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<br /> <br />Department of the Interior <br /> <br />Mr. Manual Lopez, Jr" Regional Director, Lower Colorado Region, <br />Bureau of Reclamation, Boulder City, Nevada. I do not have a prepared <br />report but I will report to you very briefly on what I think are the <br />the major sctivities are in the last six mon~hs in the Department. <br />The last sighteen months the Department has been at times, characterized <br />as times of great change. The major activities however, that we <br />are now concentrating on, are first to prepare an environmental <br />impact statement on the proposed regulations for the enforcement <br />of the acreage limitation. Congress has a multitude of bills being <br />considered on acreage limitation, We are hopeful that Congress will <br />act with a bill that can gst reported out this year. Because I think <br />it would be preferable to have a concise legislative mandate than <br />what we now have, In its absence, 1:10wever, we are preparing an EIS <br />on the proposed regulations .that are based on the current legislation <br />and on the court cases that have been tried on the current laws. <br />That effort will probably extend for about another six or seven <br />months. We should have a draft out ,some time early this coming <br />calendar year, The other major effort activity is that the Secretary <br />of the Interior has been designated! as the Cabinet Officer responsible <br />for implementing the President's Water Policy. Although other depart- <br />ments and agencies have individual rssponsibilities, the Secretary's <br />responsibilities are to coordinate all these activities into one <br />comprehensive package, We are in the middle of preparing an assess- <br />ment of how much of the President'siWster Policy can be implemented <br />inunediately without any further action. Those things that will <br />require regulations that have to be ,published in the Federal Register <br />and on which hearings will have to be held and comments provided by <br />states and individuals. Then finally that portion of the President's <br />Water Policy that will require legislation, that effort should be <br />complete very shortly. Much of the President's Water Policy however, <br />can get implemented without the need for any further action to be <br />taken, My judgement is that we will begin to see its implementation <br />before the end of this calendar year. <br /> <br />State of Arizona <br /> <br />Mr, Wesley E, Steiner, Executive Director, Arizona Water Commission. <br />You have already given me an opportunity to make my report, There are . <br />just a couple of things I would like to add. A couple of weeks ago <br />our Governor, and Attorney General decided that the State of Arizona <br />should intervene or attempt to intervene in the new suit that the <br />Environmental Defense Fund has brought against Conunissioner Haggenson <br />and Secretary Andrus that would req~ire a basinwide comprehensive <br />programmatic Environmental Impact Statement in the Colorado River <br />Basin. Sought also to enjoin construction then any new project or <br />feature of a project that was not yet under construction. It would if <br />su<cessful, seriously impede work on the Central Arizona Water Project. <br />So we will be intervening in that and Ralph Hunsaker, the Chief <br />Counsel for the Arizona Water Conuni$sion, will be desingated as <br />Special Assistant to the Attorney General to head the State's parti- <br /> <br />B-18 <br />