July 22, 2009

Laramie City Council Unanimously Passes Resolution Opposing the Million Pipeline Project

Laramie—Laramie City Council unanimously (8-0) passed a resolution opposing the construction of the Million Conservation Resource Group’s Watershed Supply Project and recommended that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Wyoming Board of Control withhold any and all permits and approvals for the proposed project. The Million Project would divert water from the Green River and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and pipe the water east along the I-80 corridor, then south along the I-25 corridor as far south as Pueblo, Colorado. The $3-$6 billion project involves moving approximately 250,000 acre-feet of water 560 miles on a perpetual basis through the year 2030 and beyond.

The resolution opposes the Million pipeline based on the following:

1. the project entails utilizing Lake Hattie in Albany County as a storage facility,
2. the pipeline connecting the Green River with the Laramie River watershed could facilitate the influx of invasive species such as zebra mussels or quagga mussels, which could cause millions of dollars in damage to local water and sewer systems connected to the Laramie River, and a pipeline corridor could become an avenue for noxious weed invasions, such as cheatgrass and kosha, to the detriment of local agriculture,
3. the removal of 250,000 acre-feet of water from the Green River is likely to have major negative impacts on trout fisheries in the Green River and on kokanee fisheries in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, and is further likely to impair recreational opportunities for boating, swimming, and other recreation in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area,
4. the removal of 250,000 acre-feet of water from the Green River is likely to imperil the survival of four species of Endangered fishes downstream in the Green and Colorado Rivers, specifically the Colorado pikeminnow, bonytail, humpback chub, and razorback sucker,
5. Colorado Front Range water markets could make it easier for water speculators to buy up and remove water from the Laramie River basin for sale to Colorado communities, to the detriment of the interests of the City of Laramie and surrounding agricultural operations in Wyoming, and
6. the creation of a private for-profit corporation as a water broker in Wyoming and Colorado does not serve.