Correspondence on Bonneville Unit of Central Utah Project

Page 169

• SIERRA CLUB LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, INC by Ansel Adams in This is the American Earth JAMES W. MOORMAN Executive Director BARRY A. FISHER JOHN D. HOFFMAN LAURENS H. SILVER Staff Attorneys, San Francisco H. ANTHONY RUCKEL Staff Attorney, Denver February 5, 1974 Mr. Curtis Oberhansly Twelve Exchange Place Salt Lake City, UT 84111 Re: Central Utah Project Dear Curt: The following paragraphs set forth my ideas regarding our Fish and Wildlife people, more specifically, their depositions. It is my feeling you should set them to be taken fairly soon. The first thing they must give us is the environmental harm to Currant Creek due to construction of the dam. Their testimony should hit impact of reduction of stream flow* and, hopefully, it would show that reduction severely impacts the fishery resource. This should be followed by testimony regarding mitigation of this impact through use of minimum flows, although I think it would be wise if we could get testimony to the effect that minimum flows are just that, the minimum necessary to preserve, any .kind of fishery and do not achieve "the previous"excellent fishery quality. If the witness knows, we would want him to cgnfirm that no minimum flow has been provided below Currjmt_Creek_Dam. It^tHe "mtnes's^™doeB .^ riot know, you may Be aFle tV'deTermine by a check of the EIS as to whether or not the information is contained there. If so, it can probably be used with the witness. In addition to stream fishery problems, the witnesses should testify to the impact of inundation of 200 plus acres of significant wildlife habitat through impoundment of the reservoir behind the dam. The second principal category would appear to me to be the harm experienced'by the rest of the streams of the Strawberry Aqueduct System. This should, obviously, repeat the minimum flow San Francisco: 311 California Street, Suite 311, 94104; Telephone [phone] Denver: 508 Majestic Bldg., 209 16th Street, 80202; Telephone [phone]