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002557 . . .. Also, Mr. Harris and I Tecently met with members of the Palo VeTde Irrigation District's Board of Directors and senior management staff. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss potential issues related to implementation ofthe LCR MSCP, scope of California covered projects, habitat restoration opportunities in the Palo Verde Valley, cost-sharing. long-term funding, and so forth. PVID is also concerned about the potential ramifications associated with the listing of the Burrowing owl by the Ca\iforniaDepartment ofFish and Game and impacts on PVID operations and maintenance activities in the Palo Verde Valley. Colorado River Pikeminnow Recently I received a copy of a letter from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to Mr, Curt Taucher, in his role as chair of the Colorado River Fish and Wildlife Council (CRFWC), regarding the potential repatriation and management of the Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius) in the Lower Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam, The CRFWC is an ad hoc organization comprised of representatives of wildlife resource agencies from the seven Colorado River Basin states. The NWF also indicated its support for SB 4\2 (Sher) advocating the incidental taking of fully protected species in conjunction with necessary scientific research. The'NWF believes that Colorado pikeminnow should be repatriated to the Lower Colorado River and managed as an "experimental non-essential" population, pursuant to Section I O(j) ofthe federal Endangered Species Act. Included in the Board folder is a copy ofNWF's letter to the CRFWC. Lower Colorado Water Supolv Proiect (LCWSP) Blythe Energy Project Included in the Board folder, for your information, are copies of the latest correspondence related to the Blythe Energy Project's (BEP) use of Colorado River water for power plant cooling. In response to the Board's letter to the California Energy Commission (CEe) concerning BEP II, the PVID has informed the CEC, that in its opinion the pumping of groundwater for power generation purposes on the lower Palo Verde Mesa, within PVID's service area, is not an unauthorized use. With regard to BEP I, a representative from the project has written to Reclamation, asking it to reaffirm its prior statements concerning BEP's Water Conservation Offset Program (WCOP) for the use of Colorado River water or supply it with any information Reclamation has or recently received to cause it to change its position. In its initial letter, Reclamation indicated its acceptance ofthe Water Conservation Offset Program. In a subsequent letter, Reclamation indicated that the WCOP proposed for BEP I may not meets Reclamation's criteria since it had recently learned that the lands to be fallowed did not have a recent history of irrigation. 5 1 ~I~ ~ rV ~