BOARD02129

• Board Meeting Date: 10/31/1973
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

I

I

have the right to take the water at a reasonable cost for use in the
Piceance basin.

The statements that have been made concerning the amounts of the
claims that were made for pipelines, etc., to carry the water into
the Piceance basin are true. I was present during every session of
that general adjudication, but the fact is that there is no other
large holdover type storage reservoir available without going into
an extreme cost somewhere down below the confluence of the South
and the North Forks of the White River.

I think the more important point, however, is that which is made,
and I just saw this for the first time, by the Board of the Northern
Colorado Water Conservancy District. That point is that regardless
of how we may be able to work out the use of this water to the
benefit of the oil shale industry, if that should be the thing to do
and if that should be what happens, or for the benefit of the oil
shale industry in Rifle if that should be what happens, or for the
generation of hydroelectric energy which is the original plan of
Rocky Mountain Power Company, and I might suggest that I think
Mr. Moses would agree, that even though we did have some ideas back
in '63 and '64 when I talked to Humble at that time about a joint
development, it is not wise until you know that you can have a
market, it is not wise to change your statement of claim in the
middle of an adjudication proceeding.

There has been no change and there is no change. However, in the
event that the market becomes a reality, then of course as far as
the other water rights on that river are concerned the decree of
Rocky Mountain Power Company is one hundred percent consumptive
because there is involved transportation out of the basin. There-
fore, I can't see that any junior appropriator would be injured by
changes in the plan to permit the use in the Piceance basin. I
mention that only by way of explanation that this subject is not new.
It was considered ten years ago. The people who are talking about
it at the present time testified in the adjudication proceeding and
the fact is that it is a matter under active consideration and there
are active discussions going on with other oil companies besides
Humble which would lead to that time of the utilization of this water
resource. . I think that the economic impact on oil shale by requiring
the construction of a reservoir farther downstream at an extremely
expensive site is going to be adverse and could be substantial. And
I think that probably it is foolish to include the Meadows Reservoir
site at this particular time.

But the more important point, the point that I want to emphasize is
that this board has consistently for a period of a great many years,
when I sat as a member of this board for some six years, representing

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