Cities, conservancy districts, energy companies own rights for 2.6 million acre-feet of additional water storage on the Western Slope. Editor’s Note: This is the third and final part of an in-depth story published by Aspen Journalism in December. RBC | One reason these proposed reservoirs don’t seem to worry[Read More…]
Tag: Aspen Journalism
Part 2: Colorado has big dreams to use more water from the Colorado River. But will planned reservoirs ever be built?
Editor’s Note: This is the second part of an in-depth story published by Aspen Journalism in December. RBC | But some experts say these proposed reservoirs are unrealistic wishes of the past, a vestige of the mid-20th century frenzy of dam building across the West that is mismatched for[Read More…]
Colorado has big dreams to use more water from the Colorado River. But will planned reservoirs ever be built?
Editor’s Note: We plan to republish this in-depth article from Aspen Journalism in several parts over the next few weeks. This is part one. RBC | Nearly two hours east of Grand Junction on a remote dirt road on the Grand Mesa is a nondescript, shallow, sage-brush-covered valley where two[Read More…]
River District grants $550K more for reservoir project
Wolf Creek Reservoir will need Army Corps permit RBC | A reservoir project in northwest Colorado has secured more funding from the Colorado River Water Conservation District, this time with the money earmarked for permitting required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At its April meeting, the River District[Read More…]
Water forecast: declining streamflows, earlier runoff
BY HEATHER SACKETT | Aspen Journalism This story is provided by Aspen Journalism, an independent, nonprofit news organization. For more, visit http://aspenjournalism.org. Scientists predict with high confidence that Colorado’s future spring runoff will come earlier; soil moisture will be lower; heat waves, droughts and wildfires will be more frequent and[Read More…]
BLM adds opportunities for public comment on Wolf Creek
U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials have decided to increase the opportunities for members of the public to weigh in on a controversial reservoir project in northwest Colorado with an additional round of public engagement. Members of the BLM’s Northwest Resource Advisory Council expressed support for early public engagement on[Read More…]
Rio Blanco Secures Water Right for Wolf Creek Reservoir Project
RBC | Six years after the application was filed, a judge has granted a water conservancy district in northwest Colorado a water right for a new dam-and-reservoir project that top state engineers had opposed. Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District now has a 66,720 acre-foot conditional water right to build a[Read More…]
Water court trial for Wolf Creek project starts Jan. 4
RBC | As its trial date in water court approaches, hundreds of pages of depositions obtained by Aspen Journalism reveal state engineers’ sticking points regarding a proposed reservoir project they oppose in northwest Colorado. Over a few days in November, state attorneys subpoenaed and interviewed several expert witnesses and the[Read More…]
Wolf Creek Dam project heading to trial in January
RBC I A water court case is headed toward trial because the state of Colorado and a water conservancy district still cannot agree on whether the district actually needs the amount of water it claims it does for a large dam and reservoir project in the northwest corner of the[Read More…]
County Beat: NEPA changes bode well for RBC
RBC | Commissioners Jeff Rector and Gary Moyer heard a report from LaDonna Eubanks, building department, in a work session prior to the regular commissioners’ meeting in Rangely Tuesday, Jan. 21. Eubanks said the state plumbing board is going the same direction the electrical board has gone, requiring a license[Read More…]
