PRESS RELEASE: Frozen Dead Guy -vs- Denver Water

Dec. 2, 2020
For Immediate Release
Contact: Gary Wockner, Save The Colorado, 970-218-8310

Frozen Dead Guy -vs- Denver Water

Nederland, Colorado: Last night, the Nederland, Colorado — home of the internationally famous “Frozen Dead Guy Days” — Town Board of Trustees voted unanimously to “oppose” Denver Water’s proposed expansion of the nearby Gross Dam, and to ask the Boulder County Commissioners to “deny” Denver Water’s permit to expand the dam.

As outlined in the letter sent to Boulder County (copied below), Nederland is the community that would feel much of the negative impacts of the dam expansion to their roads, environment, and quality of life.

The massive proposed Gross Dam expansion would build the tallest dam in the history of Colorado and be the biggest construction project in Boulder County history. The dam would expand the reservoir to further drain and destroy the Upper Colorado River, removing over 3.5 billion gallons of water per year turning some of the headwater streams into “zero flow day” ditches, all to keep the grass green for a couple months per year in Denver Water’s service area. The letter from the Nederland Town Board further accentuates that Denver Water could simply focus more resources on water conservation rather than river destruction, thus making the project completely unnecessary.

The Boulder County Commissioners and staff are currently taking public comment on the massive proposed dam expansion (see the County’s website here).

Frozen Dead Guy Days is a “world renowned spectacle” (read: “MASSIVE MOUNTAIN PARTY”) celebrating the cryogenic freezing of a local man whose family wants to bring him back to life as medical technology advances.

“This should be the last nail in the coffin of this crazy dam project,” said Gary Wockner, Director of Save The Colorado. “Medical science might be able to bring the Frozen Dead Guy back to life, but once Denver Water kills the Upper Colorado River, it will be dead forever.”

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Nederland Town Board letter to Boulder County:

Dear Boulder County Commissioners,

We support and appreciate your application of the 1041 regulations to Denver Water’s proposed expansion of Gross Reservoir. We agree that it is critical that the project be thoroughly and carefully reviewed under Boulder County’s land use and environmental regulations.

We have concluded because of data provided that the proposed expansion is unnecessary and that the installation of water conservation low flow devices and more efficient toilets, as well as xeriscaping in homes within Denver Water’s service area would achieve the same conservation goals, while providing more jobs and no negative environmental impacts.

The expansion project will have severe negative environmental impacts by releasing massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The expansion will require the removal of 200,000 trees, that are badly needed for carbon sequestration. It will require millions of tons of cement that also releases massive amounts of carbon when processed. There will be tens of thousands of trucks traveling on Boulder County roads damaging them severely with unrecoverable costs that will be passed on to taxpayers. The truck traffic will also have a very negative impact on our already deteriorating air quality. This project is completely inappropriate in the middle of a climate crisis. Climate change makes it extremely unlikely that the reservoir will ever be filled because of decreasing moisture and increasing temperatures and evaporation rates.

The Colorado River is overwhelmed with two many states demanding water. A project planning to withdraw water from the river is a very shortsighted, misguided idea.

We oppose the project and respectfully request that you deny it.

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