抖阴ap

Rep. J. Paul Brown is used to House Democrats in the majority smacking down the legislation he and his fellow Republicans hold dear. So you can’t blame the rancher from Ignacio for being all smiles after the chamber gave a 65-0 blessing to his on Colorado’s bone-dry Eastern Plains.

“We’re always depending on the federal government for our storage,” he said after the House adjourned Thursday after handing him a significant victory. “Finally we’re going to do something in Colorado. At least we’re going to study it, and that’s a start.”

The legislation, if it passes in Senate, where Brown’s fellow Republicans have a majority, it would study the volume of water Colorado has a right to store and use that is instead being lost to Nebraska via the South Platte River. It would look at where a reservoir could be located and how much it might cost.

Front Range water storage was on the mind of Colorado political and agriculture leaders this week.

Wednesday Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper threw his support behind the much-delayed Windy Gap project to divert more water from the Colorado River to the Front Range.

Gov. John Hickenlooper formally backed the long-delayed project Wednesday. He instructed his administration to join with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get the needed federal wetlands permit to get the $400 million project going.

Berthoud-based Northern Water hopes to expand its existing diversion system with a reservoir southwest of Loveland to hold water from the Colorado River to supply farmers and growing communities.

The Colorado Farm Bureau thanked Hickenlooper and pointed out the project’s importance to agriculture Thursday:

“The Windy Gap Project was first proposed in 1967 by the cities of Boulder, Estes Park, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland. Built between 1981 – 1985 and located on the West Slope near Granby, Windy Gap consists of a diversion dam on the Colorado River, a pump plant and a 6-mile pipeline to Lake Granby, the largest storage reservoir in the Colorado-Big Thompson Project system.

“During wet periods when Lake Granby is full, the Windy Gap Pump Plant cannot operate due to the absence of reservoir storage for Windy Gap Project water. If constructed as proposed, Chimney Hollow Reservoir would fill this new storage space need. The firming project would meet a need recognized about 25 years ago by Windy Gap participants: a dedicated reservoir to store Windy Gap water.

“Every year Colorado sends water out of the state we are legally entitled to because of our lack of storage. By increasing water storage, this will allow Colorado to keep more water here, while taking pressure off agriculture via buy and dry. “