CONGRESSMAN SALAZAR RESPONDS TO BOR/AURORA CONTRACT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Salazar released the following letter today in response to the Bureau of Reclamation entering into 40-year contracts with the City of Aurora.

September 14, 2007

Robert W. Johnson
Commissioner
Bureau of Reclamation
1849 C Street NW
Washington DC 20240-0001

Dear Mr. Johnson,

I am writing today with extreme disappointment over the Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR) decision to issue a long-term contract for storage and exchange in Pueblo Reservoir with the City of Aurora.  This is a project with tremendous long-term ramifications for Southern Colorado. 

BOR has entered into a 40-year excess capacity contract allows Aurora to use up to 10,000 acre-ft of available excess storage capacity in Pueblo Reservoir, a storage facility which is out-of-basin for Aurora.  In addition, BOR has signed a separate 40-year contract that allows annual contract exchanges of up to 10,000 acre-ft of Aurora’s water rights stored in Pueblo Reservoir with Fryingpan-Arkansas project water stored in Twin Lakes Reservoir and Turquoise Reservoir. 

I am sincerely disillusioned that BOR proposes to grant such rights to Aurora and question your authority to do so. 

BOR has virtually no legal basis for authorizing entities owning or leasing non-Fry-Ark project water to utilize reservoirs developed and constructed for, and financed by citizens utilizing Fry-Ark project water for the storage and exchange of water.  Such action is completely contrary to the statutory law that gave birth to the Fryingpan-Arkansas project.  The Fry-Ark Project – passed by the United State Congress and signed into law by President Kennedy in 1962 – is intended for the use of the Arkansas Basin, not Aurora

Perhaps the Bureau has forgotten its role in the Federal government?  Federal agencies answer to Congress and the President, not the other way around.  It amazes me that an agency can overtly make policy decisions that contradict the authorizing legislation passed by Congress and signed by the president.

There is absolutely no need to complete a 40-year contract that forces the Bureau and the constituents served by the Fry-Ark project into an inflexible future with Aurora regarding excess capacity in the Pueblo Reservoir.  BOR does not and cannot know what the future holds for Fry-Ark project water.  It is irresponsible for BOR to enter into a contract that extends nearly half a century into the future and will span generations. 

BOR has been entering into temporary (one-year) “if and when” storage contacts with Aurora since 1986, and temporary (one-year) “if and when” exchange contracts since 1999.  While I do not agree that the Bureau has the authority to enter into even these one-year contracts, there is simply no valid reason for the Bureau to deviate from granting short-term exchange and storage contracts to Aurora.  It could appear to some that in changing this policy so drastically, the Bureau is rewriting water law dating back to the 1950s regarding Colorado’s precious water resources.  This action would also negate any ongoing PSOP negotiations.  It can be argued that if this new policy is instituted that Aurora would no longer need PSOP.  Aurora would be circumventing negotiations through bureaucratic decisions at the Bureau of Reclamation.

I cannot understand why the Bureau relied on an Environmental Assessment study rather than a full Environmental Impact Statement to study the proposed.  As the Bureau is well aware, the exchange capacities you have contracted for allow Aurora to purchase or lease lower quality water in the Lower Arkansas Valley and exchange it for high quality water upstream in Fry-Ark project facilities.  These exchanges have severe effects on water quality and the Arkansas Valley ecosystem.  How can these affects not legally warrant a complete EIS?

Finally, why did the Bureau not consider the cumulative effects of the Aurora lease with Southern Delivery System, PSOP, the Lower Ark Conduit, and other leases?

BOR’s new policy of developing long-term contracts in Pueblo Reservoir for Aurora flies in the face of decades of public policy, Federal law, and sound water management practices.  The interests of the citizens in the affected basin must come before the citizens of out-of-basin cities and counties.  Please direct questions and comments to Sal Pace at 719-543-8200 or Tate Rosenbusch at 202-225-4761.

Sincerely

John T. Salazar

Member of Congress