Section 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.