# Plain Language Summary: Upper Colorado River Basin Fund Memorandum of Understanding Bill

This bill directs the federal government to create a written agreement (called a memorandum of understanding) to address problems caused by a specific government decision affecting water management in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The Upper Colorado River Basin is a critical water source that supplies water to multiple western states including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico. At some point, a federal agency made a formal decision about how to manage this water resource, and that decision apparently created some negative consequences that need to be fixed.

The bill essentially says that instead of letting those problems continue, the government needs to sit down with the affected parties and work out a deal to make things right. This agreement would outline how to address the impacts—whether that means adjusting water allocations, providing compensation, changing management practices, or some combination of solutions. The bill doesn't specify exactly what the agreement should contain, but it requires that one be created and presumably put into writing so everyone knows what was agreed to.

Who this affects depends on where you live and whether you rely on Colorado River water. This includes farmers and ranchers who use irrigation water, cities and towns that depend on the river for drinking water, hydroelectric power plants, Native American tribes with water rights, and anyone whose water supply ultimately comes from this river system. If you live in the Southwest or use electricity from dams on the Colorado River, this indirectly affects you. The bill is essentially a way to resolve a dispute or problem that the original government decision created, ensuring that the impacts are properly addressed through a formal agreement rather than leaving the situation unresolved.

A bill to provide for a memorandum of understanding to address the impacts of a certain record of decision on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.

Lee, Mike

<p>This bill directs the Bureau of Reclamation and the Western Area Power Administration, in consultation with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group, to enter into a memorandum of understanding to explore and address the potential impact that the final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan (LTEMP) has on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund. The memorandum of understanding must include a plan to (1) explore and address the effects that the decision may have on the contents of the fund, (2) analyze and address the long-term impact that the decision may have on hydropower production at Glen Canyon Dam, and (3) protect the Colorado River Basin and any threatened or endangered species in the basin from the effects of invasive species and sustained drought.</p><p>By way of background, Reclamation published the SEIS under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the LTEMP in 2024.&nbsp;The&nbsp;SEIS revises the 2016 LTEMP Record of Decision to address two issues: (1) responding to the threat of the invasive smallmouth bass&nbsp;below Glen Canyon Dam, and (2) incorporating the latest sediment science to assess when high-flow experiments should be conducted in order to protect the endangered humpback&nbsp;chub.</p>