Office of the Secretary

For Immediate Release: December 17, 1999

Contact: Steven W. Adamske (202) 208-5205
Robert Walsh (702) 293-8421

Babbitt Calls 1999 "Year of Accomplishment" on Colorado River,
Outlines Efforts Necessary For Continued Progress Toward More Efficient Use

Las Vegas, NV - - In an address to the Colorado River Water Users Association today, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said substantial progress was made in 1999 toward resolving several Colorado River water management issues.

Babbitt said the most prominent 1999 accomplishments were the publication of a final rule authorizing interstate agreements for the storage of Colorado River water off stream for future use, and development of an agreement between the Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that quantifies each entity's Colorado River water entitlement. The rule, which will help implement Arizona's water banking law, also opens the way for Nevada to be able to meet its water needs for the next several decades, and gives California another option to bank water for its future use. The quantification agreement ends decades of uncertainty regarding the relative right of key water contractors in California, and will allow Imperial Irrigation District to transfer conserved water to San Diego to help California reduce its Colorado River water use.

The Secretary also outlined his hoped-for accomplishments in 2000 to assure more efficient use of the river in the future. In particular, Secretary Babbitt emphasized that new surplus guidelines would be developed over the coming year.

"I intend to issue a Record of Decision one year from now, hopefully one that will be embraced by all seven basin states," he said.

Babbitt attributed the accomplishments to collaboration, negotiation and agreement - and the avoidance of litigation. Further, he noted, they were achieved within the existing "law of the river" and the existing governmental structure.

"In partnership with the States, Tribes and others, we have taken on many long-standing Colorado River issues over the past five years," Babbitt said. "Some questioned whether we could ever make any progress on these issues - on this 'River of Contention' - but we have demonstrated that accomplishment is possible if we work together to achieve consensual solutions."

Looking ahead, Babbitt said he is committed to continuing efforts to resolve several Colorado River use and management issues. But, most important, he said, is leaving "the lesson that fruitful State-Federal partnership can be achieved as my legacy on the Colorado River."

Key Colorado River initiatives in the year 2000 will be:

* development of surplus guidelines for the lower Colorado River. This is "the last essential piece of the puzzle (to help California reduce its Colorado River water use)" Babbitt said. A Notice of Intent to develop an Environmental Impact Statement on surplus guidelines was issued December 7. A draft EIS is scheduled for publication in March, with a final EIS - and Record of Decision - planned by the end of 2000. Babbitt said California had moved a huge distance toward acknowledging the dramatic changes it needs to make in its demands on the river, and the other basin states need to recognize and support the need for surplus guidelines that strike a "fair accommodation between providing California a reasonable opportunity to effect a transition to their entitlement and the concerns of the other states for a high degree of security based on maintaining adequate water supplies in storage." He called for a "burst of creative energy" that would bring about consensus on solutions that adequately satisfy the needs of each basin state.

* completion of a draft EIS on alternatives for protecting the Salton Sea, a national and international resource. This document is expected to be ready by the end of this month, and a report will be provided to Congress in January, Babbitt said. The draft EIS will not identify the best long-term solution for the Sea, but it will identify some steps that can and should be taken now to address problems. Babbitt said he "is committed to assuring that the Sea's unique values to not slip away from us by inaction or inattention" while work continues to find long-term solutions.

* the effort to develop the Multi-Species Conservation Plan. This is a long-term, 50-year program to achieve Endangered Species Act compliance for numerous species along the Colorado River while continuing to meet water and power commitments in the Lower Basin.

* continuation of the Upper Colorado River Recovery Implementation Program. The Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub and razorback sucker all have shown "heartening recovery and improvement" as a result of this 12-year effort, Babbitt said. The Department supports legislation that would provide federal cost-sharing - in collaboration with the States and power customers, plus a defined share of power revenues - through the year 2005. Babbitt said

this program is "the sort of showing of community responsibility for environmental protection and recovery" he hoped to see copied throughout the country, and praised the supportive efforts of the states, power customers and water users, Tribal governments and environmental organizations in helping craft the cost-sharing legislation.

* resolution of the Animas-LaPlata Project issue. The Secretary hopes that the long-running controversy over the Animas-LaPlata Project can be reached in the coming year through legislation that will authorize a scaled-down, off-stream reservoir for Indian and Municipal and Industrial use.

"That approach has broad support in Colorado and New Mexico, and will fulfill our trust commitments to the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes," he said.

A supplemental EIS is being prepared, and should be available for public review and comment shortly after the first of the year.

* resolution of several Arizona issues. Substantial and "historic" progress occurred this year in shaping the water settlement for the Gila River Indian Community, potentially the largest such settlement ever. Progress also is being made in implementing the 1982 Southern Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act for the Tohono O'odham Nation. However, resolution of the financial dispute between the United States and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District over repayment of the Central Arizona Project remains elusive, although negotiations to try to resolve the dispute continue.

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U.S. Department of the Interior