BOARD01541

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2006
• Description: WSP Section - Statewide Water Supply Initiative
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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NATURAL ENERGY RESOURCES COMPANY
P. O. Box 567, Palmer Lake, Colorado 80t33
[phone] Fax [phone]

Note: Visionary local, state,
& federal leadership is
essential to save Colorado's
water, agriculture, & tourist
environmenls during 2006.
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January 3, 2006

Mr. Fred Ore, Area Manager
Mr. Pat Mangan, EIS Coordinator
Eastern Colorado Area Office
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
11056 W. County Road 18 E
Loveland, Colorado 80537

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Subject: Superior water development option for Colorado Springs and Colorado

Dear Mr. Ore and Mr. Mangan:

In response to my November 11, 2005 letter, your Public Information Director has requested
additional information on Colorado's overlooked Central Colorado Project (CCP). She
specifically wants details on how CCP's high storage ofBur~au's undeveloped Aspinall Pool
rights can better serve the stated purposes and needs objectives of the proposed Southern
Delivery System (SDS) alternative for Colorado Springs Utilities.

Unfortunately, her narrow request is misleading, because it ignores the long-term purposes and
needs of impacted stakeholders throughout Colorado. The threats to Lower Arkansas Valley and
statewide agriculture are especially alanning.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEP A) requires objective comparisons of all reasonable
alternatives, within the context of regional planning guidelines. It is cornman knowledge that the
SDS pipeline options currently being evaluated by the Bureau would excessively de-water the
over appropriated Arkansas River system. However, the major socioeconomic and
environmental impacts are not being considered. The Bureau is also improperly ignoring
Colorado's vast unused Aspinall Pool and Colorado River Compact entitlements. These
unallocated rights are available for high storage and gravity distribution to Colorado Springs and
five major river basins, via CCP.

To avoid further costly delays and waste of pub lie resources, the Bureau must include Colorado's
superior CCP option in its ongoing evaluation of SDS for Colorado Springs. With this
eomparison, local, state, and federal stakeholders will soon unite behind an emergency CCP
development program to realize the following unprecedented advantages:

. Develops Bureau's unused Aspinall Pool and Colorado's unused Colorado River rights;

. Reverses unnecessary current dry-up of Colorado's fanns and river environments;

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Augments streams, when and where needed, during variable drought conditions;