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<br />Denver Post 10/10/03 <br /> <br />,.._....___ ___1 __ 11-_1-1 ~___ _1__1_ _______ <br />."au::.- Ut:c::II VII IIUIU IU'- DICU,';I\. \..ClIIYUII <br /> <br />A state water court judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Interior and the state of <br />Colorado from proceeding with a deal that environmentalists say would sacrifice high flows in the <br />Black Canyon of the Gunnison for future economic development on the Front Range. <br />Judge Steven Patrick issued a stay Monday that will prevent the case from moving forward until legal <br />issues in a related federal case are resolved. <br />A coalition of five citizen groups sued the Interior Department and Interior Secretary Gale Norton in <br />September, arguing the government had failed to protect the park's ecological, recreational and <br />aesthetic values by relinquishing a federal water right through the park to state officials. <br />They have asked the federal court to invalidate the closed- door deal between Colorado and the <br />Interior Department under which the federal government would relinquish the water right. <br />Under that accord, the government would rely mostly on a state-held 2003 water right to protect park <br />resources. The deal would allot water to the park only after meeting every other water need, including <br />potentially huge Front Range diversions, said Bart Miller of Western Resource Advocates, one of the <br />plaintiffs in the case. <br /> <br />002356 <br />