For Immediate Release
November 29, 2016
Contact: Gary Wockner, Save The Colorado, 970-218-8310

Army Corps Colonel From Standing Rock Will Also Make Colorado River Decisions

Colorado River, USA: The eyes of the nation are riveted on Standing Rock, North Dakota, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued an evacuation notice for the Oceti Sakown Camp for Dec. 5th. The evacuation notice has been issued by Colonel John Henderson, Commander and Chief of the Omaha District. Tribal members at Standing Rock have appealed to President Obama to address the issue and disallow the pipeline and protect sacred tribal property and their water.

Colonel Henderson’s Omaha District is also in charge of the Environmental Impact Statement process for two extremely controversial proposed dam and diversion projects on the Colorado River in the state of Colorado. The “Moffat Collection System Project” and the “Windy Gap Firming Project” permitting decisions have been delayed for years, and were just delayed again in October. The new predicted decision date is “2017.” Together, the projects would drain a new 15 billion gallons of water out of the already severely degraded Upper Colorado River in Grand County, Colorado, and pipe it over to the sprawling cities and suburbs from Denver to Greeley, Colorado.

“The eyes of the nation are on the Army Corps which is playing a decisive role in the protection of water resources at Standing Rock as well as here in Colorado,” said Gary Wockner, Director of Save The Colorado. “We need to be protecting and restoring waterways and rivers, not further polluting and draining them.”

“There are alternative routes for the DAPL pipeline just like there are alternative routes for the cities in Colorado to get water,” continued Wockner.

On Sunday, November 27, the Corps issued a new statement saying it wants a “peaceful and orderly transition to a safer location, and has no plans for forcible removal.”

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