Coloradoan Bobby Magill
Conservation group Trout Unlimited on Tuesday released the results of a survey of Wyoming voters showing that 90 percent of the survey respondents said they oppose a Flaming Gorge pipeline.
If it's built, the pipeline would withdraw water from the Green River - a tributary of the Colorado River - at Flaming Gorge Reservoir in southwest Wyoming and pipe it over the Continental Divide through southern Wyoming before entering Colorado in Larimer County.
The survey of 400 Wyoming voters, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies July 31 and Aug. 1, in addition to the polling firm's discussion about the pipeline in focus groups in Cheyenne, showed that Wyoming residents oppose the pipeline because they are concerned about allowing water to leave Wyoming and what it might do to the state's water supplies.
Eighty percent of the respondents said they feel threatened by out-of-state users diverting water from the state, according to a statement from Public Opinion Strategies.
"They think the pipeline is a really awful idea," said Drew Peternell, Colorado director of Trout Unlimited. "It's my expectation that when Colorado citizens learn about the pipeline, they will be equally unimpressed with the proposal."
