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Show CHAPTER III POWER CONTRACTS A. Background The Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior has statutory authority to operate major powerplants on the Colorado River and to utilize the power and energy produced therefrom for use by Reclamation and associated projects and to sell any available power and energy. In the sale preference is given to municipalities and public agencies. A. 1 Priorites in the Use of Hoover Dam Section 6 of the Boulder Canyon Project Act, December 21, 1928, 45 Stat. 1057, 1061, provides: "The dam and reservoir provided for by section 1 hereof shall be used: First, for river regulation, improvement of navigation, and flood control; second, for irrigation and domestic uses and satisfaction of present perfected rights in pursuance of Article VIII of said Colorado River compact; and third, for power..." Article II (A) of the Decree in Arizona v. California, dated March 9, 1964, 376 U.S. 340, repeats these provisions. And, Articles IH(a) and (b) of the operating criteria, approved June 8, 1970, provide, respectively, for releases from Lake Mead to meet the Mexican Treaty obligations and the reasonable consumptive use requirements of mainstream users in the Lower Basin. Pursuant to the foregoing, releases from Lake Mead are made to meet the Mexican Treaty obligations and the consumptive use requirements of mainstream users and, in the process, to generate power. Conversely, at this time water is not released from Lake Mead solely for the purpose of producing power. A.2 Sources of Federal Power and Energy Federal power is available in the Lower Colorado River Basin from the following principal sources, each of which is separately discussed: Boulder Canyon Project; Parker-Davis Project; Colorado River Storage Project; and Navajo Project. In addition, there is an extensive transmission system throughout most of the State of Arizona and the Pacific Northwest-Pacific Southwest Intertie which provides transmission service between the Phoenix area and southern Nevada. A.3 Department of Energy A new cabinet level United States Department of Energy (DOE) was created on October 1, 1977. This agency absorbed a portion of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation power and energy functions and led to a division of authority in the administration of Interior's power contracts. Reclamation essentially retained responsibility for operation of all the Colorado River dams, including all aspects of Hoover Dam. DOE's Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) assumed administration of Interior's power sales contract functions and the operation and maintenance of the transmission system, including switchyards. 55 |
