Skip to content

TAKE ACTION! Ask Boulder County Commissioners to Protect Colorado River!

Hello Friends of the Colorado River!

A few weeks ago we ask you to contact the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and tell them to STOP the Lake Powell Pipeline in Utah. Lots of you did it, and Thank You! In addition, we signed on with a large coalition of groups and sent FERC 78 pages of technical documents opposing the project!

Now it’s time to take action again! This month, we are reaching out to the County Commissioners in Boulder County, Colorado, (click here!) to ask them to help stop the proposed disastrous Moffat Collection System Project. This project is proposed by Denver Water — it would be the largest construction project in Boulder County history, grossdam1drain 5 billion more gallons of water out of the Colorado River each year, build a massive 131-foot height extension on the Gross Dam (yes, it’s really named “Gross” Dam) in Southwest Boulder County, and cause huge negative impacts to home values and quality of life for nearby residents.

You can click here to send an email to the Boulder County Commissioners asking them to help stop the massive dam/reservoir project.

If you are in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, or in between, this river-draining project will impact your water supply — you have a right to ask the Boulder County Commissioners to help stop it.

Save The Colorado is digging in hard to fight this Denver Water project. What are we doing?

  • We are having a public meeting about the project on April 4th in Boulder — please attend if you are in town (link and details here):
  • We are working closely with TEG-Colorado — the local group around Gross Dam — with all of our legal, outreach, and engagement activities.
  • We have retained an attorney to represent our coalition.
  • We have put together a coalition of environmental groups who want to join the fight to stop the dam.
  • We have sent several new technical documents to the Army Corps of Engineers (which is one of the permitting agencies for the project) that solidify our “standing” and strongly pack the public record with arguments against the dam expansion.
  • We have prepared a solid technical argument refuting the “mitigation” plan that Denver Water is proposing.
  • We’ve retained two consultants to assist our broad range of efforts to fight the dam, including a fundraising consultant and a scientific consultant.
  • We’ve launched a campaign to reach out to the Boulder County Commissioners (CLICK HERE).
  • We are monitoring the State’s “water quality permit” for the project — which has not been finalized yet — and may engage as needed.
  • We’ve engaged with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (another permitting agency for the project), and will legally intervene when the public process for that stage of the permitting begins.
  • We are setting up a meeting with the public in Grand County, Colorado, to discuss our concerns near the headwaters of the Colorado River.
  • We continue to actively reach out to the Colorado and Western media about the threat of this project and others on the Colorado River. The most recent news story was in the Summit Daily News last Saturday.

How Can You Help? Yes, Again :-)! Please click here to send an email to the Boulder County Commissioners today! The Army Corps of Engineers says they will make a decision on this project in the summer of 2016, so we need to help the Boulder County Commissioners support our effort to Stop This Project! (CLICK HERE)

What else is new with Save The Colorado? We have two amazing new boardmembers! Sara Aminzadeh and John Fielder have joined our board!

sara-aminzedahSara Aminzadeh seizes every opportunity to paddle, float and otherwise spend time in and on the water. Sara is the Executive Director of California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA), a fifteen-year old network of Waterkeeper organizations fighting for clean water in California. Ms. Aminzadeh directs CCKA initiatives to protect and defend California’s ocean, bays, and rivers, including CCKA’s work to make permanent changes to the way water supplies are managed and to protect and restore instream flows for California rivers and fish. Ms. Aminzadeh has been working on climate change and human rights issues for more than fifteen years, including work at the Center for International Environmental Law and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She received her JD from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

John_resized_3_John Fielder is a nationally renowned photographer, publisher, teacher, and environmentalist. He hikes and skis hundreds of miles in Colorado alone each year — and drives thousands — in order to record on film its most sublime natural places. For the last 40 years, no one has traveled Colorado like John Fielder, from its rolling plains to the soaring Rocky Mountains and the Western Slope’s remote plateaus and river canyons. John Fielder has also worked tirelessly to promote the protection of Colorado’s open space and wildlands. His photography has influenced people and legislation earning him recognition including the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award in 1993, and in 2011 the Aldo Leopold Foundation’s first Achievement Award given to an individual. He was an original governor-appointed member of the lottery-related Board of Great Outdoors Colorado, and speaks to thousands of people each year to rally support for timely land use and environmental issues.

Sara and John join are committed to our mission and are fully on board with our policy of “No New Dams and Diversions on the Colorado River!” Welcome Sara and John!

 

Back To Top
Search