Green River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers
Water pipeline threatens rural economies, recreation

Contacts:
Matt Rice, American Rivers, (303) 454-3395
Steve Markle, O.A.R.S., (209) 753-4797
Nathan Fey, American Whitewater, (303) 859-8601
Zach Frankel, Utah Rivers Council, (801) 699-1856

Washington, D.C. – American Rivers named the Green River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers® today, shining a national spotlight on a boondoggle water pipeline proposal that would harm rural economies, world-class recreation, and critical fish and wildlife habitat.

“The America’s Most Endangered Rivers report is a call to action to save rivers that are facing a critical tipping point,” said Matt Rice, Colorado Conservation Director for American Rivers. “We all need healthy rivers for our drinking water, health, economy, and quality of life. We hope citizens will join us to ensure a healthy Green River for generations to come.”

Front Range water providers have proposed to build a 500-mile long “Flaming Gorge Pipeline” that will send water from the Green River and Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming to Colorado’s Front Range. Estimates for completing the Flaming Gorge pipeline range between $7 billion and $9 billion (not including indirect or environmental costs)— an amount that could be the highest of any water project in Colorado’s history. The project could potentially divert more than 250,000 acre feet of water from the Green River annually— water that currently supports a robust recreation and tourism economy, rural agriculture, native species, and urban water use downstream.

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead has stated that the pipeline project is not a responsible use of taxpayer dollars. American Rivers and its partners called on Utah Governor Gary Herbert and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to denounce the pipeline project and support smart water supply measures such as conservation, reuse, and agricultural and urban cooperative agreements.

“Water in the West is critical to more things than just fueling speculative urban growth,” says Nathan Fey, Director of American Whitewater’s Colorado River Stewardship Program. “While the Green River is being viewed as a solution to Colorado’s future water shortage, the river today supports a diverse economy, sustains rare wildlife and endanged fish populations, and offers unique opportunities for people to experience how water interacts with the landscape. We need to protect the Green River, or we will lose these iconic values that define our communities in the basin!”

Steve Markle, a spokesperson for veteran outfitter, O.A.R.S., added: “The Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir offers a family-friendly stretch of whitewater and world-class fishing through a series of beautiful desert canyons. The pleasant nature of the Green and its proximity to Salt Lake City make it an easily accessible river for first-timers of all ages and abilities and itswaters need to be protected for future generations.”

“The Green River is one of the last remaining wild rivers from the old American West,” said Zach Frankel, Executive Director of the Utah Rivers Council. “The Green River’s pristine flows and roadless desert canyons are under siege by proposed diversions and extractive industries that threaten to banish its regional life-supporting nature to the history books,” said Frankel.

The Green River is the largest tributary of the Colorado River, and carves some of the most iconic river canyons in the U.S. Thousands of anglers fish its water and thousands of rafters marvel at its majestic canyons each year, generating a robust rural economy across three states. The Green was listed as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® in 2000 because of the threat posed by dams.

Now in its 27th year, the annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers® report is a list of rivers at a crossroads, where key decisions in the coming months will determine the rivers’ fates. Over the years, the report has helped spur many successes including the removal of outdated dams, the protection of rivers with Wild and Scenic designations, and the prevention of harmful development and pollution.

Read more about the Green River MER listing here, including how to take action to save it.

American Rivers is the leading organization working to protect and restore the nation’s rivers and streams. Rivers connect us to each other, nature, and future generations. Since 1973, American Rivers has fought to preserve these connections, helping protect and restore more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts, on-the-ground projects, and the annual release of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, American Rivers has offices across the country and more than 100,000 supporters, members, and volunteers nationwide. Visit www.americanrivers.org, www.facebook.com/americanrivers, and www.twitter.com/americanrivers.

Last week we saw the unveiling of a major new economic study by Protect The Flows assessing the financial impact of the Colorado River on the region’s economy.  The results were so startling that the study’s directors called it “Colorado River Inc.: The $26 billion recreational resource employing a quarter million Americans.” Over a dozen newspapers across the basin printed a version of this story.

Read about the economic study in the Salt Lake Tribune here.

2012 is the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.  This celebration comes at the same time that the Obama Administration is trying to restore protections to the Act that were cut by previous administrations.  Clean Water is not only good for rivers, good for the economy, and good for people, it’s also good for beer!  Jenn Vervier from New Belgium Brewing (makers of Fat Tire Beer) in Fort Collins, CO, offers this eloquent Huffington Post editorial:

Read “Clean Water is Good for Business, and for Beer!” in Huffington Post.   

The past weekend, 700 river advocates from the Waterkeeper Alliance and the River Network gathered in Portland, OR, for “River Rally 2012.”  It was an amazing confab of river protectors that included eloquent speeches and presentations from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Alexandra Cousteau, and Keen Footwear CEO James Curleigh.  Alexandra Cousteau treated the crowd to one of her Colorado River videos.

Watch Alexandra Cousteau’s Colorado River video, “Age of Limits: 21st Century Water Management.”  

Also at River Rally, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson offered an extraordinary speech about the need for clean water throughout the U.S.  Lisa told about her upbringing in New Orleans, and her later work in New Jersey, as a prelude to the EPA’s work to protect clean water in rivers, lakes, and streams from coast to coast.  Here’s an interview of  Lisa by “Portland Live” where she talks about the Clean Water Act and her visit to Portland.

Read “Portland Live” interview of EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, here.

Thank you for your support!

Economic Study Reveals Colorado River As Top Employer, Major Economic Driver Across West

Colorado River Ranks #155, 19^th Largest Employer on Fortune 500.

Kerrick James Photography

(Denver, CO – May 3, 2012) Following extensive research into the economic impact of recreational activities along the Colorado River and its tributaries across six western states, Protect the Flows in partnership with Southwick Associates, Inc. today released a study, “Colorado River, Inc.: The $26 Billion Recreation Resource Employing a Quarter Million Americans,” revealing the Colorado River to be the 19^th largest employer on the Fortune 500, and major economic powerhouse fueling economies in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

Protect the Flows, a coalition of more than 400 small businesses from the seven Colorado River basin states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, commissioned the report by economic research firm Southwick Associates, Inc. to understand the economic output derived from the Colorado River and its tributaries. The study found that 5.36 million adults use the Colorado River and its tributaries for recreational activities, including picnicking, trail activities, wildlife watching, camping, fishing, water sports, bicycling, and snow sports each year, and that such recreation, in turn, contributes significantly to the economic growth and stability of basin region states.

Among the study’s key findings, river-related recreation in the six-state region:

• Supports 234,000 jobs across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming
• Produces $26 billion in economic output
• Generates $17.0 billion in retail sales
• Out performs regional farming revenues by 14.6% on average
• Contributes $3.2 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue annually
• Provides enough state and local tax revenues to fund over 29,000 teacher positions
• Creates $10.4 billion in annual earnings, salaries, and wages

“The Colorado River is a major provider of recreation, which is a tremendous economic driver across the basin region. But what must be emphasized here, is that unlike other income generators, there are very few substitutes for the Colorado River,” said Rob Southwick, the study’s lead economist. “Typically, there are alternative places for people to visit and spend their money when their preferred recreation spots no longer usable. However, consider the size of the Colorado River basin and the distance to alternative places, well over half the people surveyed said their outdoor recreation would significantly decrease if the River was not available. Without recreation along the River, the federal government is risking over half a billion dollars in taxes.”

The study comes as the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) considers proposals to resolve the supply and demand imbalance during the final weeks of the Options and Strategies Phase of the Colorado River Basin Study. Upon completion in July 2012, the BOR Study will define current and future imbalances in water supply and demand in the Colorado River Basin over the next 50 years, and will provide adaptation and mitigation strategies to resolve those imbalances. The federal and state governments can then consider these findings when deciding on measures to implement to solve the imbalance.

“This study makes it clear just how much the Colorado River needs to watch its bottom line. Water-related recreation is our lifeline,” said Protect the Flows coordinator Molly Mugglestone. “The west’s economic future is tied this magnificent resource and the recreation it encourages, so we would do well to do all we can to protect it and keep the river flowing.”

U.S. Senators Mark Udall (D-CO) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) are encouraged by the numbers and will meet with the study’s lead economist and mountain region business leaders on Friday, May 4, in Denver to determine what actions they need to take to preserve the future of the Colorado River and its associated recreation and tourism economy.

“When tourists visit the Colorado River, they’ll stay in a hotel, eat out at restaurants, fill up their gas tank, maybe buy snacks and souvenirs,” said U.S. Senator Bennet. “When you consider all these visitors, it all adds up to billions of dollars that ripple through our economy.”

“The Colorado River is the economic, cultural and social backbone of the Southwest. This is true for recreational uses of the river as well, as today’s report clearly demonstrates,” said U.S. Senator Udall.  “We must be mindful of the important role outdoor recreation plays in our economy and to our way of life as we make decisions about how to allocate water, because we stand to lose thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in Colorado if we do not.”

For the complete report, go to http://protectflows.com/creating-jobs/.

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It was a big news week for the Colorado River, with stories in the press and events all across the basin.

First, Nuestro Rio — a new Hispanic group dedicated to protecting the Colorado River — launched their new song “Corrido de Nuestro Rio” yesterday with events and news stories all across the Southwest U.S.  Events in Denver, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Phoenix got rave reviews from locals and were covered widely in the media (a good story is here).  A spokesperson for Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley called it “Nuestro Rio Day”!

Click here to watch the music video of “Save Our River — Yes We Can!”

If you’d like to join in the fun promoting this new music video, consider tweeting:

Help @NuestroRio Save the Colorado River!  Check out this cool new music video. #CoRiver http://nuestroriocorrido.weebly.com/

Second, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, spoke at Colorado College in Colorado Springs about the Colorado River.  Secretary Salazar noted the problems with the dry Colorado River Delta and let the audience know that his Department was working on the issue and expected it to be resolved.  The Associated Press, as well as many regional media, covered Secretary Salazar’s speech.  Here’s the AP story that appeared in the Denver Post, which also mentions Save The Colorado’s petition sent to the U.S. State Department requesting that the U.S. and Mexico collaborate to restore the Colorado River Delta.

Read the Denver Post story by clicking here.

Finally, the Colorado River Basin Study made news this week, also through an excellent article from the Associated Press.  The Bureau of Reclamation is currently considering “options” for how the whole basin can balance its water supplies over the next 50 years.  Those options range from towing icebergs from Alaska down the West Coast (boo hiss…) to investing in much more aggressive water conservation measures (yeah!).  A great friend of the Colorado River, Protect The Flows which is a coalition of over 370 businesses, has inserted an option focusing on conservation, agricultural efficiency, and “water banking.”

Read the Associate Press story by clicking here.

Thank you, again, for your support of the Colorado River!

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Speaking at a conference in Colorado Springs Tuesday, Gov. John Hickenlooper talked of the need for more conservation to reduce demands on the Colorado River, according to The Denver Post, while suggesting new dams are needed to divert more West Slope water to the Front Range.

That’s worrisome enough, although there are ways to construct water projects so they protect both the interests of the Western Slope and the Front Range. Denver Water has proposed a plan for doing that in the past year.

However, even more troubling is the fact that Hickenlooper refused to rule out state support for either of two proposals to take water out of Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border, pump it through a pipeline across southern Wyoming, then south to serve the thirsty Front Range suburbs.

Come on, governor. Just say “No” to this bad pipedream.

We at The Daily Sentinel have repeatedly stated our objections to the Flaming Gorge pipeline proposal. We are far from alone. Various water organizations, environmental groups and local governments have voiced their opposition to the proposal. And two federal agencies have rejected permit applications to even study the project further.

Here are the primary arguments against it:

✔ Water availability. Promoters of the plan claim they would only take water from Flaming Gorge during wet years. But, if a certain amount of water did start flowing to the Front Range cities each year, imagine the outcry that would ensue from the other side of the mountains if their Flaming Gorge water were cut off in a dry year.

Moreover, although Flaming Gorge is on the Green River, it is part of the Colorado River drainage. Taking water from the reservoir, even in wet years, would reduce the total amount of water available to the Upper Basin states, including Colorado, under river law. And it’s not at all clear — especially in our era of reduced river flows — that there is sufficient water available in the drainage to meet the demands of the pipeline without cutting back on other uses.

✔ Downstream impacts. Just below Flaming Gorge are Dinosaur National Monument and Canyonlands National Park, endangered fish habitat, high-quality trout fishing and some of the most spectacular river rafting in the country. Reducing the flow of the Green River by as much as 25 percent to serve the pipeline could seriously affect all of these river uses. Federal agencies, among others, may raise strenuous objections.

✔ Cost. The estimates are somewhere in the billions of dollars and rising. There is no evidence that any of the presumed Front Range customers for the water will be able to pay enough to support that cost.

We know the Colorado Water Conservation Board is in the midst of a study of the pipeline proposal and its impacts, although this newspaper and other voices have argued that its a waste of money, based on the issues listed above and more. In any event, that study wasn’t instigated by the governor.

As governor, Hickenlooper should be leader enough to look at the multitude of evidence already available, acknowledge this is a bad project and publicly oppose it.

–
Reprinted with permission: http://www.gjsentinel.com/opinion/articles/gov-should-say-no-to-flaming-gorge-plan

Groups Deliver Over 5,000 Signatures to Restore the Colorado River Delta

Denver, CO — Today, 25 conservation groups throughout the Southwest United States delivered over 5,000 signatures to the U.S. Department of State urging officials to work with Mexico to restore water flow to the Colorado River Delta.  The signatures were gathered on a Change.org petition over the last few months in response to U.S. and Mexico negotiations over the fate of the Delta.  Currently, the Delta is drained bone dry as both countries take every drop of the river — over 5 trillion gallons per year — for farms and cities from Denver to San Diego and beyond.

“We need to focus on collaboration and compromise,” said Gary Wockner of the Save the

Gary Wockner with Delta petition in hand

Colorado River campaign.  ”The U.S. and Mexico have a historic opportunity to meet their own water needs while allotting a small flow back to the river.”

Over the last several months, the U.S. and Mexico have been hunkered down in negotiations to create a new “minute” in the treaty covering the use of Colorado River water.  That treaty — overseen by the “International Boundary Waters Commission” — involves how both countries use and share Colorado River water and how much streamflow remains in the river.

The petition follows on the heels of extraordinary efforts by the conservation community to highlight the problems, and opportunities, in the Delta which used to be a 2-million acre wetland and one of the most vibrant migratory bird oases in the Amiercas.  Over the last few months:

1. Jon Waterman, who recently paddled from the Source to the Sea of the river, published an editorial in the New York Times.
2. Sandra Postel published an editorial in the Los Angeles times.
3. Alexandra Cousteau published an editorial in the San Diego Unition-Tribune.
4. Gary Wockner published an editorial in Huffington Post.
5. Pete McBride’s film, “Chasing Water,” which in part highlighted the dry Delta has won numerous awards throughout the U.S. and beyond.
6. The Save the Colorado River campaign visited the Delta with the Sonoran Instituteto better understand opportunities to restore it.
7. Two young adventurers from Colorado College — Will and Zak — finished their own Source to Sea paddle and did a video interview with U.S. Department of Interior officials highlighting the opportunity to restore the Delta.
8. The 370-member business coalition dedicated to protecting the Colorado River, Protect the Flows, sent five business leaders to the Delta to inspect its current state and reflect on the importance of flows for their own businesses back home.  The leaders reported back on their trip to Members of Congress and the Department of Interior during their follow-up trip to Washington, DC in January.
9. Both Jon Waterman and Pete McBride published books about the Colorado River, highlighting the dry Delta, that were widely acclaimed.
10. Very recently, the Redford Center created the “Watershed Movie,” also highlighting the dry Delta and had its opening night in Washington D.C. with remarks by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and the film’s producer, Robert Redford.
11. And finally, the Sonoran Institute officially created a “Water Trust” that is starting to raise money to buy water to restore the Delta.

“The conservation community is 100% committed to doing its part to bring the Colorado River Delta back to life,” said Wockner.  ”We urge the U.S. and Mexico to move forward so that all Americans and Mexicans can celebrate this unique bi-national success story.

The following 25 conservation organizations supported the petition:  Save the Colorado, Sierra Club – Rocky Mountain Chapter, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Living Rivers: Colorado Riverkeeper, The Environmental Group, Western Rivers Institute, Blue Legacy, The Ocean Foundation, Clean Water Fund, San Diego Coastkeeper, Save the Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper, American Whitewater, Waterkeeper Alliance, Food and Water Watch, Colorado Ocean Coalition, Glen Canyon Institute, Save the Colorado River Delta: Sonoran Institute, Sheep Mountain Alliance, Grand Canyon Trust, American Rivers, Citizens for Dixie’s Future, Great Basin Water Network, Redford Center: Red River Film, Planning and Conservation League, and Defenders of Wildlife.

–end–

Contrasting measures offered in proposals made public by Bureau of Reclamation

U.S. Senator Mark Udall

April 3, 2012, (Washington DC) – Today, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation publicly released proposals submitted to bring supply and demand upon the Colorado River’s water back into balance.  The Bureau is considering these proposals through the Colorado River Supply and Demand Study, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is now hearing from businesses and Members of Congress regarding their preferred solutions.  Six members of the U.S. House of Representatives and four members of the United States Senate from six Colorado River Basin states have signed letters to Secretary Salazar urging him and the Bureau of Reclamation to consider the common sense measures championed by Protect the Flows, a coalition of more than 370 businesses from the seven Colorado River basin states.

“Thirty-six million Americans rely on the Colorado River,” said Senator Bingaman (D-New Mexico), Chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. “It is important for water managers to develop long-term plans that will improve urban water conservation and agricultural efficiency, while preserving the recreational economy that follows this river. It’s my hope this study will help states identify common-sense plans that will bring water certainty for generations to come.”

The businesses of Protect the Flows are concerned that the immense cost and regulatory issues associated with some solutions being offered to the Bureau of Reclamation would put their implementation off to the distant future or render them altogether unviable.   One such proposal they point to is a pipeline that would carry water from the Mississippi River westward through 5 states and into the Colorado River system.  The initial construction costs alone range into the hundreds of billions of dollars, a cost that would ultimately show up on people’s tax and water bills.  Other such expensive and elaborate ideas include towing icebergs or large bags of water from Alaska by boat to Southern California.

“Our businesses and these Congressional leaders understand that we don’t have time, money or political will for proposals that don’t have a realistic path to completion,” said Protect the Flows spokesperson Molly Mugglestone.  “We’re going to work together to implement proven, low cost solutions that can help sustain our recreation economy, our farms and our drinking water.”

The business coalition has thrown their support behind more pragmatic, affordable measures that can be implemented in the near term.  These measures include enhanced urban conservation, improved agricultural efficiency, and the expanded implementation of water banking – a practice that uses market forces to move water to users in need of it.  Protect the Flows business delegates shared these ideas with the Department of Interior and members of Congress during a visit to Washington, D.C. in February of this year, which led to the coalition of Congressional Members sending “Dear Colleague” letters from both chambers to Secretary Salazar.

“We must sustain the viability of agriculture and provide drinking water for a growing population while keeping enough water in the river to support a healthy ecosystem and the recreation and tourism industries that rely on it. We must not forfeit one of Colorado’s greatest economic advantages,” said Senator Mark Udall (D-Colorado) in the letter from the Senate

Other signatories on the Senate letter were Tom Udall (New Mexico), Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico) and Michael Bennet (Colorado).  In the House, New Mexico Representatives Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich; Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva; Utah Representative Jim Matheson; California Representative Grace Napolitano, and Colorado Representative Jared Polis joined together to send their own letter.  The Senate letter can be viewed here and the House letter here.

“The only way to preserve the economic future of the Southwest and the Colorado River system as a whole is to solve this fundamental supply and demand imbalance so we can have enough water available to meet everybody’s needs,” said New Mexico Representative Lujan. “Focusing on urban conservation, agricultural efficiency, and water banking will put us in a position to solve this imbalance, and do it in a cost-effective, common sense fashion.”

The Colorado River sustains the economy of the Southwestern United States in several ways.  In addition to providing drinking water for people from Denver to San Diego, the Colorado River is a fundamental component of the recreation and tourism industry, which supports nearly 800,000 jobs in the seven Colorado River states.  The river also irrigates nearly 4 million acres of land, which grows 15% of the nation’s crops.

The Colorado River Basin Study is now in the Options and Strategies Phase and submitted proposals will be considered and evaluated through June 2012. Upon completion, the Study will define current and future imbalances in water supply and demand in the Colorado River Basin over the next 50 years, and will provide adaptation and mitigation strategies to resolve those imbalances.

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Protect the Flows is a coalition of more than 370 small businesses from the seven Colorado River basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, California and Utah who directly depend on the river for their livelihood. Protect the Flows members are part of a multi-billion dollar recreation and tourism economy.  The group’s aim is to keep revenue flowing into local economies by keeping enough water in the river and its tributaries to support the recreation experiences that attract volumes of outdoor enthusiasts and tourists.  The founding business partners of the Save the Colorado River campaign — New Belgium Brewing, Patagonia, Teva, and Clif Bar — are members of Protect the Flows.

First, awesome editorial by our friend, Sandra Postel of National Geographic, in the Los Angeles Times last Sunday about the Colorado River Delta.  Titled, “The Colorado River Delta Blues,” Sandra continues the passionate drumbeat to restore the Delta.

Second, the premier of the “Watershed” movie, produced and narrated by Robert Redford, was a huge success in D.C. last Saturday night.  EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson offered opening remarks, Robert Redford introduced the film, and an excellent panel of international conservationists (including Sandra, above!) discussed the challenges facing the Colorado River.  The Watershed movie’s website is here:  http://watershedmovie.com/

Third, the proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline reared its ugly head again last week as one of the proponents requested a “rehearing” from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which had previously rejected a pre-application for the project.  Environmental groups throughout Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado pounced on the story and generated over a dozen news articles challenging the request.  The Denver office of the environmental law firm, Earthjustice, has led the charge in fighting the project and in the media stories of the past few days.  Here’s one story from the CNBC:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/46838072

Finally, friends of the Green and Colorado Rivers in Utah have mounted an aggressive challenge against a proposed water-sucking nuclear powerplant in northeast Utah.  Great work Living Rivers and Utah Rivers Council for helping to lead this charge.  This morning’s story in the Salt Lake Tribune here:  http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53804080-78/nuclear-plant-project-state.html.csp

As you can tell, friends of the Colorado River — from the top to the bottom, from Washington D.C. to Salt Lake City to Mexicali — are fighting to protect and restore this great river!

Thank you for your support! ]]> http://www.savethecolorado.org/blog/update-the-delta-flaming-gorge-pipeline-and-more/feed/ 0 http://www.savethecolorado.org/blog/feds-dismiss-permit-application-for-flaming-gorge-pipeline/ http://www.savethecolorado.org/blog/feds-dismiss-permit-application-for-flaming-gorge-pipeline/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:29:01 +0000 admin http://www.savethecolorado.org/blog/?p=237 Continue reading →]]>

In a major victory for conservation groups in the Southwest U.S., on Friday, February 24th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) “dismissed” the permit application for the Flaming Gorge Pipeline.

FERC ruled the application was premature, saying:  “This pipeline does not currently exist, and Wyco’s application does not provide any information about the timeline for seeking and obtaining the necessary authorizations for the construction and operation of such a pipeline.”  FERC’s dismissal letter is posted here.

Conservationists associated with the Save the Colorado River campaign — the “Colorado River Protection Coalition” — celebrated the ruling in the press release below:

For Immediate Release:
February 23, 2012
Contacts:
McCrystie Adams, Earthjustice, 303-623-9466
Steve Jones, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 307-332-7031 ext 12
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, 928-310-6713
John Spahr, Sierra Club, 307-732-0028
Gary Wockner, Save the Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper, 970-218-8310
John Weisheit, Living Rivers – Colorado Riverkeeper, 435-259-1063
Zach Frankel, Utah Rivers Council, 801-699-1856
Duane Short, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, 307-742-7978
Warren Rider, Rocky Mountain Wild, 970-385-9833
Jane Whalen, Citizens for Dixie’s Future, 435-635-2133
Michael Kellett, Glen Canyon Institute, 801-363-4450

Flaming Gorge Pipeline Blocked
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says no to unbuildable scheme

Denver, CO – Today, a scheme to build the proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline—one of the biggest, most environmentally damaging water projects in the history of the western United States—was dismissed by a federal agency.   The Pipeline would have devastated the Green River, one of the West’s last great rivers and a sanctuary for native fish and wildlife, and severely harmed the Colorado River downstream.  The dismissal of the preliminary permit application by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is a significant setback for the plans of a private developer to turn water into profits.

“FERC made the right call,” said McCrystie Adams, Earthjustice staff attorney in Denver. “This proposal would have drained the Green River, placing local economies, recreation, fish and wildlife in jeopardy.  We are confident that this project will never be approved. We will continue to oppose any project that threatens the West’s rivers and way of life like the Flaming Gorge proposal did.”

The applicant, Aaron Million, previously sought a permit for the pipeline from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps).  In July of 2011, the Corps terminated its review of the project because the applicant missed multiple deadlines and did not provide information requested by the Corps.  A few months later, the applicant redesigned the project to include some incidental hydropower components and requested review through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  Despite the modifications, the project remained a huge energy hog – the proposal included at least nine air-polluting natural gas-fired pumping stations that would be required to pump the water uphill across Wyoming and over the Continental Divide.  Million has acknowledged that pumping the water uphill would have used more energy than the project would have created through hydropower.

The Colorado River Protection Coalition’s comments and motion to intervene are posted here: http://savethepoudre.org/documents/Sierra-Club-et-al-Motion-to-Intervene-FERC-Project-No-P-14263-000.pdf

A map of the pipeline’s proposed 550 mile route across Wyoming and down through Colorado is here: http://savethepoudre.org/documents/RWSP-Overview-map-12-15-2011.pdf
_________________________________

In addition to Wyco’s application, the State of Colorado is also studying the pipeline through a “Flaming Gorge Task Force” that was initiated through a south Denver suburb, the Parker Water and Sanitation District.  Both proposed projects — Wyco’s  and Parker’s — claim they can divert up to 240,000 acre feet of Green River water to the sprawling suburbs of Colorado’s Front Range.  After Friday’s ruling, conservationists also called on the State of Colorado to stop funding the Task Force.

“This pipeline proposal is a complete waste of time and money as well as an environmental nightmare,” said Gary Wockner, coordinator for the Save the Colorado River campaign.  ”The State of Colorado should also stop wasting the public’s money on this scheme and focus instead on common-sense solutions, including water conservation and water-sharing agreements with farmers.”

One of Save the Colorado’s campaigns is to help stop the proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline. Costing up to $9 billion, this pipeline would take 80 billion gallons of water out of the Green River in Southwest Wyoming each year, pipe and pump it 500 miles across Wyoming, over the Continental Divide, and down to the rapidly growing Colorado Front Range (from Fort Collins to Denver to Pueblo) to subsidize and fuel new population growth.

Over the past few months, dozens of entities including conservation organizations, chambers of commerce, city councils, and county commissions in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah have spoken up to oppose the pipeline.   The opposition list (also called “intervenors” in the pipeline’s permitting process) reads like a dream-come-true coalition that spans the political as well as the Western culture aisle.  Of note, a coalition of over 250 businesses also has spoken out to oppose the pipeline.  You can read about it in the Wyoming Business Report here.

“We depend on anglers, rafters, birders and hikers coming to our communities to fuel our economy,” said Lisa Jenkins, executive director of Grand Lake Area Chamber of Commerce in Colorado. “This massive siphoning of water will decrease flows in the Green River by 20—25 percent, and cripple the annual $10 billion recreation-based economies that communities like Grand Lake depend on for our survival.” (quoted from the Wyoming Business Report)

Save the Colorado opposes the pipeline because it would be bad for the Green and Colorado Rivers, bad for the Southwest’s recreational economy, and would further endanger fish and wildlife downstream all the way to Mexico.

The State of Colorado has appointed a committee to study the Flaming Gorge Pipeline. Because the environmental community does not support the pipeline, we also do not support wasting the public’s money on the efforts of this State committee, and thus we have boycotted participating in the committee’s meetings.  Instead, we support common-sense water conservation programs in cities and water-sharing agreements with farmers — these programs and agreements would be cheaper, faster, and more sustainable solutions to address Colorado’s future water supply needs.

Sometimes you have to take a stand — it appears almost EVERYBODY has taken a stand to oppose the Flaming Gorge Pipeline.