US District Court Ruled In Favor Of The Windy Gap Firming Project In Broomfield

Press release from the City and County of Broomfield:

December 11, 2020

On Dec. 10, the United States District Court entered an order in the federal lawsuit filed against the Windy Gap Firming Project (WGFP).

The WGFP includes the construction of a the 90,000 acre-foot Chimney Hollow Reservoir and will provide reliable water supplies for twelve agencies, including Broomfield. State and federal approval was achieved through a collaborative partnership between western slope and front range entities. The project mitigates and enhances conditions on the upper Colorado River and has been endorsed by the State of Colorado, Trout Unlimited, Grand County, Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the Colorado River Water Conservancy District.

The WGFP supports Broomfield’s long-range plan to serve projected water demands at ultimate build-out. When complete, the WGFP will support an additional 11,200 water licenses in Broomfield.

A coalition of nonprofit environmental groups (Save the Colorado, Save the Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper, Wildearth Guardian Living Rivers, and Waterkeepers Alliance) filed a lawsuit against the project in October 2017. The lawsuit challenged the adequacy of the environmental review and approval by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the Colorado River Water Conservation District. The Municipal Subdistrict of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and City and County of Broomfield also intervened as defendants.

The court ruled in favor of the project and the case will be closed in its entirety. This is a significant step towards the completion of the WGFP.

Another important milestone in this project was completed in December when each of the twelve participants approved the project allotment contracts. Broomfield City Council approved the allotment contract on October 13 as Resolution 2020-232. The allotment contracts outline the rights and obligations of the participants including the allocation of the $600 million construction costs. Broomfield will own 29.4% of the storage capacity in Chimney Hollow Reservoir and will contribute $176.4 million for its share of the construction costs. Broomfield will continue to work with Northern Water and the other project participants in 2021 to finalize plans to finance construction costs.

Barnard Construction is the contractor for Chimney Hollow Reservoir, and work is scheduled to commence in 2021.

For questions and comments on this project, please contact Public Works Director, at 303.438.6334 or dallen@broomfield.org..

This press release was produced by the City and County of Broomfield. The views expressed are the author's own.