News Release Archive

Proposed Interim Renewal Water Service Contracts for San Luis Unit Contractors Available for Review

Media Contact: Jeffrey McCracken, 916-978-5100, 07/10/2007 18:32

For Release: July 10, 2007

On April 23, 2007, the Bureau of Reclamation held a negotiation session for interim renewal water service contracts with San Luis Unit contractors including the City of Avenal (3,500 acre-feet), City of Coalinga (10,000 acre-feet), City of Huron (3,000 acre-feet), California Department of Fish and Game (10 acre-feet), Panoche Water District (94,000 acre-feet), San Luis Water District (125,080 acre-feet), and Westlands Water District (1,150,000 acre-feet).  This session was held at Reclamations South-Central California Area Office located in Fresno, California.  The San Luis Unit contractors currently receive Central Valley Project (CVP) water under long-term water service contracts.  The Westlands Water District contract expires on December 31, 2007, and the remaining long-term contracts expire at the end of 2008.

Previously, Reclamation and each of these contractors negotiated proposed long-term renewal contracts (LTRCs), each of which was released for 60-day public review and comment periods between 2004 and 2005.  However, because some of the San Luis Unit long-term water service contracts will expire prior to Reclamation completing its preparation and consideration of all appropriate environmental documentation and subsequent execution, Reclamation prepared the subject proposed interim renewal contracts.  The LTRCs were used to develop Reclamations form of proposed interim renewal contract from which changes were negotiated.  Reclamation introduced this proposed form of interim renewal contract in redline/strikeout format at the April 23 negotiation session as exhibit USBR SLU-IR-2007-01.  Reclamation is making the negotiated material available, which may assist the public in understanding how the negotiated proposed form of interim renewal contract was derived.  Three proposed contract forms, together with the proposed interim renewal contracts for each renewing San Luis Unit entity, are being made available.

Although the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) allows for each contractors initial interim renewal contract to be for a term of 3 years, the proposed term of these interim renewal contracts is 26 months beginning from the expiration date of their respective current long-term contracts.  The 26-month term was negotiated in order to align these proposed interim renewal contracts with our March-February water allocation practices while staying within the bounds of CVPIA interim renewal contract term limits.

The proposed form of interim renewal contract (Exhibit USBR SLU-IR-2007-01), the general form of interim renewal contract for Municipal and Industrial, the general form of interim renewal contract for Irrigation, and the proposed interim renewal water service contracts for these seven San Luis Unit contractors are available on Reclamations website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvpia/3404c/lt_contracts/2007_int_cts/index.html.  The 60-day public review and comment period for these proposed interim renewal contracts opens on Tuesday, July 10, 2007, and closes on Friday, September 7, 2007.  If you encounter problems accessing documents on-line, please contact Ms. Lynnette Wirth at 916-978-5100 or lwirth@mp.usbr.gov.

Please address written comments to Ms. Sheryl Carter, Bureau of Reclamation, South-Central California Area Office, 1243 N Street, Fresno, CA 93721.  Comments may also be e-mailed to scarter@mp.usbr.gov.  For additional information or to request a copy of the documents referenced above, please contact Ms. Carter at 559-487-5299 (TDD 559-487-5933) or Mr. Richard Stevenson, Chief of Water Rights and Contracts, Mid-Pacific Region, Sacramento, at 916-978-5250  (TDD 916-978-5608).  

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