WSP06185

• File Number: 8220.101.09B
• Description: Glen Canyon Dam/Lake Powell
• State: AZ
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/1994
• Title: Comments re: Operation of Glen Canyon Dam Draft Environmental Impact Statement
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: EIS

, )
,~

o

...

-.

With this perspective, Colorado makes the following comments on the Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS): .

Law of the River. Under the Colorado River Compact, the states of the Upper Basin have
a delivery obligation to the states of the Lower Basin. The storage provided by Glen
Canyon Dam is crucial to allow the Upper Basin to meet its delivery obligations in times
of shortage without curtailment of Upper Basin water uses. The Colorado RIver Storage
Project Act of 1956 (CRSP) authorized Glen Canyon Dam to allow for the comprehensive
development of the water resources of the Colorado River Basin and for the specific
purposes of regulating the flow of the Colorado River, storing water for beneficial
consumptive uses, making it possible for the States of the Upper Basin to utilize their
compact ap.,portionments. providing for the reclamation of arid and semiarid land,
controlling floods, and generating hydroelectric power as an incident of the other purposes.
43 U.S.c. ~ 620. Glen Canyon provides a large portion of the power revenues paid into the
Upper Colorado River Basin Fund established by CRSP which is used to repay the costs of
CRSP projects and aid in the construction and repayment of other projects to develop the
Upper Basin's compact allocation. 43 U.S.c. ~ 62Od.

The Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968 ("CRBPA"), enacted .to provide a program
for the further comprehensive development of the water resources of the Colorado River
Basin and for the provision of additional and adequate water supplies for use in the upper
as well as in the lower Colorado River Basin, . also provides direction for Glen Canyon
Dam operations. It requires that the Secretary adopt criteria for the operation of federal
reservoirs on the Colorado River, and sets out specific priorities for deliveries, storage, and
releases from Glen Canyon Dam which were to be incorporated into the criteria 43 U.S.C
~ 1552. These provisions were the result of negotiations between the Upper and Lower
Basins, and struck a delicate balance between the two Basins' interests, efficiency, and
reasonable reservoir mllnllgement H.R Rep. No. 1312, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. (1968). One
of the listed criteria is to avoid spilling water from Lake Powell.

1\vo years after the enactment of CRBP A, the Secretary adopted the required .Criteria for
Long-Range Operation of Colorado River Reservoirs" (Operating Criteria). Paragraph 11(4)
of the operating criteria directs that equalization releases to Lake Mead may only be made
"to the extent that [they] can be passed through the Glen Canyon Powerplant when operated
at the available capability of the powerplant."

The Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992, Title XVIII of P.L 102-575, 106 Stat. 4669, was
passed to address concerns that daily and within-the-month peaking power operations at
Glen Canyon Dam were damaging resources in Grand Canyon National Park. It directs the
Secretary to operate Glen Canyon Dam "in such a manner as to protect, mitigate adverse
impacts to, and improve the values for which Grand Canyon National Park and Glen
Canyon National Recreation Area were established, including, but not limited to, natural
and cultural resources and visitor use." ~ ]802. The Secretary is further directed to
implement the section:

2