By Lisa Rutherford
October temperatures are dropping and fall is in the air even in Southern Utah. Two major projects about which I’ve written over the past few months—the Lake Powell Pipeline (LPP) and the Northern Corridor (NC)—recently completed their draft Environmental Impact Statement public comment periods. Now we await the results.
As Conserve Southwest Utah (CSU), on whose board I serve, worked feverishly with our coalition partners to compile a massive comment document against the LPP and motivate thousands of Washington County citizens to comment, too, President Trump’s recent move to fast-track projects including the LPP was a huge concern. But we received some much-needed help regarding the LPP near the end of the comment period.
Representatives of six of the seven Colorado River Basin states wrote a letter to Department of Interior Secretary Bernhardt asking that his “office refrain from issuing a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) or Record of Decision (ROD) regarding the Lake Powell Pipeline until such time as the seven Basin States and the Department of the Interior (Interior) are able to reach consensus regarding outstanding legal and operational concerns raised by the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline project.” The letter acknowledged that Utah and the other six basin states have met about the LPP on several occasions but Colorado River Compact issues have not been worked out and may result in multi-year litigation. Utah followed by asking the Department of Interior to slow the project’s environmental process.
Wow! We were blown away to see that and hope it bodes well for stopping this project. As for now, we can breathe a temporary sigh of relief. Nearly 14,000 LPP public comments were submitted.
So what about the Northern Corridor project? That comment period ended two days after the LPP’s and over 15,000 public comments were submitted. Again, CSU worked with coalition members to produce a massive comment document against the highway through our beloved Red Cliffs National Conservation Area/Reserve, established to help protect the threatened Mojave desert tortoise and other threatened and endangered species. DEIS information—which included two alternatives submitted by CSU—made it clear that there are viable options outside Red Cliffs for an NC route but agencies still presented a route through Red Cliffs as “preferred” in spite of that.
In order to share our concerns, CSU’s Director of Lands Programs Sarah Thomas even participated in a U.S. House Natural Resources Committee roundtable event about Pendley’s poor qualifications to head the Bureau of Land Management. Sarah had Tu-Wee, CSU’s adopted Mojave desert tortoise, there to woo the committee members and viewers while driving home the need for tortoise protection and emphasizing concerns that Pendley is not the best person to lead that effort. (By the way Tu-Wee was named by our local Shivwits Band of Paiutes. The name means “hurry up” which we really haven’t seen him do!)
Then in the final hours of the NC DEIS comment period, CSU and coalition members issued a press release regarding improper use of LWCF funds for acres that would be impacted by the proposed NC highway. CSU and coalition members reviewed DEIS land parcel maps, and LWCF purchases of private in-holdings for Red Cliffs revealed improprieties that demand serious review.
All in all, it’s been an incredibly busy time in southern Utah as we continue our battle against the development forces that would run roughshod over every bit of land if allowed. We will continue the battle, and with the amazing help of our coalition members including the Sierra Club, Advocates for the West, Conservation Lands Foundation, SUWA, Utah Rivers Council, Desert Tortoise Council, and many others, our hopes are high that we will prevail. Thanks to all Utah Sierra Club members who have written comments on both these projects! Together we can prevail.