HomeMy WebLinkAboutConstituent Letter - Mail Packet - 1/31/2017 - Memorandum From Natural Resources Advisory Board Re: Recommendation Regarding Proposed Nisp NegotiationsEnvironmental Services
215 N. Mason
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221-6600
970.224-6177 - fax
fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD
DATE: January 24, 2017
TO: Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: John Bartholow, on behalf of the Natural Resources Advisory Board (NRAB)
SUBJECT: Recommendation Regarding Proposed NISP Negotiations
At our regular January 18 meeting, the NRAB voted to recommend that Council not initiate any
formal negotiations with Northern Water regarding the proposed Northern Integrated Supply
Project (NISP). There was one abstention.
Though staff made a rational and compelling case for negotiation, and we applaud them for their
hard work and dedication, NRAB board members expressed a variety of reasons for not
engaging in formal negotiations at this time:
Sanctioning negotiation may give the appearance – right or wrong – of facilitating NISP,
a project that would result in an array of overwhelmingly detrimental impacts to the long-
term health of the Cache la Poudre River and its environment, both terrestrial and aquatic,
regardless of any negotiated conditions. The appearance of facilitation may be especially
problematic since the City’s principal bargaining “carrot” would be an agreement to not
oppose the project.
There is no truly compelling reason that negotiations must proceed at this time. Not all
impacts from this proposed project have been revealed, especially the water quality
implications, both for the river and Horsetooth Reservoir.
Available science shows that taking more water out of the Poudre River in any month of
the year, which this proposal would do, would continue the trend of river degradation and
puts us ever further from a minimally healthy river.
Not all reasonable and prudent alternatives to NISP have been explored by the Corps.
(For example, see Filling the Gap and A Better Future for the Poudre River by Western
Resource Advocates.)
It is important to note that most NRAB members were not opposed to continued discussions with
Northern Water, as well as other potentially influential partners such as Colorado Parks and
Wildlife, as the City has been doing over the last several years – educating them in an open,
public manner – aiming for a shared vision of preserving and restoring an array of attributes that
support a healthy working river for our entire community.
cc: Darin Atteberry, Katy Bigner, John Stokes