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b~)~C<- 01372 BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS OF APPORTIONED REVENUE COLORADO RIVER STORAGE PROJECT Leqislative Backqround The Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), authorized on April 11, 1956 (Public Law 84-485), is a program to develop, and make available for use, the water resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin. CRSP is composed of four multipurpose storage units, Flaming Gorge, Wayne N. Aspinall, Navajo and Glen Canyon, usually referred to as the mainstem, and 25 authorized participating projects in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Section 5 of the CRSP Act authorized a separate fund in the Treasury of the United States to be known as the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund (Basin Fund). Since 1963, all revenue in the Basin Fund collected, in connection with operation of CRSP mainstem facilities in excess of operating needs, has been paid annually to the general fund of the Treasury to return CRSP investment costs allocated to: (1) power, (2) municipal water supply, (3) interest thereon, (4) irrigation water supply, and (5) salinity investment and operation costs assigned to the Upper Basin Fund subsequent to enactment of the Colorado River Salinity Control Act of June 24, 1974 (Public Law 93- 320) . Pursuant to Section 5(e) of the CRSP Act, revenues from the mainstem units in excess of the above-mentioned expenditures are then apportioned to each of the Upper Basin States to help defray investment costs allocated to irrigation purposes of the participating projects within each state. Only revenues from the roainstem units are apportioned under Section 5(e). Revenues from each participating project are used to defray the investment costs of that specific project. Financial Links Within the Basin Fund Through Section 5(e) of the CRSP Act, mainstem units and the participating projects are "linked" financially. The revenues produced from the mainstem units in the form of hydroelectric power sales, and to a lesser extent water service sales, assist to repay investment costs of the participating projects allocated to irrigation purposes and determined to be beyond the irrigators' ability to pay. This use of revenues generated from the mainstem units to supported the repayment of participating project irrigation costs is referred to as mainstem assistance. The Act specifically itemizes the apportionment of the excess revenue in the formula of; 46.0 percent to Colorado, 21.5 percent to Utah, 15.5 percent to Wyoming and 17.0 percent to New Mexico. Additionally, 1