Utah Rivers Council

In a startling announcement the federal agency considering a proposed $7-9 billion diversion of the Green River has dismissed the application for the project.  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was weighing an initial permit for the massive proposed diversion of the Green River at Flaming Gorge submitted by a Colorado water speculator.

This permit was dismissed as “premature” by FERC. Considering that FERC seemingly hands permits out like candy their denial of this preliminary permit speaks to how much opposition there was against this project. Indeed, the impact of the proposal can be seen by the sheer number of parties who protested the application. Intervening parties included U.S Forest Service, City of Green River, Wyoming, Sweetwater County Wyoming, Wyoming Fish and Game Department, Wyoming Governor’s Office, Colorado River and Upper Yampa Water Conservation Districts, Colorado Spring’s Utilities, Uintah County Commission and Conservation District, Sublette County Commission and Conservation District and a plethora of environmental groups including URC represented by Earthjustice. This FERC denial follows a similar dismissal by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2011.

The costly project would pull 250,000 acre feet of water through a 501-mile-long pipeline that would extend from two points of diversion on the Green River to a new reservoir near Pueblo, Colorado. The proposal threatened all those who depend on the Green and Colorado River’s for existence, play or business. The denial of this preliminary proposal is welcome news for water users, farmers, ranchers, recreationists and thousands of businesses that depend on this water source for their livelihood. The Colorado River is a globally important river that must be protected from short-sighted speculators.

Aaron Million, the speculator behind the project, has now appealed to FERC to “clarify and reconsider” their decision. Million seems to think this process is like an Etch-A-Sketch, where he can just keep shaking and redrawing until he finally wears down the federal agencies and the opposition. FERC often issues an additional order to deny rehearing and explain why the initial decision was correct. Please visit our website www.utahrivers.org to get the most up to date information on this issue.

The BLM has released the final environmental impact statement proposing oil and gas development across a swath of 206,828 acres of public lands adjacent to Desolation Canyon of the Green River. The Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness area has been under irreversible threat of oil and gas development by Gasco for several years. The BLM is proposing to fragment these wilderness-quality lands thereby removing 18,000 acres of land suitable for wilderness designation.

Desolation Canyon is one of the nation’s largest unprotected blocks of roadless public land and among the last areas of true solitude remaining from the old American West. The Green River basin is home to 2/3 of Utah’s wildlife but the area has been inundated with oil and gas development over the past few years. Gasco’s pending permit spans 15 years into the future so this decision to develop further will only drive oil and gas development deeper into this desolate region.

Due to past development, Eastern Utah has experienced record high winter-time ozone levels largely linked to oil and gas development. According to Gasco’s data, this project will add to these unsafe pollution levels. The EPA gave the project its worst rating and called on the BLM to either prepare a supplemental EIS or a new draft and give the public another opportunity to comment. The EPA suggested the BLM adopt an alternative which would still allow the company to drill the majority of its leases, but not locate new facilities in proposed wilderness.

The Utah Rivers Council would prefer Alternative E which would eliminate all gas wells inside proposed wilderness while still allowing Gasco to drill over 1,100 wells compared to BLM’s alternative of 1,298. The BLM will make their final decision in the coming days. The final EIS is available by visiting the BLM website at www.blm.gov and typing Gasco in the search window.

State Engineer Kent Jones recently authorized the use of Green River water for proposed nuclear reactors in southeast Utah, but Utah Rivers Council, HEAL, Uranium Watch and Living Rivers joined together to bring two separate lawsuits challenging the State Engineer’s decision to approve the water rights for the project. The State Engineer failed to demand sufficient proof there is enough water in the overly diverted Colorado River Basin.  There are major concerns the use of water will harm four endangered fish species that rely on Green River flows.  On top these issues it is evident the project is not economically feasible or fully financed.

Blue Castle Holdings, a Delaware Corporation proposes to build the $18 billion project 5 miles northwest of the desert town of Green River.  Despite not having any experience with nuclear power, Blue Castle plans on using 53,600 acre-feet of Green River water to cool the reactors, equating to almost 48 million gallons per day of flow pulled out of the precious Green River. Blue Castle claims half the power generated from the plant would serve Utah customers but Rocky Mountain Power, which serves 74% of Utahns, will not receive the electricity produced from this project. In other words, most of the power will go to residents outside Utah.

Another concern is the local water supply may get too hot in the summer months to be used for cooling, as has happened repeatedly in France in recent years. The temperature levels experienced in France are well below what is experienced in Green River during the summer. A total shut down of the facility would be costly and dangerous.

Just a modest disaster at the plant would contaminate the surrounding area with radiation. Claims of nuclear power being extremely safe in the modern era were proven invalid after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011.  Fukushima showed even a modern age nuclear facility in one on the safest countries in the world can have a severe meltdown.  The map of the FEMA Radiological Emergency Planning Zones for the proposed site shows how in the case of a meltdown Green River would be completely inundated in the radiation plume.  FEMA defines the ten mile radius around the plant as an area whose residents would suffer serious radiation exposure to their vital organs.  Price and Moab fall within the 50 mile radius of the second radiation exposure zone.  FEMA states that ingestion of contaminated water or foods in this zone may result in increased risk of radiation-induced cancer to the thyroid, bone marrow, and other organs.

Utah Rivers Council is celebrating a major victory from this year’s legislative session. Senate Bill 78, written by Utah Rivers Council and sponsored by Senator John Valentine, R, Utah County passed Legislature and will study the elimination of property taxes that subsidize water prices. Currently, Utahns pay property taxes that subsidize water rates, making Utah’s water rates the cheapest in the country. Cheap water rates are why Utahns are the most wasteful water users in the U.S. This wasteful water use is the justification used to build unnecessary projects like the Lake Powell Pipeline.

Utah is unique in the West in collecting property taxes to subsidize water rates. Washington County, one of the highest per capita water users in the U.S and primary proponent of the $2 billion Lake Powell Pipeline, collects more money from property taxes than from water rates. Phasing out property taxes in urban areas would eliminate or defer the need for expensive capital projects, saving Utah taxpayers billions. Before any new tax funds are put aside for billion dollar water projects, water providers should make the users of water pay for it.

SB 78 passed the legislature and is now a summer study measure for the Revenue and Taxation Committee. This study will make it easier to launch a bill to propose the elimination of property taxes on water because it allows the legislature to see there is a tax incentive to waste water in Utah. Reducing water waste is the cheapest source of water for taxpayers. Billions of dollars in infrastructure could be avoided, saving the Utah’s citizens and rivers an enormous burden. Eliminating property taxes would encourage conservation, protect Utah’s precious rivers, and save the tax payer from paying for waste.

The Utah Rivers Council successfully led opposition to a proposed sales tax bill to fund construction of the $2 billion Lake Powell Pipeline. HB 174 was a disastrously bad bill that would have funded this pork barrel project. The bill would have also taken money away from public and higher education, law enforcement and health services funding.

HB 174 was a very unpopular and would have taxed all Utahns to build an unnecessary and expensive water project in Washington County. The $2 billion stimulus project would deliver water to Washington County even though the area has an abundance of water and has the cheapest water rates in the American West.

HB 174 would have taken 15 percent of future sales tax collections to pay for the Lake Powell Pipeline. Sales taxes provided over 80 percent of 2011 General Fund revenues, meaning this revenue stream pays for much of Utah state government. HB 174 would have limited funding for these services by not entering the general fund. All Utahns would have paid for this $2 billion stimulus project in sales taxes even though less than 5 percent of Utahns would receive water from the project.

HB 174 was sponsored by Rep. Patrick Painter, R, Nephi. When Rep. Painter introduced the legislation, he explained that water projects put people to work and stimulate local economies as a reason for its passage. This stimulus argument is presented by some who simultaneously claim they will reduce government spending. Which is the case?

HB 174 passed the House Revenue and Taxation Committee by 9 to 5, then returned to the House Floor where it never got enough votes to pass out. Fiscal conservatives, education interests, low income advocates and conservationists lobbied against the measure at length. Crossroads Urban Center worked hard to stop HB 174 and deserves much of the credit for defeating this bad tax proposal.

What Can You Do?
Email Governor Herbert at http://www.utah.gov/governor/index.html and ask him why he is proposing a $2 billion stimulus project that isn’t necessary for Utah’s future.