Laserfiche WebLink
<br />002G32 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />J <br /> <br />Vegas, on December 17'., following the annual conference of the Colorado River Water <br />Users Association. <br /> <br />House and Senate Conference Report <br />Regarding Reclamation's Lower Colorado Region Activities <br /> <br />A recent House and Senate Conference Report, associated with appropriations to <br />the Department of the Interior, describes several Reclamation activities in the Lower <br />Colorado Region. The conference agreement appropriates $4.5 million for work to be <br />performed under the Colorado River Front Work and Levee System project, including the <br />regulatory storage reservoirs along the All-American Canal. The conferees expressed <br />concern in the report about the continued impact of the Wellton-Mohawk Bypass Drain <br />discharge of over 100,000 acre-feet to Mexico each year that is not counted as part of the <br />1944 Mexican Water Treaty obligation, Consequently, the conferees are requesting <br />Reclamation to expedite modifications at the Yuma Desalting Plant and necessary <br />compliance in order to operate the plant and alleviate the continued loss of mainstream <br />water from the reservoir system. The conferees propose to require Reclamation to report <br />on the status of operating the plant within 180 days of enactment of the appropriations <br />legislation, <br /> <br />Colorado River Environmental Activities <br /> <br />Status of the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (LCR MSCP) <br /> <br />Finalization of the Final LCR MSCP Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), <br />Biological Assessment (BA), and Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental <br />Impact Report (EISIEIR) are nearing completion. Additionally, a separate volume <br />containing all of the public comments and the Lead Agency responses has been prepared <br />and will be distributed with the final documents. These finalized documents were <br />recently submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The USFWS has <br />initiated its internal review leading to the issuance of the Biological Opinion and <br />Incidental Take Authorization permits for the non-federal participants. <br /> <br />Over the past month, many of the participating agencies legal staff and advisors <br />have been working on the development of the final drafts of the Implementation and <br />Funding Management Agreements. These documents were fmalized in draft form and <br />distributed in late-November for review and comment. Additionally, the non-federal <br />representatives and the USFWS are working on a draft of the incidental take permit terms <br />and conditions. With respect to completion of the LCR MSCP, the process is still on <br />track to meet the deadline for completion in late-2004, leading to execution of the Record <br />of Decision by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior in early-200S. <br /> <br />Regarding the LCR MSCP completion schedule, several participating agencies in <br />Arizona, as well as the Imperial Irrigation District (lID), have expressed concern to <br />Reclamation about trying to obtain board or commission approvals for th.e various <br />compliance documents in December 2004 or January 2005. Of note, the participating <br /> <br />7 <br />