The Colorado River Storage Project
Act
Following the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact of 1948,
Upper Basin Project reports were
prepared in 1951 and 1952. However, it was not until April
11, 1956, that the Colorado River
Storage Project Act became law, 70 Stat. 105. At the time
of passage of the Act, Lower Basin
development had proceeded more rapidly than had the Upper
Basin. Laguna Dam, Hoover Dam,
Davis Dam, Parker Dam, Imperial Dam, the Colorado River
Aqueduct and the All-American Canal
had been constructed in the Lower Basin.
The purpose of the Colorado River Storage Project Act was
to develop the water resources of the
Upper Basin. It provided a comprehensive multiple-purpose
Basin-wide water resource development
plan. Section 1 provided for four storage projects for
river regulation and power production:
Glen Canyon on the Colorado River in Arizona;
Flaming Gorge on the Green River in Utah;
Navajo on the San Juan River in New Mexico; and
Curecanti on the Gunnison River in Colorado.
It also authorized 11 participating projects for irrigation
and related uses and further investigation of
other projects.
Section 5 established the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund
into which revenues collected in
connection with the operation of the storage project and
participating projects are to be credited and
are to be available for repaying the costs of operation,
maintenance, and replacement of, and
emergency expenditures for, all facilities of said
projects, payment from which for Hoover Dam
Powerplant deficiencies pursuant to the Filling Criteria
has upset the Upper Basin States.
Section 7 provided that the hydroelectric powerplants and
transmission lines authorized by the Act
shall be operated in conjunction with other Federal
powerplants, present and potential, so as to
produce the greatest practicable amount of power and energy
that can be sold at firm power and
energy rates, but in the exercise of that authority the
Secretary shall not affect or interfere with the
operation of the provisions of the Colorado River Compact,
the Upper Colorado River Basin
Compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the Boulder Canyon
Project Adjustment Act and any
contract lawfully entered into under said Compacts and
Acts. This section was relied upon by the
Lower Basin States as protecting their power contracts when
the Filling Criteria was promulgated on
April 12, 1962.
Section 14 required that in the operation and maintenance
of all facilities authorized by Federal law
in the Colorado River Basin, the Secretary is directed to
comply with the Compacts and Acts
enumerated in Section 7 and with the Mexican Water Treaty
in the storage and release of water from
reservoirs in the Basin. It further authorized any Basin
State to sue in the Supreme Court to enforce
these provisions and consented to the joinder of the United
States as a party.
Section 15 directed the Secretary to continue studies and
to make a report to the Congress and to
the Basin States on the quality of the water of the
Colorado River.
The Project Storage Units have several major
functions:
- To regulate streamflows so that water commitments to
the Lower Basin can be met in
dry periods without curtailment of development of water
uses apportioned to the Upper Basin; and
- To provide hydroelectric power and produce revenues to
assist in the payment of the
participating projects.
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