Utah’s Supreme Court has rejected a proposal to pipe tens of thousands of acre feet of water from Utah though Wyoming to Colorado.
Water Horse Resources LLC says it wants to deliver at least 55,000 acre feet a year to meet the Colorado Front Range’s water needs. The pipe would start in Northeast Utah at the Green River, the largest tributary of the Colorado River, then funnel water along Wyoming’s Interstate 80 corridor to potentially be stored in Cobb Lake near Fort Collins, Colo.
Water Horse has said this could be part of Colorado’s river water allocation, though some environmental groups dispute this logic. The state of Utah has denied the project, arguing it’s protecting its scarce resources.
The Utah Supreme Court has now affirmed a district court decision. In an opinion filed on Oct. 17, the justices said Water Horse failed to show the resource can be put to “beneficial use” in Colorado.
According to the National Agricultural Law Center, in western water law, beneficial use is anything recognized by the state as an appropriate use, including domestic, municipal, agricultural, industrial or recreational uses.
“Lurking beneath the water’s surface, so to speak, were various issues of federalism, state sovereignty, state water law, and administrative processes,” the court opinion said. “But our resolution is straightforward.”
The CEO of Water Horse, Fort Collins resident Aaron Million, said the opinion provides a clear roadmap for moving the project forward.
“The court basically said, ‘hey you guys need to get a little more homework done,’” Million said.
That includes further defining how the water will be used. Million said this could include improving flows of the Poudre River system, providing additional water supply for municipal use and creating hydropower, along with agricultural uses.
“This project has the opportunity to keep water in agriculture and, frankly, expand the irrigation ag base,” he said.
Million also said the opinion provides a path to the U.S. Supreme Court, if needed. Regardless, he said construction is slated to start sometime next year.
This all comes as states are in tense negotiations over the Colorado River’s shrinking water supply.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
