Final Minutes
Water Action Plan Committee Conference Call
The Water Action Plan Committee (WAPC) Conference Call began at 9:00 a.m. The objective of the conference call was identified: discuss/review Revision No. 4 of the draft Water Action Plan and its presentation to the Governance Committee (at their May 25 meeting) as the document the States will use at their upcoming informational meetings in June for review and comment. The draft Water Action Plan will serve as an informational/discussion draft document the States will use to gather public input.
Areas of concern in the Plan were identified by members of the WAPC. Don Kraus identified the analysis of the Dry Creek/Fort Kearny Cutoffs needs to be revised to include base flows and Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation District's (Central) revised cost information. This modification will result in an increase of the yields without an increase in costs. The question of how the base flow would be credited was raised, since the cutoffs will provide water below the head of the critical habitat reach. Blaine Dwyer (Boyle Engineering) was asked to work with Mark Butler to incorporate his revised analysis into the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) models. Mr. Butler will provide a brief writeup on the results from the EIS models.
Section II. B., regarding the Water Action Plan Principles was discussed. Concern was expressed by Colorado and Wyoming that subsection B may be confusing to the reader, because of the conflicting principles identified. Nebraska believes the principles need to be documented and prefers the principles matrix be left in the Plan. It was suggested the principles be removed from the Plan and a stand alone document that contains the principles be created. The principles document would preserve the principles that remain to be addressed. By consensus, the two document concept (Water Action Plan/Principle Document) was adopted.
Dan Luecke expressed concern regarding the yield of the draft Water Action Plan's yield of 62,500 to 64,000 acre-feet. He suggested adding language that if current shortage reduction estimates for the three States' projects (Tamarack Plan, Lake McConaughy Environmental Account, and Pathfinder Modification) total 80,000 acre-feet, then the Water Action Plan goal could be 60,000 to 70,000 acre-feet of shortage reduction. This would essentially achieve a shortage reduction in the mid-range of the 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet Cooperative Agreement goal. In addition, he expressed concern the U.S. Forest Service would be called upon to contribute water to meet a portion of the 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet via forest management. He believes it's the responsibility of the States to meet the 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet goal for the first increment. Disagreement on these issues remain. However, Mr. Luecke will provide draft language regarding these issues to the WAPC Chair. The Executive Director and the WAPC Chair will review Mr. Luecke's suggested language and discuss further with him.
Due to other commitments, Mr. Luecke left the conference call at approximately 10:00 a.m. The discussion following Mr. Luecke's exit, resulted in the recommendation that references to the shortage reduction goal in the Water Action Plan refer to the overall goal identified in the Cooperative Agreement of 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet, recognizing the shortage reductions from the three States projects and Water Action Plan must meet that goal. The draft Water Action Plan will be revised to reference only the Cooperative Agreement shortage reduction goal of 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet.
Kent Holsinger suggested changes to the forest management language in Section II. B. be revised as follows.
U. S. Forest Service (USFS) vegetation management may affect flows in the North, South, and Central Platte basins. Further study is required to determine these impacts and the USFS's responsibility to address these impacts. In addition, in the review of existing USFS management plans and future amendments to such plans, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) will establish a review criterion that vegetation management shall not lead to new depletions or a reduction in runoff from forest lands that adversely affect target flows or Program Projects for Threatened and Endangered Species.
The WAPC Chair will distribute the revised forest management language and concerns/comments should be provided to him. Further, this language will be indented in the text and moved to the end of Section II. A. The question was raised regarding the EIS Team's evaluation of forest management. Mr. Butler indicated the evaluation is ongoing.
The summary table of costs on page 113 was discussed. The concern this table has overinflated costs due to all projects being implemented in year zero was expressed. The WAPC Chair identified he is preparing a cost table that takes into account the year of estimated implementation (see table on page 111) and will distribute this information on Thursday for review. The WAPC will discuss the table and the possibility of incorporating it into the draft Water Action Plan at the upcoming meeting.
The process to advance projects was discussed. The flexibility of Colorado's proposed process language was discussed. It was suggested to merge the more detailed process language in the Plan with the flexibility of Colorado's process language. Wendy Weiss, Jim Cook, and Mike Besson will work together to merge the language over the next 30 days. The existing language will be revised to change references to the WAPC to the Governance Committee, as appropriate, and strike the draft before reference to the Water Action Plan. The meaning of "ESA compliance" referenced on page 15 was discussed. Program compliance may be a more appropriate term. Further discussion is needed. At this time, the process existing language as revised was considered acceptable until the merged language can be developed and incorporated.
Mr. Cook identified that all references to the Nebraska Department of Water Resources should be changed to the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. It was identified that Nebraska as part of their efforts to develop their New Depletions Plan is considering a change in the mix of Nebraska projects on the Water Action Plan. Changes in the mix of projects are not anticipated to reduce the Water Action Plan's ability to meet the goal. However, it is not known at this time if such changes would increase costs. Further, Nebraska identified it is considering suggesting that incentives to States that contribute more than their "fair share" of water be provided. For example, a difference in cost allocation could be devised based on the share of water each State contributes.
The States were asked to provide their narratives of their respective New Depletion Plans to the WAPC Chair. The WAPC Chair will forward the narratives onto the EIS Team for use in the development of the EIS.
Mr. Butler identified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing their operating requirements associated with Funk Lagoon and will be providing comments to Boyle Engineering. This information is likely to be provided during the public review period and may have some yield implications.
Additional editorial comments were offered during the conference call. These comments will be provided directly to Boyle by the commenters with a copy to the WAPC Chair. It is anticipated the draft Water Action Plan will be revised and ready for presentation to the Governance Committee at their May 25 meeting. It is anticipated that revised pages will be provided via facsimile on Friday, May 20 and discussed at the upcoming meeting.
The conference call ended at 11:15 a.m.
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