Laserfiche WebLink
<br />0403 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />In an August 19, 1981 faxogram, Regional Director Plummer <br />informed Commissioner Broadbent that CUWCD had approved the <br />necessary resolution. Plummer recommended that BuRec "(1) <br />defer the costs associated with 60,000 acre-feet [reduction in <br />CUWCD's entitlement], (2) assign the $38,000,000 of <br />non-specific ad valorem tax reviews [sic] in the 1965 contract <br />for repayment of the M&I obligation, and (3) accept the <br />District's contribution [SlO million] to enhance our ability to <br />undertake all scheduled work for the next two years." Plummer <br />advised that "construction activities on the Bonneville <br />Collection System can continue on this basis until early <br />1983 ..." On August 25, 1981, Acting BuRec commissioner <br />Clifford Barrett informed Plummer that the proposal to defer <br />certain M&I water supply costs and CUWCD's $10 million <br />contribution were acceptable, but a decision on the use of the <br />ad valorem tax revenues had been deferred. Use of the ad <br />valorem tax was later approved in a February 23, 19H2 <br />memorandum from Assistant Commissioner Eugene Hinds. <br /> <br />Commissioner Broadbent outlined the above-mentioned series <br />of events for Inspector General Richard Mulberry on <br />November 24, 1981. Broadbent concluded, "We i:lelieve we have <br />conformed to the recommendation, and now consider the matter <br />closed." On /-larch 2, 1982 Regional Audit Manager Gerald Hicks <br />informed Broadbent that he considered BuRec's action on the <br />audit recommendations as "adequate" and would remove the audit <br />from the fOllow-up system. <br /> <br />However, this issue of the Bonneville Unit repayment <br />contract is still not resolved. The legality of the use of the <br />Hater Supply Act of 1958 is still in question, and despite <br />Regional Director Plummer's warning that construction on <br />Bonneville could continue only until early 1983, BuRec still <br />has not negotiated a supplemental repayment contract. In <br />January of 1984, BuRec reported that such a contract was not <br />scheduled until Uecember 1984. <br /> <br />Instead of initiating negotiations on a new contract at <br />this time, the Bureau has developed a new strategy for <br />postponing the day of reckoning. The Bureau has proposed to <br />drastically redesign the Unit's Diamond Fork hydropower plant <br />from a flow-through design of 133 megawatts to a pumped storage <br />project of over 1,000 megawatts. Under the Bureau's cost <br />allocation procedures, the share of total project costs <br />allocated to power users goes up substantially, as might be <br />expected. But it should also be noted that both the relative <br />and absolute share of total costs allocated to M&1 users goes <br />down as well. By dramatically scaling up the size of power <br />features and associated power benefits, a portion of joint <br />costs previously allocated to M&1 users is now allocated to <br />power. On the strength of this revised Diamond Fork design, <br />costs allocated to M&I dropped from $486 million in January <br />1983 to $388 million in February 1984. This lesser figure is <br />now proposed as the target for reopening negotiations with <br />CUWCD for a supplemental repayment contract. <br /> <br />88 <br />