

Suspension of power generation at the Glen Canyon Power Plant would have grave
consequences and tremendous impacts not only for power customers who use Glen Canyon
generation as a part of their power supply resource, but also for the entire Upper Basin.. As you
know, revenues obtained from the sale of Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) power
generation are an important and integral source of funding for the Upper Colorado River Basin
Development Fund. In turn, the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and
the San Juan River Endangered Fish Recovery Implementation Program, . as well as the Glen
Canyon Adaptive Management Program, are dependent upon the Basin Fund as a source of
program funding. Pursuant to P,L. 106-392, revenues from CRSP power generation are used for
annual operation and maintenance funding by the aforementioned Recovery Programs, The Glen
Canyon Adaptive Management Program and the Colorado River Basin Salinity ControlProgram
also make use of Upper Colorado River Basin Development Fund monies that has as their source
CRSP power revenues, This funding is critical to the ability of the Upper Basin Stirtes to
continue to use our Compact apportionments.

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