WSPC06339

• File Number: 8272.500.10
• Description: Colorado River Basin-Water Quality-Salinity-Organizations and Entities-CO Dept of Public Health-WQCC
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 3/14/1980
• Title: Colorado River Salinity-Water Quality Control Commission-1978 Standards-Standards and Implementation Policy Hearings-Comments on Behalf of Chevron Shale Oil Company
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

. FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Plaintiff,

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Civil Action No. 77-1436

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND, INC.,

v.

DOUGLAS M. COSTLE, Administretor,
U. S. Environmenta.l Protection Agencyj
CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary,
U. S. Department of the Interiorj
R. KEITH HIGGINSON, Commissioner,
Bureau of Reclamation,
U. S. Department of the Interior,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO DISMISS:

MATTERS CONCERNING THE ROLE OF INTERSTATE COMPACTS
OF THE COLORADO RIVER
ON THE CLAIMS PRESENTED BY PLAINTIFF

The Defendant-Intervenors Mountain States Legal Found~tion, National

Water Resources Association, Colorado Water Congress, and Yuma Auxiliary Pro-

ject, hereby submit to this Court the following memorandum on ma'tters pertaining

to the :,ole of interstate compacts in this action.

INTRODUCTION

From the headwaters in Colorado and Wyoming to the M~xican border, the

waters of the Colorado River now bringing life and prosperity to the semi-arid

West, It was recognized early in the development of the Western states that these

'.'Jaters would have to be conserved and stored to ensure a sufficient water supply

for growing municipalities, industries, and agriculture. The states also sought to

protect their respective rights to divert dnd appropriate the waters (or beneficial

use by their citizens, After many years of litigation and negotiation these goals

",','ere met in part through the 1922 negotiation of the Colorado River Compact,

approved by Congress in the Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928J 43 U,S.C. 617, and

the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, approved by Congress in Act of April 6,

1949, c. 48, 63 Stat. 31. Since the signing of these Com{?acts, water rights have

been created under each state':; B.t:'prcpric.ticn laws, lands heve been purchrlscd,

farml,and brought into production, federal investments made, and towns developed,

on the proposition that the allocation for beneficial use of the Colorado River was

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