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3D1.J5'j . . , l PRELIMINARY ASPINALL UNIT ACCOUNTING ISSUES APRIL 23,1996 Back in January, 1992 Reclamation and the National Park Service (NPS) entered into discussions with the state of Colorado concerning the development of a water service contract for the NPS which would help address issues associated with the federal reserved water right quantification for the Black Canyon of the Gwrnison National Monument. Accordingly, the NEPA process for this contract was initiated and a "Scoping Report for the Gwmison River Contract" issued in March 1993, In addition, since 1992, Reclamation and the NPS have used an example contract accounting process on strictly a trial basis during the Aspinall Unit operations meetings held in January, April and late August of each year, A number of questions have arisen concerning the accounting process. The purpose of this issue paper is identifY the outstanding issues affecting the accounting, The parties will use this issue paper to assist in the development of a detailed accounting form. Once a detailed accounting form is agreed upon, the parties will then hold additional negotiating sessions to modifY the proposed contract as necessary. .-t , 1 ~ The state of Colorado remains willing to discuss the accounting issues and work towards there resolution. However, we have spent numerous hours working on this contract and related issues already and are of the opinion that not a great deal of progress can be made until the needs of the federal reserved water right and the endangered fish are clearly identified. It was apparent in the scoping meetings that Gwmison Basin interests are not going to buy into any contract or accounting procedure until the quantities of water required by the Monument and the endangered fish are firmly identified and justified. One of the most constructive things the NPS could do from Colorado's standpoint is to identifY the amounts of water it would seek in its quantification case, Absent such information, or a well defined process for providing the information, the state of Colorado will be reluctant to spend significant time working on accounting issues, Given that a final biological opinion for Aspinall is not expected until May, 1998 there is no Urgent need to complete an accounting, but work toward the resolution of as may of the potential accounting issues as reasonably possible is worthwhile. This issue paper briefly recounts the significant issues which the NPS contract accounting must address, Please bear in mind this is the first attempt to recount the significant issues in almost three years and thus it should be considered preliminary and subject to change. Also, as you are aware, there are a number of related questions that surround each accounting issue identified below. The Scoping Report and attached comment letters should be consulted for a more complete discussion of the issues, Furthermore, it may not be necessary to incl ude each item below in the accounting, but the accounting narrative should clearly show that each item was considered and indicate how it was treated. The accounting parameters, issues and questions are as follows: .J