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<br />002493 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />Water Users Association in Las Vegas, Nevada. <br /> <br />New Mexico Proposal to Transfer Colorado River Water <br /> <br />The State of New Mexico, in a memorandum dated October 30, 2002, proposes to transfer <br />a portion of its Colorado River apportionment from a diversion point in the San Juan River in the <br />Upper Colorado River Basin to places of use on the Navajo Indian Reservation located within the <br />Lower Colorado River Basin and the Rio Grande Basin. The transport of the water would be through <br />a pipeline nearly 100 miles in length. All of the water proposed for use in New Mexico would be <br />a depletion ofthe Colorado River at Lee Ferry, and would be charged against New Mexico's Upper <br />Colorado River Basin apportionment. <br /> <br />New Mexico proposes to divert and transfer 31,353 acre-feet of San Juan River water. Of <br />the total amount, 16,300 acre-feet of diversion would be used within the Upper Basin in New <br />Mexico; an additional 13,934 acre-feet would be transported and used within the Lower Basin in <br />New Mexico; and finally, 1,119 acre-feet would be transported and used within the Rio Grande <br />Basin in New Mexico. <br /> <br />New Mexico has submitted a draft Basin States' Resolution addressing this proposal. New <br />Mexico maintains that precedent for this type of action was envisioned and authorized in the 1968 <br />Colorado River Basin Project Act (P.L. 90~537). The language in the CRBPA was specifically <br />related to water uses associated with operation of the thermal generating plant constructed to offset <br />the energy needs of the Central Arizona Project. The proposed Basin States' resolution will not go <br />into force unless the United States Congress expressly recognizes the terms and principles of the <br />resolution. <br /> <br />The New Mexico memorandum, map of the proposed project, diversion and use data, and <br />the draft resolution have been included in the Board folder (Tab 5) for your information and review. <br /> <br />Finally, the New Mexico memorandum indicates that the State of Utah is contemplating the <br />preparation and submittal of a similar resolution in support of its Lake Powell-St. George pipeline <br />project. This proposed project would also move Utah Upper Basin apportionment to uses in Utah <br />located within the Lower Basin. <br /> <br />Blythe Energy Project <br /> <br />Included in the Board folder is a copy of draft comment letter in response to the request of <br />review and comment on the Revised Application for Certification for Blythe Energy Project II (AFC <br />for BEP II), which was submitted by the BEP II project owner, Caithness Blythe II, to the California <br />Energy Commission (CEC) in July 2002 and on the subsequent Response to Data Request #1-102 <br />for BEP II dated October 2002. <br /> <br />BEP II has proposed a voluntary Water Conservation Offset Program (WCOP), which was <br />approved by Reclamation subject to conditions specified by Reclamation. The object of the WCOP <br />is to "... retire or fallow lands that have been irrigated within the Palo Verde Irrigation District on <br />the Mesa and/or within the Palo Verde Valley within the past five year." A consumptive water use <br /> <br />5 <br />