OCR Text |
Show of H. R. 4671. This Section is concerned with directives to the Secretary of the Interior with regard to the storage of water in reservoirs of the Colorado River Storage Project and releases of water from Lake Powell behind Glen Canyon Dam. After reaching what was believed to be fairly close tentative agreement by several of the States upon the terms of Section 601, the Chief Counsel for the Department of Water and Power of the City of Los Angeles, on behalf of the users of power generated at Hoover Dam, raised the question as to whether it would be possible for Hoover Dam power facilities to be inoperative under the application of the language in question due to the Lake Mead water surface being below elevation 1083 ft. above sea level while at the same time Glen Canyon Dam power facilities would be in operation and Lake Powell would be storing excess water. The question was also raised as to whether it would be more equitable to acquire equal amounts of water in Lake Powell and Lake Mead above respective minimum power pools in both reservoirs, rather than to acquire the storage water above the respective dead storage levels. At Los Angeles it was impossible for representatives of the Bureau of Reclamation to adequately answer these two questions. The language in Section 601 was entered into the January 27, 1966 draft Bill pending written comments by the Bureau of Reclamation on its effects upon the operation of the reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin. Between February 1 and February 7, 1966 representatives of the Bureau of Reclamation from Regions 3 and 4, the Chief Engineer's Office, and the Washington Office of the Bureau met in Washington, D. C. to study the effects of the proposed Section 601 incorporated in the January 27, 1966 draft of legislation. At the conclusion of its studies the Bureau of Reclamation indicated that it could satisfactorily operate the reservoirs on the Colorado River under the criteria of Section 601.* In its comments the Bureau of Reclamation suggested several changes in Section 601, principally for the purpose of clarification and interpretation. These changes were incorporated in a draft of Bill entitled Recommended Revision of H. R. 4671, dated February 8, 1966. This draft was considered in detail by the Upper Colorado River Commission at its Adjourned Annual Meeting held in Cheyenne, Wyoming on February 22, 1966. The February 8, 1966 Recommended Revision of H. R. 4671 represented some departure from the Upper Colorado River Commission's resolution of August 16, 1965** and the draft of bill of that *Hearings, Part II, 89th Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 4671 and similar bills to authorize the construction, operation and maintenance of the Lower Colorado River Basin Project. '*Page 50, Seventeenth Annual Report of the Upper Colorado River Commission. 37 |