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New Roadblocks for the Lake Powell Pipeline
and the Northern Corridor Highway
With your help we have put Important new hurdles in the path of the Lake Powell Pipeline (LPP) and the Northern Corridor Highway (NCH). Thank you!
In the avalanche of news over the past few days you may have missed the important developments reported in our September 25 Facebook posting. Here is a brief update. We will report new developments as they occur.
Lake Powell Pipeline Review Process to be “Extended”
The Utah Division of Water Resources and the Washington Country Water Conservancy District (WCWCD) have jointly and officially requested an extended time line to consider the 14,000 comments received during the LPP environmental review process. Zach Renstrom of the WCWCD put it this way, "Thoughtful comments were submitted and thoughtful responses are deserved. This is the purpose and process of NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)."
The fact that 14,000 comments were submitted on the LPP is grand news! The decision by officials to request more time to digest them is even better news. This means that the LPP federal approval process will most likely extend beyond the presidential inauguration, something LPP proponents were hoping to avoid.
One of the 14,000 comments was a blockbuster. To quote the September 10 Salt Lake Tribune: “All of Utah’s partner states sharing the Colorado River’s water are raising legal objections to the Lake Powell pipeline, possibly opening a schism in the interstate compact that has divvied up the mighty river’s flow for the past century.”
These objections could further delay or even torpedo the LPP.
Here are important links for more details:
“After insisting on expedited review, Utah now asks feds to delay Lake Powell pipeline decision,” Brian Mafley, Salt Lake Tribune, September 25, 2020
“Surrounding states bash Utah’s Lake Powell pipeline project,” Brian Mafley, Salt Lake Tribune, September 10, 2020
Six Colorado River States’ Letter to the Secretary of the Interior.
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House Committee Leaders Urges Pause for Northern Corridor Highway Review
The Bureau of Land Management received over 17,000 comment letters on the Northern Corridor Highway Draft Environmental Impact Statement. A great achievement!
In separate action, after testimony from Sarah Thomas, Conserve Southwest Utah Public Lands Program Manager, leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter to the Department of the Interior requesting a pause on decisions regarding the NCH until more is learned about the "compounded impacts" of fire and road construction within the Red Cliffs National Conservation area (NCA). Significantly the Committee members argue, as we do, that the highway violates the legal purposes of the NCA.
Most damning is the fact that the highway would expressly violate proper use of $20 million in Land and Water Conservation Funds that acquired privately owned property within the NCA. The acquired lands legally must remain in Federal ownership and may not be converted to other non-recreational and non-conservation uses. We are arguing that the volume of substantive comments, the recent fires, and the violation of federal laws require the BLM to go back to the drawing board on the Environmental Impact Statement.
Here are important links for more details:
“'Like an infant'”: Debate over the Northern Corridor heats up as the project's public comment period closes,” Joan Meiners, St. George Spectrum & Daily News, September 10, 2020.
“Feds' preferred highway route would impact lands it spent millions acquiring for conservation,” Brian Mafley, Salt Lake Tribune, September 19, 2020
“Chair Grijalva, Committee Members Question DOI Efforts to Build Road on Congressionally Protected Lands, Properties Purchased with Conservation Funds,” House Natural Resources Committee Press Release, September 24, 2020
House Natural Resources Committee Letter
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As you can see, the way forward in our fight against the LPP and the NCH will not be simple or easy. Your donation to CSU will help assure that we have the resources needed to stay in the forefront of the effort to stop these damaging projects. Please click on the "Donate Now" button below to go to our secure donation web page.
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