§ 99-3-1105 — Level III construction projects – dams and reservoirs

(a) The provisions of W.S. 99-3-106 apply to this article.
Source notes for subsection (a): (Laws 2006, Ch. 105, § 3.)
(b) Project – Pathfinder Modification Project:
(i) Project sponsor: The State of Wyoming;
(ii) Project purposes: A municipal water supply, a
water supply to meet obligations of the state of Wyoming under
the Modified North Platte Decree and enhancement of regulatory
certainty under the Endangered Species Act for the use of
Wyoming water in the Platte River basin;
(iii) Project description: Modification of the
spillway of Pathfinder Dam to recover approximately fifty-three
thousand four hundred ninety-three (53,493) acre-feet of space
that has been lost to sediment accumulation and appurtenances
necessary to make the project function in the manner intended;
(iv) Total project budget: Eight million five
hundred thousand dollars ($8,500,000.00);
(v) Appropriation: There is appropriated from water
development account III to the Wyoming water development office
for the permit procurement, construction engineering, and
construction of the project an amount not to exceed eight
million five hundred thousand dollars ($8,500,000.00) or as much
thereof as is necessary to carry out the purpose of this
subsection. Unexpended funds appropriated under this subsection
shall revert to water development account III on July 1, 2012;
and
(vi) Special conditions:
(A) The Wyoming water development office is
hereby authorized to contract with the United States Bureau of
Reclamation for the construction, operation and maintenance of
the project. Items to be included in the contract are, but are
not limited to:
(I) The partial change of use obtained by
the United States Bureau of Reclamation on its water right for
the Pathfinder Reservoir for the fifty-three thousand four
hundred ninety-three (53,493) acre-feet of space allocated to
the project purposes; and
(II) The legislative authority to deliver
water to the Wyoming/Nebraska state line for the purpose of
enhancing the regulatory certainty under the Endangered Species
Act for the use of Wyoming water in the Platte River basin
provided in W.S. 41-2-1301.
(B) The governor shall approve the contract
between the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the Wyoming
water development office prior to construction of the project;
(C) The Pathfinder Modification Project includes
mitigation for fishery impacts and implementation of correction
measures to address safety of dam concerns at the various
federal dams in the North Platte River Basin;
(D) If the state engineer honors a call for
regulation of water rights upstream of Pathfinder Reservoir
pursuant to the Nebraska v. Wyoming final settlement stipulation
number 108, Original 534 U.S. 40 (2001), the water development
office, in consultation with the state engineer, shall report to
the governor and select water committee if the call for
regulation was caused by the project;
(E) The appropriation under this subsection
shall not be encumbered, obligated or expended until all
proceedings relating to the change of use of water rights
required under subdivision (A)(I) of this paragraph, including
any available judicial review of any administrative action
authorizing the change of use, have been exhausted. As used in
this subparagraph the exhaustion of judicial review shall not be
deemed to have occurred until the time has expired when any
appeal may be taken from the applicable administrative action,
or if an appeal has been taken the appeal has been exhausted and
concluded.
Source notes for subsection (b): (Laws 2006, Ch. 105, § 3;
2009, Ch. 38, § 2.)