Becky Raney sat in front of Delta County Commissioners on Monday, Jan. 23 advocating that commissioners write a letter and pass an ordinance in opposition of the proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline.
“I am here to ask you to formally oppose the proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline and write an ordinance much like the one I have provided to you, for the record,” said Raney.
The pipeline, if constructed, would take water from the Green River in Wyoming to the Front Range in what is being called the Regional Water Supply Project. The project was proposed by Ft. Collins businessman Aaron Million and comes with an estimated cost of between seven and nine billion dollars.
The Colorado River District is in opposition of the project, claiming that the volume of water coming out of the Colorado River tributary “would adversely impact existing users of Colorado’s entitlement to the waters of the Colorado River and could usurp the remainder of the state’s compact allocation,” according to an email from CRD spokesperson Jim Pokrandt to Commissioner Doug Atchley.
“Although the water would be taken out of the Colorado River system from the Green River, a tributary with Wyoming headwaters, under the Colorado River Compact of 1992, the amount still counts against Colorado’s limited ability to use the river,” said Pokrandt.
The River District also has concerns about the potential user’s ability to pay for the project. They are concerned that Colorado taxpayers may be called upon to subsidize the project cost.
CRD wants the Colorado Water Conservation Board complete its Colorado River Availability Study. They also want the U.S Bureau of Reclamation complete its Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and Colorado West Slope to finalize its own consumptive and non-consumptive use studies. They are on record saying they prefer that an interstate and intra state agreement on how the water would be managed under the Prior Appropriations System needs to be in place before the project goes any further.
“I would like to note that I am concerned about how this pipeline project could detract from agriculture needs on the Western Slope,” said Commissioner Olen Lund.
Lund also said that as he sits on the Gunnison River Roundtable and would like to gather input from that group concerning the proposed project.
Atchley also voiced concerns about the impacts to the West Slope water demands.
The Colorado River Compact dates back to 1922 when the seven states signed an agreement defining the allocation of water rights to each of the seven states. The compact states are Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
The compact enabled the widespread irrigation of the Southwest, as well as the subsequent development of state and federal water works projects under the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Such projects included the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams.
Commissioners agreed that they would write a resolution in opposition of the proposed project but would want to include the concerns specific to agriculture in their resolution rather than use the document provided by Raney.
