Romer and Ritter: Keep Shoshone flowing by letting the Colorado River District purchase Xcel’s rights

As governors of the great state of Colorado, dozens of issues crossed our desks every day demanding attention and action. Among the most challenging was water, in large part because in Colorado water touches most every other issue: growth, economic opportunity, our all-important agriculture sector, landscapes, open spaces, environment, quality of life, tourism and recreation. Water is the cornerstone of the health and well-being of every household in the state.

Add to all that the complexities of our system of water allocation and water courts and you begin to understand what a challenge water policy in Colorado was when we served and why it remains so today.

From the governor’s office at the Capitol, we were always looking for shared interests and common ground on water. It’s rare to find some policy or project that has broad support from a diverse set of interests. So when something like that comes along, it’s important to get behind it.

That’s why we support the Colorado River District’s efforts to secure and permanently protect the water rights associated with the Shoshone Hydroelectric Plant in Glenwood Canyon. For over 100 years, the company which we now know as Xcel Energy, has owned these water rights (among the most senior on the Colorado River). Xcel used this water to produce hydroelectric power and then returned all the water to the river.

Years ago, the Colorado River District started thinking about how to protect these rights, and through careful planning, analysis, and discussions with hundreds of stakeholders from every part of the state, has assembled an impressive coalition that supports the District’s purchase of these water rights for $99 million. Xcel Energy’s subsidiary, the Public Service Company of Colorado, has been a strong and willing partner in putting this transaction together for the benefit of the state.

A broad-based coalition of West Slope interests – including counties, cities, elected officials, water conservancy districts, water providers, conservationists, recreation groups, and businesses – has raised over $55 million so far.

Joining the majority of our Congressional delegation and a bipartisan group of state legislators, we also support the River District’s application to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (USBR) Upper Colorado River Basin Environmental Drought Mitigation funding opportunity, known as Bucket 2E. The River District is putting the finishing touches on its application package, due by Nov. 22. If successful, these dollars will go a long way to fill the remaining funding gap.

Beyond the proposal to the USBR, additional work remains to bring this historic opportunity to fruition. For example, the River District is working with the Colorado Water Conservation Board on a beneficial instream flow use to the water rights so that the river’s historical flows would always be preserved.

In addition, as noted above, like every other water transaction in Colorado, this will have to go through water court, to make sure that other entities and water rights are not harmed by this transaction.

Finally, the remaining funding, beyond any federal support received, needs to be secured in the next couple of years.