Hi Poudre River Lovers, We killed it once, but Thornton's ZOMBIE pipeline is back again! Next week on April 10th, there will be a hearing at the Larimer County Planning Commission. On April 22nd, there will be a final hearing in front of the Larimer County Commissioners. We have dissected the application and provided comments to the Planning Commission. Our comments are posted here. A summary of our comments: This new application has changed very little from the previous application in 2018. It's a waste of Larimer County's time to even consider this application when there is no significant benefit to the County. Further, the former Larimer County Commissioners denied the application, and then Thornton lost in court, twice. This new application should meet the same demise. Larimer County's Land Use Code requires that applicants must "FIRST AVOID" negative impacts to the County, its citizens, and its natural resources. Instead of avoiding those impacts, Thornton's application tries to "mitigate" impacts. Using the "Poudre River Option," Thornton must send its water down the Poudre River instead of putting the water in a pipeline, an option that would AVOID all impacts in Larimer County. Thornton could've sent its water down the Poudre River 10 or 20 years ago WITHOUT even needing a permit from Larimer County, and so its not Larimer County's fault, or Save The Poudre's, that Thornton doesn't already have this water. The application provides almost no material benefit to the County and its residents which is required by the Land Use Code. Thornton must choose the "Poudre River Option" which sends the water down the Poudre and would provide the following benefits to help restore and heal the Poudre River: The river water would be cooler which would benefit native fish and people recreating in the river. The higher flow would help flush sediment and mud out of the river channel. Trout could more easily spawn in a cleaner riverbed of sand and gravel. Less algae would grow on the riverbed and on rocks, making the river safer for people. Less water treatment and expense might be needed by the City’s wastewater treatment plant, and city-wide stormwater runoff would have less negative impact on water quality in the river. Wetlands would be helped to flourish along the river providing more bird and wildlife habitat. Cottonwoods and willows would be helped to flourish along the river. Recreational opportunities, including those at the new Whitewater Park, would be enhanced. Flooding impacts may decrease. The river would be more beautiful. Hearing dates with the Planning Commission and County Commissioners: Sign up to speak through the Larimer County website here. Planning Commission - Wednesday April 10 Board of County Commissioners - Monday April 22 All meetings will start at 6 p.m. and will have a hybrid format. In person: 200 W. Oak St. and via Zoom (link to be provided) In addition to showing up for the Hearings, writing letters to the Planning Commission and the County Commissioners is important! Write letters to John…
TAKE ACTION: Don’t Let The River District Become The “Ditch” District”
Hi Poudre River Lovers!
Thank you for checking out our website and for taking action to protect the beautiful Cache la Poudre River!
You may not know this, but the Poudre River through Fort Collins is deeply endangered. Much of its water has already been diverted out, and even more water is proposed to be diverted before the river reaches downtown Fort Collins.
Right now, there are four proposals for new dams, diversions, and pipelines upstream of Fort Collins that would take even more water out the river potentially turning the river in Fort Collins into a muddy, stinking ditch. These new diversions of water would have serious negative impacts on the health of the river, on the forest along the river, on the new Whitewater Park in downtown, and on the fish and ecosystem in the river.
But you can take action to do something about these problems right now!
One of the proposed new dams/diversions is called the “Northern Integrated Supply Project” and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – which has to go through a permit process for the project – recently released the “Final Environmental Impact Statement” for the project and is accepting comments from the public about the proposed permit until October 4th.
Save The Poudre’s excellent team of highly experienced scientists and attorneys has analyzed the Final Environmental Impact Statement and has created a short summary of problems that the Army Corps needs to fix. We will also be sending in a much longer technical letter with our comments, but you can take action to send in a summary of comments that will give you legal standing in the permitting process now and in the future.
Please click here to go to our Action Page and send a comment letter to the Army Corps.
Thank you for visiting, and thank you for Taking Action!
The Save The Poudre Team