California Department of Water Resources

Date: November 14, 2008 To: Mr. Kenneth Parr Bureau of Reclamation 705 N. Plaza St. Carson City, NV 89701 Via Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov From: Department of Water Resources Subject: Proposed Rule Regarding the Truckee River Operating Agreement – BOR-2008-0006 The California Department of Water Resources (“CDWR”) submits the following comments in support of the Bureau of Reclamation’s (“Reclamation”) proposed rule regarding the Truckee River Operating Agreement (“TROA”), which sets forth the manner in which the five Federal reservoirs in the Truckee River basin will be operated in the future. See 73 Fed. Reg. 53180 (September 15, 2008) (“Proposed Rule”). CDWR compliments Reclamation on providing well-organized and well-written supplementary information in the Federal Register. The TROA is the product of two decades of negotiations to resolve the longstanding disputes over water and water rights in the Lake Tahoe, Truckee and Carson River basins and, as such, is complex in both its background and provisions. That said, Reclamation more than adequately captured the interests involved with the TROA and described the provisions contained within it. CDWR believes that the TROA is a landmark agreement, which provides for the operation of the reservoirs in the Truckee River basin in a way that satisfies the requirements of the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act (“Settlement Act”), increases flexibility of the Truckee River operations, allows entities to develop and store the extremely important component of credit water, and protects the Truckee River water rights of persons and/or entities not signatory to the TROA. CDWR identified the TROA as the preferred and environmentally superior alternative in the TROA's Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report, and California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman signed the Agreement for the State of California on September 6, 2008. The primary benefits of the TROA for California are: (1) an interstate allocation of water between California and Nevada; (2) the dismissal of litigation affecting California (principally, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe v. California, Civ. S-181-378-RAR-RCB, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California; dismissal of this litigation paves the way for the California State Water Resources Control Board to act on water rights applications that have been held in abeyance since 1972); (3) a secure water supply for California, including groundwater; and (4) improved instream flows and recreational opportunities. CDWR appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the Proposed Rule. It believes that the TROA furthers Congress’ intent to resolve longstanding disputes and litigation among multiple parties concerning the rights to use the waters of the Truckee and Carson Rivers in Nevada and California. CDWR therefore supports the TROA and requests that it be promulgated as a Federal Regulation. Sincerely, Erick Soderlund Staff Counsel California Department of Water Resources