Parker: Rueter-Hess Reservoir update

So far Parker and its partners in Rueter-Hess Reservoir — currently under construction southwest of the city — do not have enough surface water to fill the 77,000 acre-feet reservoir. Here’s a report from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. From the article:

The prospect of what critics call an empty bathtub is generating anxiety around Colorado as water managers clash over the last unclaimed mountain river flows. Most water to fill the Rueter-Hess reservoir “will have to be imported,” said Frank Jaeger, manager of the Parker Water and Sanitation District, who for 25 years has led the effort to supply 450,000 suburban residents. Importing water would require multibillion-dollar pumping and piping from rivers running down the western side of the Continental Divide, such as the Colorado, back across mountains to Front Range residents, Jaeger said. Though huge, the costs likely would be less than for alternatives such as trapping and treating contaminated water from the South Platte or Arkansas rivers, he said. The option Jaeger and a Colorado-Wyoming coalition of municipal suppliers favor — one of four being considered by state natural resources officials — would divert water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in western Wyoming along Interstate 80 to Colorado…

Yet Colorado Western Slope leaders see the $230 million Rueter-Hess reservoir as folly — and bristle at talk of diverting more water across the mountains to fill it. The reservoir “is 20 times more expensive, and 10 times as big as they need. It’s going to be a little bit of water in a big bathtub,” said Eric Kuhn, manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, based in Glenwood Springs. The financing, based on tap fees from anticipated housing construction, “is the water equivalent of a Ponzi scheme,” Kuhn said…”There’s a very good chance that, in the long run, there’s not going to be any more water available on the Western Slope. And, if they’re having trouble now paying for Rueter-Hess, how are they going to pay for moving water from the Western Slope? That’s why I say this is a fairy tale,” Kuhn said…

This month, more construction vehicles are rolling into action to build up the 7,700-foot-wide Frank Jaeger Dam at the reservoir. Critics “can make their claims,” but the reservoir will be crucial to sustain population growth, Jaeger said. Paying off the debt for the construction now underway all depends on tax revenues from future growth, he said. “To say, ‘We’ll just shut off growth’ will only exacerbate problems,” he said. “If you don’t pay off debt, what do you do? What does that do to the economy of the whole state? We need steady, controlled growth. All our needs for a reasonable lifestyle are tied into this.”

More Rueter-Hess coverage here and here.

Estes Park: Alpine Anglers meeting October 15 to feature impacts of transmountain diversions

From the Estes Park Trail Gazette:

Ken Neubecker, president of Colorado Trout Unlimited, will speak Thursday on the impact of water diversions from the upper Colorado River. “More than half of the water of the upper Colorado is already diverted to the Front Range for agricultural and municipal use,” said Neubecker. “Now two new projects could take almost half of what remains.” But as conservation, government and business interests in Grand County geared up for a protracted fight, water developers Denver Water and Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District agreed to work with local agencies to find ways to meet the water needs of the Front Range while minimizing the impact on wildlife and recreation on the Colorado and Fraser Rivers. Neubecker will speak about the situation at the Alpine Anglers` monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15 in the Hondius Room of the Estes Park Public Library. The public is invited.

More transmountain/transbasin diversions coverage here.

Flaming Gorge pipeline: Western Resource Advocates pushes needs assessment while southern Wyoming towns help with ‘evaluation’

Here’s a release from Western Resource Advocates:

At the urging of Western Resource Advocates and others, the US Army Corps of Engineers is requiring proponents of a controversial water pipeline to prove that it is needed. The proposed Million Project, a 560-mile pipeline that would move water from southwestern Wyoming to Colorado’s populous Front Range, is applying for a permit — yet there are no identified customers for the water.

At least six other major water projects that pre-date the Million Project are already in the planning stages. And although the Million Project claims it is needed to meet the Front Range’s future water demands, the proponents of these other projects have shown no indication that they’ll abandon their plans and rely on Million’s proposal instead. Thus, as a mechanism for solving anticipated regional water demands, the Million pipeline proposal is at least a decade too late.

The Million Project is vehemently opposed by residents of Wyoming and is under scrutiny in Colorado. As the largest proposed private water project in Colorado’s history, the Million Project raises concerns about speculation because it is against Colorado water law to acquire water without first identifying who will use it.

Demonstrating the need for the pipeline is but one troubling question confronting the Million Project. The movement of up to 250,000 acre-feet of water each year would require a vast amount of energy, adding to the ecological impacts of the pipeline. The pipeline could also jeopardize endangered fish, transport invasive species, and diminish recreation and wildlife habitat in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Green River that is already suffering from drought.

Meanwhile, from the Associated Press (Ben Neary) via The Denver Post:

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming says local governments in southwestern Wyoming will help to evaluate a private developer’s proposal to build a pipeline to take water from the Green River.
Colorado entrepreneur Aaron Million has proposed building a multibillion dollar pipeline to carry water from the Green River in Wyoming to Colorado’s Front Range. Barrasso, a Republican, says he stepped in to allow Sweetwater County, the Sweetwater County Conservation District and the cities of Rock Springs and Green River to serve as participating agencies with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in reviewing the pipeline proposal.

More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.

Colorado Water Congress’ annual summer meeting

Here’s a recap of yesterday’s goings on at the annual conference, from Joe Hanel writing for The Durango Herald:

During a question-and-answer period, one audience member asked how [State Senator Josh] Penry’s support for building dams squared with his backing last year of Amendment 52, which would have capped the money in Colorado’s water savings accounts and redirected extra money to highways. Penry responded that the state doesn’t spend the money it has effectively. “We study too much. We analyze too much,” he said.

Harris Sherman, head of the state Department of Natural Resources, disputed Penry’s charge that Colorado does too many studies at the expense of physical projects. In 2007, the state made $146 million in project loans, $87 million in 2008 and $45 million this year. “To imply that the state has not funded water projects in recent years is simply inaccurate,” Sherman said. In any case, the Legislature drained $107 million from those accounts the last two years to help cover the state budget gap…

Rod Kuharich is director of the South Metro Water Supply Authority, which serves fast-growing suburbs that have an unreliable water supply. Kuharich sits on the IBCC, but he called it “dysfunctional” and said it spends too much time on studies. Kuharich complained that IBCC members have become even more entrenched in their regional perspectives. He wants the Gunnison basin to entertain the idea of a pipeline from Blue Mesa Reservoir to the Front Range.

But IBCC member Peter Nichols said it’s not surprising no agreement is in sight, four years after the IBCC began its work. The engineering of a big water project is much easier than the politics, he said. “Give this time to work,” Nichols said. “It took us 150 years to get here. If it takes us 15 years to get out of here, I don’t think that’s absurd.”

More IBCC coverage here.

More coverage of the conference, from The Cortez Journal (Joe Hanel):

State lawmakers have turned to savings accounts for dams, canals and pipelines in order to cope with a budget crisis that’s entering its third year. In the past two years, the Legislature has taken $107 million out of the water accounts, said Harris Sherman, director of the Department of Natural Resources. “These are funds that have been built up over decades,” Sherman said…

“There are staggering costs involved in meeting our future water needs – tens of billions of dollars,” he said.

But the water project funds won’t be paid back this year, and they’ll probably be raided again, said Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee. At the same time, cuts continue to threaten the State Engineer’s Office, which administers water rights. The office lost six jobs in Gov. Bill Ritter’s budget cuts this week. “I’m getting tired of this. Every year this happens, and we have got to find a way to solve this,” Curry said. This week’s cuts hit health care and human services especially hard. But in the long term, colleges are at risk. So Curry recommended that the water community reach out to advocates for higher education to find a solution to the perpetual budget crisis.

“We can’t have just water meetings anymore,” she said.

Colorado’s water future dependent on new transmountain diversions?

The Colorado Department of Natural Resources is looking at four pipeline concepts and two agricultural fallowing and dry up concepts as possible solutions to watering the unbridled growth along the Front Range. Here’s a report, from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post, about the pipeline plans from Flaming Gorge and the Green River proposed by the Colorado-Wyoming Coalition and the Million Resource Group. From the article:

Colorado municipal water suppliers are in discussions with their Wyoming counterparts exploring the feasibility. Separately, a private entrepreneur’s proposal to build a pipeline is under federal review. Colorado government officials — who have met with both contingents and are talking with Wyoming officials — recently included the “Flaming Gorge concept” among four options for diverting Western Slope water to the Front Range…

Huge hurdles remain, including financing and Colorado’s and Wyoming’s obligations to downriver states under an interstate compact. Conservationists object to the potential environmental impact of withdrawing the water…

The pipeline concept originated with entrepreneur Aaron Million and his Million Conservation Resource Group. In 2008, the group applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which regulates construction in waterways and wetlands. An environmental review has begun, and engineers are sifting through a deluge of public comments, said Rena Brand, regulatory specialist for the agency. “The majority of letters are against it” and “push for the idea of conserving more along the Front Range,” Brand said. Federal wildlife officials are among those questioning possible impacts on endangered species and migratory birds…

Million must provide a list of likely customers by January to establish a need for the pipeline, Brand said. Last week, Million said that “ongoing negotiations with 20-plus” potential customers in Wyoming and Colorado “are going well.” He declined to name them. The project could be done in five years, he said. He wasn’t invited to the municipal suppliers’ discussions at a country club, a slight he calls unfortunate. “The lack of collaboration is problematic. It was the private sector that developed the water in the West” before federal agencies got involved, he said. “This is a return to the historical development of water resources, using the efficiency of the private sector to get things accomplished.”

Meanwhile, the municipal suppliers’ group was to continue discussions in Wyoming this week. They are close to formalizing a coalition, Jaeger said. He declined to name participants.

Colorado’s top natural resources officials say they’ve talked with Million and Jaeger. The state’s emerging strategies for meeting projected demand — which include conservation, the re-use of water and rethinking low-density versus high-density growth — assume that importing some water between river basins will be necessary, said Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “Whether it is a public or a private project, it must incorporate public benefits,” Sherman said. “Sometimes it’s easier to incorporate public benefits with a public project, because the sponsoring entity is the public, and it will be focussed on public benefits. But it’s not impossible for a private project to incorporate a wide variety of public benefits. “

More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here. Colorado-Wyoming Coalition coverage here.

Flaming gorge pipeline: Does Million Resource Conservation Group have any customers?

Colorado water law includes an anti-speculation doctrine. Here’s a short explanation from a Coyote Gulch reader:

The doctrine basically says water may not be held for future sale. The Colorado Constitution says no water right will be denied, if the water is put to beneficial use. The one exception to this is referred to as the Great and Growing Cities Doctrine (c. 1916) that says cities can appropriate (or purchase water rights in a change case) water for future needs.

An individual or corporation cannot claim or buy water without an immediate or historic beneficial use.

So that is the conundrum that Aaron Million is in: He hasn’t named any customers for the water that he plans to deliver from the Green River so many are pointing the speculator finger at him and his proposed project. He has frightened off some potential customers by also being secretive about the eventual cost of the water.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of completing an environmental impact statement for the project but needs to know where the water will be put to beneficial use in order to evaluate the impacts. Million has said that he will provide the names of users in Wyoming and Colorado, “…but is not in a position to provide them yet,” according to this report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. More from the article:

“I think the Corps is trying to shore up its information and narrow down the focus of the project so it can develop alternatives,” Million said. “Obviously, we’re going to do everything we can to cooperate. The project’s on a positive path.” Rena Brand, regulatory specialist for the Corps, had a similar comment.

“In order to define the need, the Corps must understand who the water users are and verify their specific needs for water,” Brand said. “Water users could be cities, irrigation districts or industries.”[...]

The Colorado Water Conservation Board estimates the state has 440,000-1.4 million acre-feet of water to develop under the [Colorado River Compact and Upper Colorado River Compact], but is investigating things like the location and timing of flows. Million’s project would minimize elevation changes as it bypasses the Colorado Rockies and moves water along existing utility corridors.

There is strong opposition to the project in Wyoming. “I’m not sure they have adequate definition of the need for the project to even do the analysis,” Gov. Dave Freudenthal said last week. “I think this is just a rich guy who just wants to move water.”

Million countered that Freudenthal’s opposition was not expected, and said he is ignoring possible benefits to the state.

There is also interest by others in the state in the concept. The CWCB has included it in a study of possible water supply alternatives, and the South Metro Water Supply Authority has been looking at a similar alternative [Colorado-Wyoming Coalition] in its long-range planning.

More Coyote Gulch Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.

CWCB: How to bridge the water gap

Here’s a recap of the CWCB’s presentation last week to the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District meeting, from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Conservation, alternative ag transfers and new supply projects will all fit into the equation, but no single plan would meet all the needs, [Eric Hecox of the Colorado Water Conservation Board] said.

In conservation, the state water board is looking at the impacts of conserving 20 to 40 percent of the water used in cities in 2000. The problem has been in establishing a baseline, since most cities have not filed conservation plans with the state. Many cities restricted water use during the drought of 2002 and have continued to see lower per capita water use in the years since. While conservation is not seen as an effective strategy to meet future supply needs, it does reduce the demand side of the equation, Hecox said. The state is looking at several ways to decrease the pain of water transfers for rural communities. The Arkansas Valley Super Ditch, a water marketing concept that keeps water rights in the hands of farmers by combining the resources on seven ditch systems, is in the forefront of these studies.

The CWCB has two separate studies looking at new supplies. One will evaluate water transfer projects from Flaming Gorge, the Yampa River and the Colorado River, as well as pipeline projects within the South Platte basin and from the Arkansas River basin to the South Platte. Hecox was careful to point out that the state is not endorsing any of the concepts, but is simply evaluating them. The IBCC and roundtables also have asked the CWCB to look at smaller projects. Earlier this month, the Arkansas, South Platte and Metro roundtables voted to ask the CWCB to also consider transfers from the Gunnison River basin. “With the smaller projects, you might have to have 10 to compare against one 250,000-acre foot project,” Hecox noted.

The second study, which will be completed in 2010, is looking at the amount of water in the Colorado River basin that is available for Colorado’s use under 1922 and 1948 interstate compacts. Colorado is entitled to develop between 445,000 and 1.4 million acre-feet, explained Randy Seaholm, who has been the CWCB’s point man on the Colorado River for years. While the state could be subject to a compact call from the downstream states – California, Arizona and Nevada – the known hydrology of the Colorado River supports development of the additional water with little risk.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Flaming Gorge pipeline: Parker and the Colorado-Wyoming Coalition

Here’s an update on Parker’s Rueter-Hess Reservoir — currently under construction — and the water they hope to store there, from Chris Michlewicz writing for the Parker Chronicle. From the article:

District officials have secured water in the South Platte River and Cherry Creek and remain active in pursuing new resources to wean themselves off deep underground aquifers that are being depleted at a mind-numbing pace. New water resources will eventually help fill the 72,000-acre-foot Rueter-Hess Reservoir, which is being built in Newlin Gulch southwest of Parker. It is scheduled to be completed in less than three years, and decision-makers are grappling with the immense task and astronomical cost of piping the water back to Parker…

Instead of throwing money at high-dollar water rights, officials purchased more moderately priced farms near Sterling that came with certain rights to South Platte water. Now the district owns 9,000 acre-feet of consumptive-use water that could be moved back through the water courts. “We’re looking at that water as a relatively inexpensive insurance policy,” Jaeger said. “If everything else goes sideways, that’s our least favorite alternative, but that’s an alternative we own.”

Because of heavy industrial uses along the South Platte, the water must be treated with a costly process called reverse osmosis, which strips the water of all pollutants and minerals. The treated water would then be sent through a pump station and piped back to Parker. It would take several partners to pay for a pipeline, and Parker water would be forced to raise rates or ask customers to approve a major bond issue to fund such an intensive project. If all options were exhausted, customers essentially would not have a choice but to go along with the “last resort” project, Jaeger said…

Parker Water and Sanitation hopes it will never reach a critical stage that would require it to make those tough decisions. Leaders are heading efforts to explore some promising new resources, including a new project that has created a buzz in both Colorado and its neighbor to the north. A coalition of Front Range water entities has opened a dialogue with Wyoming’s top brass to find out how much water is is Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, an expanse of wilderness on the Wyoming-Utah border. Preliminary estimates put Colorado’s portion alone at 165,000 acre-feet…

Water providers, including members of the South Metro Water Supply Authority, have high hopes for Flaming Gorge because Wyoming would share the costs to build a pipeline to distribute the water and because the clean resource would not require reverse osmosis. Additionally, there would be no need to establish a massive evaporative pond to remove the brine left by lawn fertilizers and other pollutants in the South Platte. Although Flaming Gorge would require more miles of pipeline, the large number of partners sharing the cost would lower the price tag for end users, or customers. One considerable obstacle for Flaming Gorge is the need for local, state and federal dollars to back the project. However, a tentative cooperative agreement is already in place to conduct due diligence in determining the possible benefits to both states. Agreements are in draft form, and the Parker water district is a founding member of the Colorado-Wyoming Water Coalition. A meeting with representatives from Wyoming’s western slope in late April went “better than expected,” Jaeger said…

Parker water approached Wyoming’s leadership, including the division of natural resources, with a suggestion that the water authorities and conservation districts dictate where the water ends up instead of allowing private companies and speculators to get there first and set a price. Depending on how much Parker would get from the deal, water from the multi-billion dollar project could essentially become an infinite resource for Parker because the water can be reclaimed at the district’s water treatment plants, which remove waste and other pollutants before the water is dumped back into Cherry Creek, as required by the Endangered Species Act. A study showed that Parker needs roughly 31,000 acre-feet of water to sustain all homes and businesses at full build-out, Jaeger said. The Statewide Water Initiative Study from 2007 identified a need for 600,000 acre-feet of water for long term municipal and industrial uses across Colorado.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority: Suite of potential water supply options to choose from

The Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority is discussing their options for a sustainable water supply. They could be customers of any number of projects including, the Super Ditch Companay, a Flaming Gorge Pipeline(either Aaron Million’s or the Colorado-Wyoming Coalition) or Colorado Springs’ proposed Southern Delivery System. Here’s a report from Nicole Chillino writing for The Tri-Lakes Tribune. From the article:

The Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority continued discussions about its options for a future water source and it appears it will be a while before it can determine what its best course will be…Regardless of which project or projects the authority ultimately chooses, it will need to find a place to store the water. The authority has a few options, including the Pueblo Reservoir, but no storage location has been finalized.

Flaming Gorge Pipeline: Green River and Rock Springs join opposition

From the Associated Press via the Aspen Times:

The two largest cities in Sweetwater County are organizing to fight two proposed projects that would divert water from the Green River Basin to the Colorado Front Range. They’ve agreed to form a coalition and possibly hire a public relations firm to challenge the proposals, which include construction of a 560-mile pipeline [Regional Watershed Supply Project] from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Denver. The projects are a “big elephant facing us,” Green River Mayor Hank Castillon said in giving his support to the new coalition Wednesday. “This is a complex and unique struggle we’re in,” he said.

Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo lent his support. “I don’t think we can wait any longer,” Kaumo said. “We need to stick together and see just how successful we can be.”[...]

Also in the works is a less-publicized proposal to divert water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the Parker Water and Sanitation District near Denver. [ed. actually the Colorado-Wyoming Coalition pipeline includes many South Metro water providers not just Parker Water and Sanitation.]

Bill Sniffin, head of the public relations and marketing firm Wyoming Inc., made a pitch to lead a marketing effort against the pipeline projects. The Lander-based company provides marketing, research and public relations services. Sniffin estimated it would cost between $75,000 and $150,000 for his firm to carry the coalition’s fight against the pipeline projects for the first year.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

South Platte, Metro, Arkansas Roundtables: Looking for solutions to the Front Range water supply gap

Here’s a recap of Wednesday’s combined meeting of the South Platte, Metro and Arkansas roundtables, from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

“We’re looking at different scenarios, not just one water future for Colorado,” said Eric Hecox, Interbasin Compact Committee coordinator for the Colorado Water Conservation Board…

Comments to staff from Wednesday’s meeting will help shape the final plan, which will be discussed by the CWCB at a workshop Monday in Pueblo. The meeting will be from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Pueblo Convention Center. The CWCB will have its bi-monthly meeting at the Convention Center Tuesday and Wednesday…

Colorado now is looking at urban conservation strategies like turf replacement, rate structures, leak detection, landscape audits and appliance efficiency as a way to reduce per capita use. The CWCB also is looking at new ways of making agricultural water transfers less damaging to rural economies through grants to water lease-fallowing efforts such as the Super Ditch in the Arkansas Valley. The final leg of the program is to identify how much water Colorado could claim from the Colorado River. The state launched a basin-by-basin study on the Western Slope to determine how much water could be taken while still meeting Colorado’s obligation to downstream states under the 1922 Colorado River Compact. The state also is working to identify which project or projects should be built if the water is moved to the Front Range. There is no consensus among the state’s nine basin roundtables about which project would best fill the need.

Arkansas, Metro and South Platte roundtables combined meeting: Conserved consumptive use?

At a recent combined roundtable meeting Jennifer Gimbel — Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board — poured a little cold water on the idea of a pipeline from Flaming Gorge (either Aaron Million’s or the Colorado-Wyoming Coalition) as the “silver bullet” that would solve Front Range water needs without drying up agriculture. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

“I don’t believe a project from Flaming Gorge to bring in 250,000 acre-feet is going to cut it. It’s going to take a combination of proposals,” Jennifer Gimbel, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, told a meeting of Front Range water interests Wednesday. “There’s no silver bullet.”

The meeting combined state basin roundtables for the Arkansas River, South Platte River and Denver Metro areas. It was the second time the three groups have met jointly. In 2007, the roundtables learned about potential strategies. This time, the objective was to put “meat on the bones” of those plans, said Alex Davis of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

Gimbel’s statement drew immediate fire from Rod Kuharich, chairman of the Metro Roundtable. Kuharich is director of the South Metro Water Supply Authority, which is looking at a Flaming Gorge Project similar to an idea first proposed by Aaron Million. Up until 2007, he was the CWCB director as well. “I am real disappointed to see a large project dismissed carte blanche, regardless of who does it,” Kuharich said, adding that other projects like Blue Mesa pumpback should be examined as well. Kuharich said conservation and lease-fallowing options also discussed at Wednesday’s meeting are only partial strategies that do not give municipal water suppliers certainty. Conservation should not be relied on to provide water for future growth, because the sources of water will dry up, Kuharich said. He described the terms of lease-fallowing programs, such as Super Ditch in the Arkansas Valley, as “draconian.”

“How are you so sure it’s draconian when you twice failed to respond to an invitation to meet with Super Ditch?” said Peter Nichols, who is a Metro roundtable member and attorney for the Super Ditch…

“Conservation alone is not the answer,” [Keith Yahn, Sterling farmer and water manager who chairs the South Platte Roundtable] said. “It appears agriculture is going to bear the brunt of the state’s water gap. That water is reused six or seven times by the time it reaches the state line.” Don Shawcroft, president of the Colorado Agriculture Water Users Alliance, echoed that concern. “We’re concerned about the public’s perception of agriculture’s needs,” Shawcroft said. “What are the economic incentives to conserve water?”

The alliance is arguing for a new category of water in Colorado’s hierarchy, called conserved consumptive use, that would allow farmers to market water.

Colorado Wyoming Coalition: Frank Jaeger pitches alternative Flaming Gorge Pipeline in Green River

The coalition of Colorado and Wyoming water providers hoping to build an alternative to the Million Conservation Resources Group pipeline from Flaming Gorge recently sent Parker Water and Sanitation’s Frank Jaeger up to Wyoming to pitch their ideas to the Green River Advisory Group. Here’s a report from Jack H. Smith writing for the Green River Star. From the article:

At the conclusion of the Green River Basin Advisory meeting Thursday, Frank Jaeger of the Parker, Colo., Water and Sewer District approached both members of the group and general public, with preliminary discussion about a water diversion project. “We are trying to open a door to say we want to talk to you,” Jaeger said. “We want to hear your concerns.” Jaeger said he has looked at Million’s proposal and could not believe or understand what he had proposed.

While Jaeger did say he wanted to open the door to discuss the issue with local residents, he was emphatic that he is “not looking at taking Wyoming’s water.” Instead, he is trying to get Colorado’s allotted water from the Colorado River Compact. He added unlike the Million project, this is being proposed by public entities.

Sweetwater County Commissioner Paula Wonnacott attended the meeting, and discussed the issue at the commission’s meeting Tuesday. Wonnacott said these people came after Aaron Million to make them look “like the good guys.” She said the county has more to worry about than Million, with the consortium of groups from Colorado and counties in eastern Wyoming. “This fight is only beginning and it’s going to be a long fight,” Wonnacott said…

A workshop has been scheduled for county and municipal water users next Tuesday at 6 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Green River City Council chambers. “It’s important for all the water users in the area to come to this workshop,” Wonnacott said. “There are lots of people out there who want our water.”

Million’s pipeline plans have garnered attention from across the pond. Here’s an article from Charles Laurence writing for the The First Post. From the article:

Aaron Million is planning to pipe billions of gallons of river water from wild Wyoming to the suburban sprawl of Colorado, which makes him the man firing the first shot in the water wars expected from global climate change. He does not see it that way. Million believes that he is an environmentalist with a vision for quenching the thirst of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, where developers have covered thousands of acres of dry plains from Denver to Colorado Springs with houses, shopping malls and mega-churches. He thinks that he can do this without damage to the Green River basin in the mountains of Wyoming, a state defined as mostly desert.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.