Laserfiche WebLink
<br />,. <br /> <br />In like fashion, the recreation community around Vallecito Reservoir was concerned <br />about the status of their valuable resource after transfer. Accordingly a written . <br />agreement was entered into between the District and the Vallecito community and made <br />a part of the Vallecito legislation. Other concerns involved the Forest Service and the <br />La Plata County government. <br />Legislation transferring the Vallecito Reservoir was introduced in March of 1998. <br />Hearings were held in the House Subcommittee on Water and Power in April of 1998 <br />and in the Senate Subcommittee on Water and Power in June of 1998. Congress <br />proposed several changes to the transfer, which had been agreed upon by the District <br />and the Administration. Those changes dealt with the acquisition price - specifically the <br />treatment of ongoing payments to the United States Treasury arising out of a <br />hydroelectric license, and second, an acquisition component reflecting the proposed <br />conversion of a small amount of the stored water from irrigation uses to M & I uses. <br />The Congress felt that the M & I conversion was too speculative and has deleted that <br />from the bill. <br />The bill is subject to Senate Energy Committee markup on September 23,1998. <br />Hopefully, it will soon secure unanimous consent in the Senate and then the House will <br />do the same. Interestingly, the treatment of the Vallecito transfer and other bills by the <br />House Resource Committee on August 4th, 1998 was important in creating a <br />breakthrough for title transfers. Specifically, the House Resources Committee marked <br />up a series of transfers and in doing so resolved between Republicans and Democrats <br />in the Congress the treatment of NEPA. Specifically, transfers with no change in <br />operations would require a short environmental assessment and would be completed <br />six months after Congressional authorization. Transfers with proposed changes in . <br />operations would take either a larger environmental assessment or an environmental <br />impact statement and would be completed with two years of enactment. A number of <br />bills are now poised for enactment by Congress in the last three weeks of its 1998 <br />session. <br /> <br />IV. Future <br /> <br />Reclamation owned facilities include a large number of reservoirs in thirteen <br />western states. Because new water supplies are not being developed by the United <br />States, the existing federal water storage facilities are becoming ever greater in <br />importance and in economic value. Given the breakthrough by the House Resource <br />Committee in terms of developing a consensus "user friendly" transfer process as it <br />relates to NEPA and environmental compliance, it is likely that a growing number of <br />districts will engage in the transfer process. <br />The Colorado Water Conservation Board should continue the leadership of the <br />State of Colorado in receiving these federal facilities. Specifically, it should adopt <br />administrative and legislative proposals focusing on financial and technical assistance <br />to encourage Colorado entities to accept the "offer" of the United States and bring more <br />and more federally owned storage facilities into the hands of state and local ownership. <br /> <br />L:lwctranslBoardmem/nov 98/17g, Vallecito Reservoir <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />3 <br />