By CHRIS WOODKATHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
The Bureau of Reclamation used a flawed basis for evaluating the impacts of a proposed pipeline project and underestimated impacts on fish, the head of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project says.
Speaking on behalf of Trout Unlimited’s 150,000 national and 10,000 Colorado members, Drew Peternell said the bureau’s draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Southern Delivery System is flawed because one stated purpose and need is to develop Colorado Springs Water Rights.
“Development of water rights is not a legitimate purpose for the bureau to issue contracts for the project,” Peternell’s letter states. “Justifying SDS on a need to develop existing water rights would be analogous to justifying construction of a coal-fired power plant - not on demand for the energy - but on a purported ‘need’ to burn available coal resources.”
