06 (3) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

.- City of Fort Collins NISP DEIS Comments September 10, 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City of Fort Collins (City) respectfully files these comments on the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) on April 29, 2008. I3ased on a thorough, scientific review of the DEIS by expert City staff and consultants (see biographies in Appendix A to these Comments), the City has concluded that the DEIS fails to sufficiently analyze the impacts of NISP and does not provide for the avoidance of the extensive impacts NISP would have on the City and its residents. It would be illegal to approve a permit for NISP based on the current record and project definition. Accordingly, a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) is necessary to meet the Corps' legal obligations under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (Section 404) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Because NISP would cause extensive impacts to the City's environment, quality of life, economy, property and budget, and NISP does not provide adequate safeguards, the City opposes NISP as it is described in the DEIS. 1. NISP Would Cause Significant Impacts to the Water Quality of Horsetooth Reservoir and to the Cache la Poudre River in Fort Collins The City would be directly affected by NISP. NISP would build, among other things, the new 170,000 acre-foot Glade Reservoir just north of Ted's Place on U.S. Highway 287, a pipeline between the Glade Reservoir and Horsetooth Reservoir (a critical source of the City's drinking water) and a relocated U.S. 2871. NISP would take as much as 71 % of the water out of the Cache la Poudre River upstream of the City and place it into the Glade Reservoir. As described in the DEIS, a portion of the Glade water would be conveyed to Horsetooth Reservoir, where it would degrade the quality of the water that enters the City's drinking water treatment facility. The City depends on the quality of its water supplies. The City provides customers some of the best water in the country, which is critical to both residents and businesses. Many of the City's largest employers -high tech companies like Hewlett-Packard and Kodak and breweries like Anheuser Busch, New Belgium and Odell -depend on this high-quality water for their processes. Degradation of one of the City's two primary sources of water, Horsetooth Reservoir, could require the City to spend in excess of $90 million in capital costs and almost $3 million annually to maintain the quality of the water delivered to customers. NISP would cause reductions in the Poudre River's flows through Fort Collins as predicted in the DEIS, which may require the City to spend up to $125 million on upgrades to wastewater treatment facilities to protect the River. ~ For the purpose of these comments, the Cache la Poudre River is also referred to as "the Poudre River" and "the River." 2