BOARD02588

• Board Meeting Date: 5/24/1999
• Description: Directors' Reports
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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WHEREAS, Probable maximum precipitation estimates in the western United States are
typically about 3 times the 1 DO-year rainfall event; and

WHEREAS, The United State Army Corps of Engineers has used 7 times the 100-year
rainfall event; and

WHEREAS, The United States Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather
Service have refused an independent peer review, even though the federal Energy
Regulatory Commission regularly requires such peer reviews as part of its licensing
procedures for hydro power facilities at dams, and the Colorado State Engineer has a
similar policy for reviews of probable maximum precipitation studies and is currently in
phase II of a study funded by Colorado Senate Bills 94-029 and 97-008 to develop an
alternative model to predict extreme rainfall amounts for basins above 5,000 feet mean
sea level; and

WHEREAS, Such an independent peer review panel should consist of local experts in the
fields of extreme precipitation and flood hydrology that have knowledge of Colorado's
unique climatological conditions; and

WHEREAS, The March 5, 1999, "peer" review response submitted by the United States
Army Corps of Engineers is simply another in-house review prepared by the National
Weather Service, is not an independent analysis, and does not address the full range of
issues that are typically addressed in a proper independent peer review; and

.

WHEREAS, The proposed construction of upstream dry dams will displace many
Coloradans from their homes and businesses and destroy hundreds of acres of active
agricultural land and open space; and

WHEREAS, Any government agency proposal to spend from $50 to $250 million of
taxpayer money must be based on data and assumptions that are as accurate as possible;
and

WHEREAS, Because all alternatives being considered by the United States Army Corps
of Engineers will have substantial negative impact on homes and families near the dam
and upstream of the dam and adversely affect property values, the cost of any real estate
that would properly be condemned should be included in determining the cost of any
alternatives considered; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the
Sixty-
second General Assembly of the State of Colorado , the House of Representatives
concurring herein:

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That no further funding of the United States Army Corps of Engineers should be
provided for the Cherry Creek Basin Study until the United States Army Corps of
Engineers completes an independent peer review of the National Weather Service data in
order to determine the appropriate design flood for the Cherry Creek Basin.

http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/sessI999/sres99/sjr023.htm

4/1 /99