BOARD01820

• Board Meeting Date: 4/14/1965
• Description: Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

MR. STAPLETON:

MR. SMITlI:

"Mr. Smith."

"Mr. Chairman, members of the Board, ladies
and gentlemen, The Colorado River Water Con-
servation District, which I represent as
Secretary-Engineer, is certainly vitally inter-
ested in getting the oil shale industry moving..
Therefore, we have been working with a number
of the oil companies to develop plans for meet-
ing their water requirements.

I

We have not been able to take any official
action on this proposed contract because our
board doesn't meet until next week. At that
time they will, and I am sure that they will
be very much in favor of going forward with
the thing.

In my letter to Mr. Dugan, I did point
out, however, that our interpretation of Senate
Document No. 80 and the Federal District Court
in Denver did declare that we were benefici- .
aries under the provisions of that document
and that the document did constitute a contract.
We did point out that of this 100,000 acre-
feet compensatory pool there were preferences
of use stated there and those preferences,
first preferences, went to irrigation and
domestic uses. Of course, part of this oil
shale water, no doubt, will go for domestic
uses.

It did, as Mr. Sparks pointed out, provide
that water could be made available for indus-
try, especially the oil shale industry, and
we favor that very much because it does make
the water available immediately and it isn't
needed right now, all of it, for those prefer-
ence uses.

I do feel, though, and I did point out to I
Mr. Dugan, that any contract entered into
should be of interim nature and that the oil
companies will probably need to develop stor-
age of their own as the demand for irrigation
water from the compensatory pool builds up.