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~/ 01433 WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT OF DOWNSIZING THE WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION MONTROSE, CO OFFICE TO THE MANAGEMENT OF GLEN CANYON DAM AND THE GRAND CANYON????? In 1991 the United States Congress passed into law the Grand Canyon Protection Act (p,L. 102-575), The Act specifically identified the requirement for completion of the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement and the development of a long-term Adaptive Management Program for Glen Canyon Dam. The Grand Canyon Protection Act and the Glen Canyon Dam Environmentallmpact Statement were initiated because of environmental concerns arising from the impacts ofthe operation of Glen Canyon Dam to the natural and cultural resources of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. An intermediate step in the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam EIS was the establishment of interim flows at Glen Canyon Dam. The interim flows were significantly reduced from the historic way that Glen Canyon Dam was operated and posed a major challenge and opportunity for the Departments of Energy and Interior to show the public and Congress that environmental objectives could be met without sacrificing the social obligations that Glen Canyon Dam was initially built for, namely water conservation and hydroelectric development, Technical responsibility to meet these new operations goals fell to the managers and operators of the Montrose Office of Western Area Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation. Since interim flows were instituted in July of 1991 Western has worked closely with the environmental and research groups to ensure that the operations of Glen Canyon Dam meet the short and long term objectives set forth in the Glen Canyon Dam EIS, Key to this success has been the extensive communication network that Western Montrose has established with the Glen Canyon Dam operators and the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies office in Flagstaff, AZ, The development of the coordination network has resulted in a successful completion of the research flows, the maintenance of the interim flows and the ability to coordinate and institute special study flows necessary to fully meet the EIS goals, If this coordination did not exist Western and Reclamation would have lost the operating flexibility and control that is key to any hydropower operation. The lost flexibility would undoubtedly have cost the United States Treasury and the rate payers millions of dollars in lost revenue, The key to the future Adaptive Management Program for Glen Canyon Dam rides with the ability to communicate and coordinate on a daily and hourly basis with the operators at the dam and with the environmental monitoring and research office, So what! What would it matter if the Western Area Power, Montrose CO office were phased out? Wouldn't the work load just transfer to another office and therefore wouldn't the networking and communication efforts transfer along with it? What is the big deal?