Facts do matter: more on Wolf Creek Dam
Dear Editor,
Does anyone remember the story of Juniper Canyon? Back in the 1970s, there was an effort to build a large dam to store water on the Yampa River in northwest Moffat County. At 220 feet high and just over a million-acre feet of water, it was a doozy. It would irrigate 14,000 acres of ag, offer fishing and recreation, as well as generate hydroelectric power. Just before construction, financial and environmental concerns accelerated. After spending millions, the plan sputtered, and the dam was never built.
You’ve heard the old saying, “If you don’t know your history, you’re doomed to repeat it?”
Three weeks ago, as a concerned citizen I wrote a letter asking what I have been told were some reasonable questions about this new reservoir project, Wolf Creek.
Executive Director Alden VandenBrink of the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District (RBWCD) penned an angry response, heatedly repeating some of the untruths he’s been prone to sharing before.
He stated in bold: “TRUTH: That using the water for endangered fish and agriculture are allowed in the decree.” This is patently untrue, and no matter how many times he says it, it will still be wrong.
Also, as of the date this letter was printed, despite the angry tone, neither our ranch nor the BLM had received the Plan of Development. I called BLM to see if they had gotten it, they said no.
While RBWCD asserts that water can be used upstream for augmentation, a court decree is required for this, and none has been sought or approved to date.
Despite the emphatic assertion that RBWCD is opposed to energy company Mahogany building a reservoir in the same place, their attorney wrote back in a 2017 legal document, “Applicant is in discussions with an energy company for the joint development/use of the Wolf Creek Reservoir.”
I really don’t know how interested the public is in the back and forth of these details, and I could go on and on. I think the bigger picture is just how many unanswered questions there are about this costly mega project, as I have heard citizens asking over and over at public meetings, “who really wants this reservoir? Who and what is behind it?”
Is it unreasonable to ask why we, the public, would again entrust funds to an entity that is losing hundreds of thousands every year on a failed power plant per their audited financials, allowing Kenney Reservoir to continue to fill up with silt, placing a harmful call on the river hurting both local ag and energy as the power plant continues to lose money, and incredibly, losing $4 million in a wire transfer fraud from which we still have no answers due to what we are told is “an ongoing investigation?”
In a small county like Rio Blanco, choices will need to be made. Two very different projects: a modest expansion of the popular high elevation Lake Avery with potential to help the entire river basin, or a huge desert reservoir at the downstream end of the county, which, if ever built, could end up just another sediment trap with massive evaporative loss.
Our local BLM office and the US Army Corps of Engineers are objectively seeking to answer some of these questions. At the end of the day, let’s hope the citizens of our county get a clear and transparent picture as to what makes the most fiscal, economic, and environmental sense for the greater good. Water security is important, and getting reliable answers is key.
I think we all hope we can count on facts, not fantasy, as these important decisions move forward.
Deirdre Macnab
4M Ranch
Rio Blanco County
