Money keeps pouring in for Shoshone rights

In a matter of hours Tuesday, Mesa, Eagle and Grand counties committed a combined $4 million toward an effort to buy historic water rights on the Colorado River, nearly doubling the amount of support pledged so far by local entities.

Mesa County and Grand County commissioners on Tuesday each pledged $1 million from their counties toward the Colorado River District’s efforts to buy Xcel Energy’s water rights for the Shoshone hydroelectric power plant in Glenwood Canyon for $99 million. Eagle County commissioners committed $2 million.

Local water entities and governments have now pledged a combined $8.05 million toward the purchase effort. It is aimed at permanently securing the flows guaranteed by the water rights regardless of what happens to the plant, for the benefit of agriculture, municipalities, recreation and imperiled fish and the river’s ecosystem.

“The preservation of the Shoshone rights would be the most influential environmental water rights in our state’s history and that’s not lost on us,” Mesa Commissioner Bobbie Daniel said Tuesday morning before Mesa commissioners unanimously approved the $1 million commitment. “This means stability in the water world, where there’s really not a lot of stability right now.”

The river district has committed $20 million itself to the purchase, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board has recommended to the state Legislature that the state provide the same amount. The river district hopes to get $39 million to $49 million from federal Inflation Reduction Act grant funding.

At the time the river district and Xcel reached a purchase agreement in December, the district was counting on getting $10 million in funding from local entities, based on a past estimate when it last approached Xcel about buying the water rights. It is now hoping for $10 million to $20 million in local funding, based on the interest and feedback it has gotten since the purchase agreement was signed. More local support would mean less federal funding would be required.

So far the largest local commitments have been from Eagle County and the local Ute Water Conservancy District, at $2 million apiece. The Glenwood Springs City Council next week will be considering a possible $2 million donation. That city’s recreational economy is heavily dependent on the Colorado River.

The Shoshone rights include a 1902 right to flows of 1,250 cubic feet per second, and a second right to 158 cfs that was appropriated in 1929. The rights, due to their seniority, prevent upstream diversions, including to Front Range cities, when there otherwise wouldn’t be high enough flows in the river to meet the power plant’s needs.

The plant’s flows then return to the river, making the water available for downstream users such as irrigators and municipal water suppliers. They also help shore up flows in the Colorado River below irrigation diversions in the Palisade area, in a 15-mile stretch reaching to the Gunnison River confluence that is important to endangered and threatened fish.

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“Very importantly (securing the water rights) will help to keep the endangered fish species recovery program functional so that all of the irrigation entities in the Grand Valley don’t have to face sort of the heavy hand of the federal government for the federally endangered fish species in the 15-mile reach,” river district General Counsel Peter Fleming told Mesa commissioners Tuesday.

That federal program helps enable river water uses including diversions for local use and to the Front Range while still providing for protections to the fish.

Sean Norris, president of the Grand Valley Irrigation Co., told commissioners that every negotiation involving Colorado River water on the Front Range and the Western Slope relies on the continued historical management of the Shoshone rights, and they also are important to discussions between Upper Basin and Lower Basin Colorado River states.

“This is hugely important to all of Colorado, not just Mesa County,” he said.

Grand Valley Irrigation has committed $250,000 to the purchase. Representatives of Clifton Water, the Grand Valley Water Users Association and Orchard Mesa Irrigation District also spoke Tuesday in favor of the county supporting the purchase effort, and all have committed funds to the purchase themselves.

Also, the City of Grand Junction has committed $1 million.

Amy Moyer, director of strategic partnerships for the river district, said in a prepared statement Tuesday about the Mesa, Eagle and Grand county donations, “The counties along the mainstem of the Colorado River are anchor points which represent the values of their communities, especially when it comes to natural resources. Their enthusiastic support of the Shoshone Water Right Preservation campaign is a clear demonstration of how critical this effort is to the health and future of western Colorado and the Colorado River itself.”

Under the purchase agreement, the river district would lease the water back to Xcel at no cost for hydropower production. The water rights would revert to instream flow use when not being used to make power. The purchase is subject to the river district securing the necessary funds and reaching an instream flow agreement with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Xcel also would need to get approval from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for dispersal of profits from the sale.