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<br />, <br /> <br />01356 <br /> <br />IJI<At-1 <br /> <br /><educed. Despite Western's claims to the cont<a<y (59 FR 55l06), this method <br /> <br />of a<tificially <eflecting additional water to generate powe< by supp<essing <br /> <br />depletions at the 2010 level was neve< approved by Reclamation, the othe< <br /> <br />party to the 1983 Agreement, for the 1990 rate-setting process. <br /> <br />Assuming arguendo that the autho<ized Federal projects not currently <br /> <br />under construction will never be built, the Commission still maintains that <br /> <br />the Upper Division States will ultimately fully develop their compact-appor- <br /> <br />tioned waters th<ough State or p<ivate development. Therefore, the depletion <br /> <br />data in the States' depletion tables must be fully reflected in Western's <br /> <br />rates whether all the authorized Federal projects are ever built or not. The <br /> <br />complete depletion data would be accurately reflected if Western used the <br /> <br />energy and capacity studies provided by Reclamation without artificially <br /> <br />manipulating the data to input into the financial model. The Commission urges <br /> <br />FERC to remand Western's interim rates and order Western to stop assuming <br /> <br />water is available for <elease through power plants that will not be available <br /> <br />because of depletions--whether those depletions are facilitated by Federal, <br /> <br />State or private projects. <br /> <br />This discussion leads into the second way Weste<n is misapplying the 1983 <br /> <br />Agreement to improperly lower the power rates in derogation of the CRSP Act. <br /> <br />Neither the Commission nor the Upper Division States were parties to the 1983 <br /> <br />Agreement, and the exp<ess language of the Ag<eement applies only to "autho- <br /> <br />rized CRSP participating p<ojects." Nevertheless, Western (no doubt again at <br /> <br />the urging of its po~er custome<s) has now unilaterally decided to apply the <br /> <br />terms of the 1983 Agreement to State and private water development p<ojects as <br /> <br />well as Federal projects. Specifically, Western has decided to postpone <br /> <br />depletions f<om anticipated State projects beyond the rate-setting period <br /> <br />7 <br />