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<br />Western Colorado Congress (WCC)
<br />In the late 1970s, as threats like oil shale development and coal and molybdenum mining loomed over communities across
<br />the Western Slope, local residents formed watershed and citizens groups to educate and act in defense of their communities, As
<br />years passed, these groups found themselves facing a growing number of issues, To share resources and bolster power, over twenty
<br />Western Slope groups and government entities joined in 1980 to create the umbrella organization Western Colorado Congress,
<br />Some of WCCs member groups hail from the Gunnison River Basin: the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council,
<br />Concerned Citizens Resource Association, Ridgway-Ouray Community Council, Uncompahgre Valley Association and Sheep
<br />Mountain Alliance work under the WCC umbrella, Approximately 1,600 people belong to WCC member organizations, and WCC
<br />continues to help organize new citizens' groups across the Western Slope,
<br />Since its inception, WCC has defeated repeated attempts by Colorado-Ute Electric Association to de-regulate electric rates; it
<br />has taken on Union Carbide's proposal to construct a commercial radioactive waste dump in Montrose County and doggedly
<br />opposed Louisiana Pacific's continued air pollution violations, Recently, WCC member groups have been dealing with issues
<br />surrounding water quality, growth, national forest management, oil and gas development and proposed wilderness area
<br />designations, In addition to each member group monitoring local water issues, the Western Colorado Congress has recently formed
<br />a water resource issues committee with members representing different Congress member groups,
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<br />Western Slope Environmental Resource Council (WSERC)
<br />The Western Slope Environmental Resource Council was one of the first grassroots environmental groups in the state when
<br />it formed in 1976, With its office in Paonia, it remains one of the few environmental groups based in a rural, non-resort community,
<br />The group is the Delta County branch of Western Colorado Congress, as well as an affiliate of the Colorado \Vildlife Federation,
<br />The group includes about 350 members,
<br />Proposed energy resource development in Delta County catalyzed WSERCs formation in the 1970s, Today, energy resource
<br />development in the form of coal bed methane extraction has returned as the Council's focus, There is a strong water resource
<br />component to coalbed methane production, since large amounts of potentially polluted water are pumped out of the ground as a
<br />by-product of methane production,
<br />"We're really trying to advocate very accurate and thorough hydrologic studies on Grand Mesa aquifers because of the threat
<br />of coalbed methane," said WSERC's Assistant Director Jeremy Puckett. "The Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and
<br />Delta County all agree that information needs to be collected before they proceed," he said, "Whether that gets done remains to
<br />be seen," WSERC is working closely with High Country Citizens Alliance on this issue, since the upper portion of the North Fork
<br />Valley is in Gunnison County while the majority of the North Fork is in Delta County.
<br />The Council has an interest in the outcome of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park water rights litigation, the
<br />Endangered Fish Recovery Program and any new developments in the Big Straw proposal. The group also keeps a collective eye
<br />on two proposed reservoirs: Coal Creek Reservoir and Anthracite Reservoir. These are being scrutinized regarding their diligence
<br />under a challenge from Trout Unlimited, The Council also keeps track of a proposal for Cactus Park Reservoir near Cedaredge,
<br />and murmurings about a possible return of the Dominguez Dam, Dominguez Dam is a project proposed for the lower Gunnison
<br />River east of Grand Junction, but postponed a decade ago, "Bad ideas," warned Western Colorado Congress' Matt Sura, "never die,"
<br />In addition, the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council partners with North Fork River Improvement Association
<br />(see below) in their water quality monitoring project, and is a participant in the working group for the revision of the Management
<br />Plan for Gunnison Gorge,
<br />The group helped form and continues to participate in the collaborative stakeholder organization: the North Fork Coal
<br />Working Group, They continue to monitor agreements with Bowie Resources and the impacts of that mining company, which
<br />include potential threats to agricultural water supplies, WSERC monitors plans for new gravel mining operations in their area, and
<br />plans to create a gravel mining information website for activists, \Vestern Slope Environmental Resource Council and Western
<br />Colorado Congress are both working on improving wastewater treatment in Somerset. That town has been dumping raw sewage
<br />into the North Fork of the Gunnison for years, according to WCC's Matt Sura,
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