WASHINGTON — Utahn John W. Keys III was spending his retirement years in Moab working part time as a college football referee for the Big Sky Conference.
He pledged in a Senate confirmation hearing last week to now become a fair referee in fights over water in the West as President Bush's choice as commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
He noted he worked 34 years for the bureau before retiring, which he said prepared him "for the challenges of working with future water resources problems, conflicts and demands that we face in the West."
"I believe that I can work with all of the water users around Bureau of Reclamation projects to meet those challenges," he said.
Keys said such challenges include serving competing needs for municipal water users and irrigators and meeting increased demands for hydroelectric power generation and "instream flow" to protect endangered species, fish, recreation and water quality.
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who introduced Keys to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said, "To face these challenges day in and day out, the commissioner must be someone who is intelligent, innovative and of the highest integrity. John Keys is all three."
Keys said he spent the last 18 years of his Bureau of Reclamation service in the Pacific Northwest — where he was the bureau's regional director and assistant director — working with state officials, American Indian tribes, Congress, environmentalists and water-user groups to resolve conflicts.
"I believe that I can bring that same cooperative spirit and attitude to the Bureau of Reclamation for its future work throughout the western United States," he said.
He vowed in the hearing to respect state water-rights laws. He also said that federal dams, reservoirs and hydroelectric power plants should generally remain in federal ownership, but some other facilities — such as aqueducts — may be transferred to water-user groups.
Keys said a problem the bureau faces is that its dams and hydroelectric plants are aging, and it is a challenge to maintain their safety and efficiency.
He also vowed to make the bureau a leader not just in management of water, but also in its conservation efforts.
Keys said he will push "conservation of water and encouragement of its judicious use; finding innovative and effective ways to deal with drought; development of recycling technology and acceptance for wastewater reuse; (and) working with other agencies, organizations, etc., to make many uses of the same water."
"There are no magical answers or silver bullets that will make the West's water resources problems go away or make these tasks any easier to solve. If confirmed, I will work hard to make us both successful," he said.
Keys, 59, received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1964 from Georgia Tech. He received a master's degree from Brigham Young University.
He began working for the bureau in 1964, first taking a job to help build the Central Utah Project. He also worked for the bureau in North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Idaho and Washington, D.C., before retiring in 1998.
The Bureau of Reclamation is a water-management agency best known for building dams, power plants and canals throughout the 17 Western states. It constructed more than 600 dams, including Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon dams.
The Bureau of Reclamation is the second-largest producer of hydroelectricity in the West. Its 58 power plants produce 40 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to supply the needs of 6 million homes.
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