Hi Amazing Friends of the Poudre River! It's been a wild 10 days since our announcement about the Agreement we reached to stop opposing the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP), all of which is still being solidified. Stay tuned for more information about all of that in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, we're doubling down against the Thornton Pipeline. Yesterday, we filed our opening brief in our lawsuit against the pipeline, in which we made it perfectly loud and clear that Larimer County should have required Thornton to present a "Poudre River Option" for sending its water down the river instead of a pipeline north of Fort Collins. In fact, NISP will be sending about 1/3 of its water down the Poudre River, equaling about 14,000 acre feet, which is nearly the exact same amount of water that Thornton is proposing to put in its pipeline. If NISP can do it, Thornton can also do it! Further, Thornton's water would be during the summer months which would greatly help to make the river cleaner and healthier at the same time that more people are recreating in the river, including at the Whitewater Park in downtown Fort Collins. Rest assured that our work protecting the Poudre is not done and we are still working hard. Thank you for your ongoing support! Gary Wockner, Director, Save The Poudre
PRESS RELEASE: Groundhog Day On The Poudre River: With Release of NISP FEIS, Nothing Has Changed In 15 Years
For Immediate Release
Save The Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper
Contact: Gary Wockner, Director, 970-218-8310
Groundhog Day On The Poudre River: With Release of NISP FEIS, Nothing Has Changed In 15 Years As Massive Dam Project Would Still Drain The Poudre Through Fort Collins
Fort Collins, CO: Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the long-awaited “Final Environmental Impact Statement (link here)” (FEIS) for the “Northern Integrated Supply Project” (NISP), a massive proposed new dam/diversion that would further drain the Cache la Poudre River through Fort Collins. Although 15 years has passed by, nothing has changed — the project would still dramatically reduce river flows and have huge negative impacts on the river.
In fact, right off the bat on page 15 (link here, image below), the FEIS indicates that the NISP “preferred alternative” (“2M”) would drain 45% of the water out of the river in May during high-flow periods and 39% of the water in June, the two peak flow months in downtown Fort Collins. Further, these impacts would occur exactly where the City of Fort Collins will begin construction of a new whitewater park this Fall (See graph below for the “Lincoln Gage” which is right across the street from New Belgium Brewing).
“It’s Groundhog Day on the Poudre River,” said Gary Wockner. “Every day for 15 years we’ve been waking up and nothing has changed — and now this FEIS clearly indicates, again, that NISP would further drain and destroy the Poudre River through Fort Collins.”
Further yet, the Poudre River has already had 63% of its water drained out by farms and cities at the same point in the river, and thus this new diversion would dramatically decrease river flows compared to the river’s natural state.
The FEIS weighs in a 2,272 pages plus 23 additional “technical reports”, but the Army Corps has given the public a paltry 45 days to review the massive document.
“The first thing we will do is send the Corps a request to extend the public comment period,” said Wockner. “And then our team of scientists and attorneys will dig in for our summer of reading.”
“We’ve been at this for 15 years, and we are digging in for the home stretch,” continued Wockner. “We are bigger, stronger, and better funded than ever, and we will never stop fighting to protect the Poudre.”
This press release is posted here.
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Gary Wockner, PhD, Director
Save The Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper
PO Box 20, Fort Collins, CO 80522
http://savethepoudre.org
http://www.facebook.com/SaveThePoudre
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970-218-8310
