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<br />lU'-'j.. <br /> <br />per each mgll increase in salinity, and <br />that damages increase to $450,000 per <br />mgll at a river salinity level of 1,400 <br />mgll. The conclusion that damages <br />vary with the level of salinity <br />represents a significant change from <br />interim results of the Consortium <br />study, of uniform damage values, <br />Also, these latest unit damage values <br />are substantially lower than earlier <br />Bureau of Reclamation analyses of <br />damage values derived from the <br />Consortium study of $425,000 per <br />mgll. <br /> <br />Regional Developments <br />Basin Developments <br /> <br />The Board's staff continued to <br />review plans for water and energy <br />development projects in the Colorado <br />River Basin to determine their effect <br />on California's Colorado River water <br />rights and interests, and, if necessary, <br />to attempt to obtain changes in the <br />projects, A trend that appeared during <br />1975 and continued through 1976 and <br />1977 was a slowdown in earlier plans <br />for the development of the Colorado <br />River Basin's coal and oil shale <br />resources, which reduces projections <br />of future water use, <br />With respect to other water <br />development projects, on February 21, <br />1977, the President ordered an <br />analysis of the possible deletion of <br />appropriations for all federal water <br />resources projects, including many <br />Colorado River Basin projects. The <br />projects were to be screened on one <br />or more of the following grounds: <br />1. No additional adverse <br />environmental impacts would result <br />from completion. <br />2. The ratio of remaining benefits to <br />remaining costs must exceed one <br />using the current discount rate of 6% <br />percent. <br />3, No major safety questions of <br />projects must be involved. <br />The Secretary of the Interior <br />organized a Departmental Water <br />Projects Review Team which held <br />public hearings March 21-25, 1977, in <br />Washington, D. c., and various <br />locations in western states on the <br />Bureau of Reclamation projects <br />deleted from the fiscal year 1978 <br /> <br />12 <br /> <br />Presidential budget request and on all <br />other on-going water development <br />projects, to evaluate whether or not <br />any additional projects should be <br />deleted. Within the Colorado River <br />Basin, the Central Arizona, Dolores, <br />Fruitland Mesa, and Savery-Pot Hook <br />Projects, and the Bonneville Unit of <br />the Central Utah Project (CU P) were <br />all deleted. The additional projects <br />reviewed were the Southern Nevada <br />Water Supply, the Jensen Unit of the <br />CUP, Dallas Creek, Lyman, San <br />juan-Chama, and the <br />Fryingpan-Arkansas. <br />During the last week of March, <br />1977, the House Budget Committee <br />voted to restore to the budget most of <br />the water project funds that had been <br />deleted earlier by the same <br />committee, After the hearings, in late <br />April, the President recommended no <br />funding for the Fruitland Mesa and <br />Savery-Pot Hook Projects in <br />Colorado. Only partial funding was <br />recommended for the Bonneville Unit <br />of the CUP. The Central Arizona <br />Project was reinstated with, however, <br />Orme and Hooker Dams deleted. The <br />Dallas Creek, Dolores, and Lyman <br />Projects were recommended for full <br />funding. The Congress subsequently <br />followed the President's <br />recommendations on these projects <br />except for the Bonneville Unit, which <br />received nearly full funding, <br /> <br />Upper Basin Developments <br /> <br />Environmental Impact statements <br />(EIS) on several Upper Basin projects <br />were drafted by the federal <br />government during 1977, and the <br />Board's staff reviewed and <br />commented on these statements, The <br />projects and some highlights of the <br />Board's comments are presented in <br />the following paragraphs: <br />1. The Dolores Project was <br />commented upon in the 1976 Annual <br />Report, and the Board's comments <br />were incorporated into the final EIS <br />released in 1977, <br />2, The final EIS of the Navajo-EI <br />Paso/Consolidation Coal Lease and <br />Mining Plan was found to produce no <br />adverse effects in the Lower Colorado <br />mainstem. <br />3. The final EIS for the EI Paso Coal <br />Gasification Project was reviewed, <br /> <br />and the Board's comments on the <br />draft report were incorporated in the <br />final report. The size of the project <br />was reduced with a resultant <br />reduction in potential salinity effects <br />in the Lower Basin. <br />4, The final EIS on the Colorado <br />River Water Quality Improvement <br />Program was reviewed and the errors <br />of fact that had been pointed out <br />were found to be corrected. <br />5, The final EIS for the Proposed <br />Expansion of the San Juan Power <br />Plant, New Mexico, was reviewed, All <br />the Board's comments on the draft <br />EIS were acted upon and incorporated <br />in the final EIS. <br />6, The final EIS for the Colony Oil <br />Shale Development in Colorado was <br />reviewed and the Board's comments <br />on the draft report were found to <br />have been acted upon and <br />incorporated in the final report. <br />Colony has announced that it does <br />not intend to proceed with the project <br />until a more favorable economic <br />situation develops. <br />The Detailed Development Plan <br />submitted by the Occidental Oil <br />Shale, Inc., and Ashland Oil, Inc., <br />lessees of the 5,000 acre oil shale <br />tract C-b, located in the Piceance <br />Creek Basin in Colorado, was <br />approved by the Secretary of the <br />Interior, The Detailed Development <br />Plan is subject to revision following <br />review and analysis of the <br />environmental baseline data and the <br />final baseline data report. Work on <br />roads and five underground shafts <br />began in September 1977. The 57,000 <br />barrel-per-day in-situ facility will <br />consume about 4,000 acre-feet per <br />year. <br />The Secretary of the Interior has <br />approved the plan of development for <br />the second Colorado oil shale tract <br />C-a. The lessees, Gulf Oil Company <br />and Standard of Indiana, plan to use <br />an in-situ process and should begin <br />production about the same time as <br />the C-b tract, sometime in the early <br />1980's. <br />A contract for $3.7 million has been <br />awarded by the Navy Department to <br />Paraho Development Company to <br />retort 100,000 barrels of shale oil. The <br />oil will be retorted at the federal Anvil <br />Points Oil Shale facility near Rifle, <br />Colorado. <br />The new Department of Energy has <br />budgeted $28 million for oil shale <br />