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<br />01351 <br /> <br />UK At- I <br /> <br />not affect or interfere with the operation of the provisions of the Colorado <br /> <br />River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact. <br /> <br />." (emphas is added). <br /> <br />The Upper Colorado River Commission (Commission) asserts that the Western <br /> <br />Area Power Administration (Western) has violated these statutory requirements <br /> <br />in its current rate process by asswning depressed Upper Division States,l <br /> <br />depletion levels, inappropriately reflecting negatively on the States' ability <br /> <br />to develop their compact-apportioned waters. Western has attempted to justify <br /> <br />its actions in part by improperly applying a 1983 "Agreement on Colorado River <br /> <br />Storage Project Power Repayment Studies" (1983 Agreement) between Western and <br /> <br />the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) beyond Federal projects to depletions <br /> <br />for State and private water projects, further impacting the States' right to <br /> <br />develop their compact-apportioned waters. Western has also failed to follow <br /> <br />the requirements of the 1983 Agreement by delaying depletions for Federal <br /> <br />water projects that meet the Agreement's criteria for inclusion. The effect <br /> <br />of all of these improper actions by Western is that its provisional rate, when <br /> <br />combined with the States' best estimates of future depletion levels, is <br /> <br />inadequate to accomplish full repayment of the projects authorized by the CRSP <br /> <br />Act as required by that Act. <br /> <br />States' Depletion Predictions <br /> <br />The Commission asserts that Western has arbitrarily and without statutory <br /> <br />authority set itself up as the expert on the reasonableness and certainty of <br /> <br />the States' predicted levels of depletions. Reclamation provides Western <br /> <br />energy and capacity studies based on historical depletion data and forecasts <br /> <br />of depletions provided by the Upper Division States. Those studies reflect an <br /> <br />appropriate increase in depletion levels over time, culminating in full <br /> <br />compact-approved development. When Western uses the depletion.data in the <br /> <br />2 <br />