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MOSES, WITTEMYER, HARRISON AND WOODRUFF, P.C. <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />December 14, 2018 <br />Page 6 <br /> <br /> <br />00187068-1 <br />CWCB therefore should decide on the record not to accept any application that does not <br />document that none of the Catlin shares or land included in the proposed pilot project are also <br />included in the Catlin Pilot Project. <br />6. Potential overlap with dry-up land under decree in Case No. 12CW94 <br />As shown in Table 1, certain Catlin shareholders whose shares would be included in the <br />proposed pilot project also own Catlin shares that are included in the decree entered in Case <br />No. 12CW94. That decree authorizes temporary or permanent dry-up of the land historically <br />irrigated with certain Catlin shares, and paragraph 14.33 of the decree requires that “[l]and that is <br />encumbered under a lease fallowing program, whether for continued irrigation or for dry-up, may <br />not be claimed for dry-up purposes pursuant to this decree.” <br />CWCB therefore should decide on the record not to accept any application that does not <br />(i) identify any Catlin shares and land included in the proposed pilot project that also are included <br />in the 12CW94 decree; and (ii) include proposed accounting forms sufficient to ensure and <br />document that any such land is not dried up under the 12CW94 decree during the term of the <br />proposed pilot project. <br />7. Number of pilot projects included in the Proposal <br />No more than five fallowing-leasing pilot projects can be authorized in the Arkansas River <br />basin. C.R.S § 37-60-115(a). Under the Criteria and Guidelines, CWCB will not select a pilot <br />project that involves “fallowing-leasing from lands on more than one ditch, if the use of more than <br />one ditch would have the effect of circumventing the limitation on the number of pilot projects <br />that can be authorized.” § II.C.3.d. <br />In this case, CWCB’s consideration of the Proposal as a single project would circumvent <br />the limit on the number of pilot projects that can be authorized in the Arkansas basin, where the <br />Catlin Pilot Project already is operating. The Proposal involves three major ditch systems and the <br />transfer of up to 5,000 acre-feet of water each year—two more ditches and ten times more water <br />than is involved in the Catlin Pilot Project. Therefore, to ensure that statutory limits on the <br />numbers of pilot projects that can be selected remain meaningful, LAWMA asks that CWCB <br />consider the Proposal as describing three pilot projects rather than one. <br />Conclusion <br />LAWMA strongly supports the purpose of the Proposal, but has significant concerns about <br />CWCB’s potential selection of the pilot project as the Applicants have described it. LAWMA <br />therefore respectfully asks that CWCB require the Applicants to comply strictly with the relevant