Denver Water Tries to Coerce Boulder County
This Thursday, December 20th, 4pm on the 3rd floor of the Downtown Boulder Courthouse at 1325 Pearl Street, the Boulder County Commissioners will hold a public hearing to take comment on a draft Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the Denver Board of Water Commissioners for the Moffat Collection System Project (Expansion of Gross Dam Reservoir).
This Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) is a document drafted by Denver Water and County Staff that would override Boulder County’s well-established Land Use Code Article 8, better known as their 1041 powers. The citizens of Boulder County have long hoped that the County would exert its 1041 powers to the maximum to stop the project entirely – a point they made clear at a Public Hearing on the matter in September, 2011.
Since the 2011 hearing, Denver Water has gone back and forth only a few times with the county negotiating this draft IGA. Now, suddenly, during the holiday season, Denver Water has strategically forced Boulder County to either accept an incomplete IGA or run the risk of acquiescing to the project with no mitigation whatsoever.
Denver Water’s attempt to coerce Boulder County to abandon proper mitigation of the proposed expansion of Gross Dam Reservoir is the final check-mate in a game Denver Water has played over the past 9 years with the numerous counties of Colorado who would be affected by the expansion. The majority of those counties signed into the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement – each one accepting the expansion project in exchange for money (in the millions) and promises from Denver Water.
The proposed expansion of Gross Dam Reservoir is made all the more contentious an issue by the hugely inflated price that oil & gas drilling companies are paying for water (now as high as $5,000 per acre-foot, which a farmer would normally pay $30 for). Expanding Gross Reservoir would provide Denver Water a surplus of 18,000 acre-feet of water for, at least, nine years. In other words, the windfall profits from selling Gross Reservoir’s water for fracking would more than pay for construction of the project – before the Reservoir was ever even put to use for its intended purpose of serving residents with clean drinking water.
This Thursday, December 20th, 4pm at the Boulder Courthouse at 1325 Pearl Street, the Boulder County Commissioners will take comment from citizens. Everyone is encouraged to attend and, if possible, speak their mind for up to 3 minutes. Denver Water will be present at the hearing.
A copy of the draft IGA can be found online at TEGColorado.org