The nonprofit environmental advocate Save the Poudre is ending its legal fight against the controversial Thornton water pipeline, saying it will not appeal a state district court’s endorsement of the way Larimer County issued a key construction permit.
“The district court’s interpretation of the law is strongly against us and very unlikely to be overturned on appeal,” said Save the Poudre founder Gary Wockner, whose river-focused groups have battled many Colorado water storage and delivery projects they find damaging to the environment.
Thornton’s $485 million, 70-mile pipeline through parts of Larimer, Weld and Adams counties has been in the works more than five decades, after the northern Denver suburb began buying up farmland and accompanying water rights in Larimer and Weld counties in the 1980s. As the city continues to grow, it needs a way to deliver its rights to clean Cache la Poudre River water from a diversion northwest of Fort Collins down to Thornton.
Ten miles of the pipeline goes from a planned new pump station across Larimer County before turning south in Weld County. A district court judge ruled in early July that Larimer County commissioners had followed proper procedures in issuing a “1041” public works construction permit to Thornton, rejecting challenges from Save the Poudre.
The group and allies have maintained for years that Thornton is “pounding this pipeline down the throats of neighborhoods,” and that Larimer County shouldn’t accommodate the water move.
Save the Poudre will decline its right to appeal the district court decision, with a deadline looming of Aug. 21.
“Just because it’s legal to drain a river doesn’t make it right, and certainly doesn’t make it right in the eyes of the public which sees the Poudre River as the heart and soul of Fort Collins and beyond,” Wockner said. “We strongly encourage the city of Thornton to take a much more active role in the protection and restoration of the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County.”
Thornton declined comment on Save the Poudre further clearing the way for its project.
This round of political and legal battles is Thornton’s second try at 1041 approval from Larimer County, decades after the city that has grown to 147,000 residents started buying up farm water.
Thornton has already begun construction on some miles of the line in places like Weld County that previously consented. To win approval from Larimer County the second time around, Thornton shortened the segment through the county from 27 miles, moved key points farther from homes, and made assurances on emergency road access and other concerns.
About 21 miles, or nearly one-third, of the overall pipeline are now complete, Barnes said. For the 10 miles in Larimer County, “design is underway and right-of-way acquisition has begun with the property owners along the alignment,” with additional design work and preparation for a new pump station.
Another major project impacting flow and ecology on the Poudre, the $2 billion Northern Integrated Supply Project, was thrown into new challenges in this month when the largest sponsor, Fort Collins-Loveland Water District, said the two-reservoir system was too expensive and it would be pulling out of the deal. Save the Poudre had also been opposing NISP for years, and had recently won a $100 million environmental settlement with builder Northern Water to assure healthy stream flows and other ecological protections for the river.