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Water Development Office

Green River Basin Advisory Group
Meeting Record
Green River, WY
November 19, 2002

Welcome
Facilitator Sherri Gregory-Schreiner welcomed the group and the meeting was called to order at 10:06 a.m. All attendees introduced themselves, followed by a review of the overall meeting agenda. A sign-in sheet was passed around to record attendance. The next meeting is scheduled for March 25 in Rock Springs.

Water Development Commission Report
Barry Lawrence updated the BAG on the status of the plans for the other basins. The BAGs for the Wind/Bighorn and the Snake/Salt Basins will be meeting December 17 in Powell and December 18 in Jackson; whereas the BAGS for the Powder/Tongue and Northeast Wyoming Basins will be meeting November 20 in Sheridan and November 21 in Moorcroft. The Bear River BAG met November 18 in Kemmerer. Barry discussed the status of all basin studies, including the Platte River Basin, and schedule for future meetings.

Jodie Pavlica presented status reports on the Viva Naughton enlargement and Green River ASR projects.

Green River Whitewater Park
Roger Moellendorf, City of Green River, showed an 8 minute video of the new kayaking facilities at the Green River Whitewater Park. He discussed the structures in the water, the project background, the design and construction work of the park, and future plans. A brief discussion followed, including comments regarding Bureau of Reclamation releases for whitewater events.

Drought in Wyoming
Jan Curtis, Wyoming State Climatologist discussed the current drought. He summarized current projections, the drought triggers, and cloud seeding activities in Utah.

Lower Colorado River Basin Activities
John Shields, Interstate Streams Engineer, addressed several issues, which included:

• Seven Party Agreement. The State of California needs to sign the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) by December 30, 2002 for the Imperial Irrigation District and Coachella Valley Water District to continue receiving interim surplus water. On September 16, California state law amended the fully protected species statutes to authorize the incidental take of endangered species with regard to the Salton Sea and the QSA. On October 15, the various entities that share California’s Colorado River entitlement reached agreement on revisions to the December 1998 QSA. On November 5, California voters approved Proposition 50, which provides up to $200M of state funding for projects associated with implementing the California Colorado River Water Use Plan and associated QSA.

• Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. It was reported that legislation to extend the appropriation and implementation authorization period for Recovery Program capital construction projects to 2008 for program participants is being submitted to U.S. Congressional committees. John summarized the proposed changes to the recovery process with regard to the 4 endangered fish: Humpback Chub, Colorado Pikeminnow, Razorback Sucker, and Bonytail.

• Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum. At meetings held October 29-30, the Control Forum approved the 2002 Review of Water Quality Standards. Also, the Forum’s Policy Committee approved proposed revisions to NPDES Permit Program in addressing coalbed methane in the Colorado River Basin and the Committee is addressing a reduction in selenium loading in the basin.

• Colorado River Delta. A symposium was held in mid-October in Tijuana, which focused on technical and scientific issues at which the basin states were invited as observers.

Implementation of Green River Plan/Joint Powers Board
Randy Bolgiano, Green River Basin Advisory Group, led a discussion on the formation of a five county joint powers board for water development activities in the upper part of the basin. There is a meeting scheduled in December at which the Sublette County Commissioners are expected to sign a joint powers water board document. Sublette County will be encouraging the remaining counties to also sign the document, but it is anticipated that Carbon County will be withdrawing. A lengthy discussion followed this presentation.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:02 p.m.