No big changes expected at CUP

WASHINGTON — Utah should not expect any big changes to the Central Utah Project under the direction of the Bureau of Reclamation's newest commissioner, Robert Johnson.

Johnson, a 31-year veteran with the Bureau of Reclamation, was sworn in as commissioner Oct. 17, taking responsibility for federal dams, power plants and canals spread out among the 17 Western states, including two dozen dams in Utah.

While he is still getting used to living on the East Coast versus his time living in Henderson and Boulder City, Nev., he is looking forward to heading the agency in which he has spent his entire federal career.

"It was an opportunity that I just couldn't say no to," Johnson said.

Johnson said he feels he knows the bureau's mission, programs, constituents and employees well enough to carry out its mission correctly.

"I am hoping to make a contribution," he said.

For projects in Utah, Johnson said he will continue the "good partnership" that exists now between the bureau and the Interior Department's assistant secretary of water and science toward completion of the Central Utah Project.

The CUP is a system of dams, reservoirs and tunnels designed to capture and use the state's share of Colorado River water. Water developed through the project is used for municipal, industrial, irrigation, hydroelectric power, fish, wildlife, conservation and recreation, according to the bureau.

Johnson is no stranger to Colorado River water issues. From 1995 to September 2006, he was regional director of the bureau's Lower Colorado Region, an area that encompasses southern Nevada, Southern California, most of Arizona, and small portions of Utah and New Mexico.

He was the Interior secretary's water master and worked with multiple parties to improve the operation and management of the lower Colorado River and other reclamation projects in the region.

Johnson said Utah is "of interest" because it takes in both the lower and upper portions of the Colorado basin.

He was born in Nevada and has lived in the West most of his life, something he hopes will "serve him well in Washington," particularly when Congress or the administration needs a Western perspective on something as especially sensitive as water.