Pipe dream: Water plan has a lot of hurdles

April 4, 2009 - 3:40 PM

R. SCOTT RAPPOLD

THE GAZETTE

Depending on whom you ask, Aaron Million's idea is either the solution to Colorado's water problems or a quixotic scheme with no anchor in reality.

The Fort Collins entrepreneur wants to build a pipeline from western Wyoming to Colorado's Front Range, a 560-mile journey that would terminate at a new reservoir in eastern El Paso County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a series of public meetings this month on the proposal.

Water suppliers here aren't banking on the $2 billion to $3 billion pipeline being built.

"Physically, it's feasible. Politically, that is a whole different question," said Kip Petersen, general manager of Cherokee Metropolitan District.

"It's going to foreclose other water users," said Drew Peternell, with Trout Unlimited. The group is also worried how taking the water would impact endangered fish in the Green River.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/water_51221___article.html/million_colorado.html

Congress passes wilderness bill; 2 West Slope canyons protected

By DENNIS WEBB/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Chris Hunt of Trout Unlimited said 26 million acres nationally have conservation area status. The omnibus bill gives them permanent protection under law, rather than protection by order of presidential administrations, which can be reversed, Hunt said. Read More

Former energy worker lends support to rules

Grand Junction Sentinel- By Dennis Webb

He conceded the rules — scheduled to take effect this spring if approved by the state Legislature — do add some expense. But he called them “a necessary cost of doing business.”

The Centennial resident, 61, is retired and active with Trout Unlimited. Trout Unlimited supports the new rules, which aim partly to protect fish and other wildlife habitat. Ives cites his industry background in expressing his belief that oil and gas companies can comply with what he considers to be flexible, fair and balanced rules   Read More

Thirsty Cities, Dolphins and Dead Clams

New York Times by Andrew C. Revkin

Over all, though, he said, the biggest ecological impact around the delta has come from the depletion of the Colorado. For years, Dr. Flessa has, along with Mexican communities around the delta, been calling for the water planners doling out Colorado River quotas to leave just a little bit more to rejuvenate ecosystems downstream. He and other biologists pointed out to me how certain flora and fauna showed a remarkable ability to revive if just a small flow is allowed (like the Colorado River Delta clam). Read More

EIS planned for Flaming Gorge pipeline

BY: Joy Ufford  - Sublette Examiner, Pinedale WY Green River water is being targeted by a Colorado entrepreneur who wants to pipe his state’s unappropriated water 560 miles from Flaming Gorge along I-80 to southeastern Wyoming and the Front Range. Read more

2017 is just around the corner - Time is running out for salmon

Essay - March 23, 2009 by Paul VanDevelder - High Country News

From the start, the federal government has refused to produce something demanded by the Endangered Species Act: a realistic biological opinion that lays out a scientific strategy for preventing endangered salmon stocks from going extinct. All the while, as the passing years bore witness to $5 billion worth of legal logrolling that has tried everything but breaching the dams, the extinction clock has never missed a beat as it ticks toward the salmons' expected demise in 2017. Read More

Bill to bump up funding for water projects advances

 Greeley Tribune

Senate Bill 165, co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, and Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and sponsored in the House by Reps. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, and Cathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, creates the Small Communities Drinking Water and Wastewater Grant Fund and directs up to $10 million a year to small communities across Colorado. It passed on second reading in the House last week. Read more

State expands investigation into gas in water well

Mar 30, 2009 7:31 PM (1 day ago) AP

DENVER (Map, News) - State officials will test an abandoned gas well and test more operating wells in south Weld County where methane has been found in a water well and the family's tap water has caught fire.

Read more

CTU Annual Dinner & Gala: This Friday Night - April 3

Join Colorado's "Angler in Chief" Governor Bill Ritter at the CTU Dinner & Gala for an evening of camaraderie, great food, live music (including Schubert's "Trout" Quintet), lively auction bidding and a fantastic view of the mountains from the Grand Hyatt's Pinnacle Club - 17th and Welton in Denver. Admission ($100) includes dinner and complimentary beer and wine. Click here for an auction item preview. The auction is CTU's most important fund raiser. You can play a key role in helping us Protect, Preserve and Restore Colorado's Coldwater Fisheries and Their Watersheds.

Click here to purchase tickets

Colorado Department of Natural Resources: Solving Colorado's future water supply needs

John OrrColorado Water Examiner

March 26, 11:03 AM

I caught up with Trout Unlimited's Western Water Project Director, Melinda Kassen, via telephone last week to discuss the March 16th Interbasin Compact Commitee Meeting and the presentation (pdf) detailing progress on the visioning process for Colorado's water needs that is being spearheaded by DNR Director Harris Sherman.

During the presentation, Kassen -- the only committee member representing the environmental community and recreation -- became alarmed by the Department of Natural Resources' emphasis on transmountain diversions and four pipeline projects as the solution to the Front Range water supply gap.

How did the plan presented mesh with Governor Ritter's, Colorado Promise, she asked herself? Where is conservation and reuse in the plan? What about the idea of smaller, incremental projects to satisfy future needs?

http://www.examiner.com/x-395-Colorado-Water-Examiner~y2009m3d26-Colorado-Department-of-Natural-Resources-Solving-Colorados-future-water-supply-needs