Fort Collins, Larimer County set to vote on NISP endorsement

FORT COLLINS — Flooded by voluminous reports for and against a proposed water-storage project, the Fort Collins City Council and Larimer County commissioners are likely to vote at their regular Tuesday meetings on whether to endorse the plan or send lists of concerns to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. at their second-floor conference room at the Larimer County Courthouse, 200 W. Oak St. Nine hours later, the city council will convene at city hall, 200 W. Laporte Ave. The Northern Integrated Supply Project is on both agendas, which also include periods for public comments. The city council’s session will be broadcast on cable Channel 14.

Staffs advising both bodies have reviewed the Supplemental Draft Economic Impact Statement for the project, which was submitted by the Corps in June, and submitted recommendations critical of it for leaving key questions unanswered — even though studies of NISP have so far consumed 12 years and $15 million.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Empowering communities

Rocky Mountain Health Plans (RMHP), part of the UnitedHealthcare family, has pledged its commitment to uplift these communities through substantial investments in organizations addressing the distinct needs of our communities.

The council and commissioners also have been lobbied by groups for and against NISP, which the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District would build if it receives a federal permit. The largest of the project’s two planned impoundments, Glade Reservoir, would be located along U.S. Highway 287 northwest of Fort Collins and draw water from the Cache la Poudre River.

The League of Women Voters of Larimer County, in a letter to the Corps sent Friday, expressed concerns about what it called the SDEIS’ “inadequate” information regarding projections of population and water supply as well as its “failure to include water-quality and temperature models.” The anti-NISP group Save the Poudre contended in a media release issued Sunday that “case law is very clear that an EIS must evaluate alternatives that are reasonable and non-speculative,” which it said the SDEIS for NISP hadn’t done.

However, in a seven-page letter to Fort Collins Mayor Wade Troxell, Northern Water board chief Mike Applegate listed ways the district planned to mitigate adverse effects on the Poudre River — while agreeing with the Fort Collins city staff report in disputing the SDEIS’ contention that the Poudre is on a “declining trajectory” that may not be reversible.

Northern Water’s boundaries include about 880,000 people living on 1.6 million acres in portions of Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer, Weld, Logan, Morgan, Sedgwick and Washington counties.

The Corps is accepting comments through Friday on the SDEIS and the proposed project.