The Army Corps of Engineers has begun a formal study of a Colorado businessman’s proposal for a pipeline that would tap the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Green River, according to a report from E&E Land Letter. The project would provide as much as 250,000 acre-ft of water per year to potential customers.
Aaron Million, of Fort Collins, Colo., has been pushing for years to develop the 400-mile pipeline to pump water from Wyoming's Green River to Colorado's Front Range.
The pipeline, which is expected to cost $2 billion to $3 billion, could start delivering water to Colorado in four to five years, according to Million. It could be financed through a combination of public and private money.
The Army Corps will hold public meetings this month in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to gather input on what it should address in its environmental review.
The Army Corps decided to proceed with the environmental study after Million sent a letter of intent to the agency detailing his proposal, according to Monique Farmer, a spokeswoman for the agency.
The corps expects to release a draft environmental impact statement in 2012 and a record of decision in 2014, Farmer said.
Million is relying on water available under the Colorado River compacts. The compacts allocate an average of 7.5 million acre-ft per year to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, and also require the upper basin states to deliver an average of 7.5 million acre-ft per year to Arizona, California and Nevada.
Environmentalists warn that piping water across the Continental Divide could harm fish, wildlife, migratory birds and the riparian areas they depend upon, Land Letter reported.
The full report is available here.
