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<br />response to this statutory mandate in the form of the Long-Range <br />Operating Criteria . . . that the Secretary has recognized that he <br />must release water from Lake Powell as outlined in Section 602 (a), <br />P.L. 90-537. At the present time there does not seem to be any way <br />that he can release water from Lake Powell in amounts more than <br />8,230,000 acre-feet for this current water year and not violate the <br />restrictions found in the proviso of Section 602 (a)(3) and the <br />Operating Criteria II (3)(a). <br /> <br />During the 1979 water year, heavy precipitation in the Colorado River <br /> <br />Basin generated streamflows well above normal, especially in the lower <br /> <br />reaches of the Basin. Heavy flows on tributaries below Lake Mead and a <br /> <br />diversion of 400,000 acre-feet of water from northern to southern California <br /> <br />satisfied much of the consumptive use demands on the Colorado River below <br /> <br />Hoover Dam. The results were reduced needs for Hoover Dam releases, <br /> <br />increased Lake Mead storage, and reduced hydroelectric generation to meet <br /> <br />Western Area Power Administration contractual commitments. Once again, the <br /> <br />choices available to the Department of the Interior were to operate the <br /> <br />reservoir system in accordance with the Operating Criteria and deliver less <br /> <br />power than the Western Area Power Administration had contracted for, or <br /> <br />release enough water to meet Western I s power commitments and violate the law. <br /> <br />In a Special Meeting on March 22, 1979, the Upper Colorado River <br /> <br />Commission passed a resolution that agreed to the release of an additional <br /> <br />700,000 acre-feet of water during the 1979 water year for power generation on <br /> <br />condition that all seven Basin States agree that: <br /> <br />. . . any releases of water from Lake Mead in excess of the <br />requirements of said Article 111(1) shall be accounted as if still <br />stored in Lake Mead for the purposes of meeting the objectives of <br />the Coordinated Long-Range Operating Criteria for Colorado River <br />Reservoirs. . . . <br /> <br />An April 11, 1979 letter from the Commissioner of Reclamation to the <br /> <br />Secretary of the Interior transmitted the Commission's proposal with a <br /> <br />12 <br />