Colorado River Update: Progress on Fighting Gross Dam Expansion in Boulder County!

Hi Friends of the Colorado River!

Movement in the fight against the Gross Dam expansion in Boulder County, Colorado, has provided some hope for us to stop this project and further protect the Colorado River.

First, Denver Water dropped its lawsuit against Boulder County, and now Denver Water has agreed to go through Boulder County’s local permitting process. This is big news, and good news, because Denver Water had been trying to squirm out of getting a local permit for the biggest construction project — and most environmentally damaging — in Boulder County history. We have locked arms with the local neighborhood group, “The Environmental Group”, against this project and will fully engage in the Boulder County permit process when it begins. Our scientists and attorneys will dive into Denver Water’s application the minute it is made public, and we will make sure Denver Water and Boulder County are held to the letter of the law in the County’s local land use code.

Boulder County has considerable power in whether this project gets built or not, and we will support and defend the County in every way we can against the behemoth bully Denver Water. Read the latest news story about the Gross Dam project in the Boulder Daily Camera here.

Second, after being paused for several months, our lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for giving a permit to the Gross Dam expansion is now moving forward again. We have filed suit against the Army Corps — joined in the suit with five other environmental groups — because we believe the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act when it gave the project a permit. We strongly believe, and have hard science to prove it, that Denver Water should focus on a “conservation alternative” because their water use is going down, not up. A “conservation alternative” would also be much cheaper than the massive new half-billion dollar dam expansion.

Across the Southwest U.S. in the Colorado River basin we are in nearly two dozen of these fights against proposed new river-destroying dams and diversions. It is your support that keeps us working hard to protect the river for the benefit of people and non-human biodiversity that depends on the river for survival.

Thank you for your support — you can donate on our website by clicking here.

Stay tuned for more action!

Gary Wockner, Director, Save The Colorado