• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

WyoFile

Indepth News about Wyoming People, Places & Policy. Wyoming news.

  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Support WyoFile
    • Membership
    • Publisher’s Circle
    • Institutional Supporters
    • Underwrite WyoFile
  • COVID-19
  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Support WyoFile
    • Membership
    • Publisher’s Circle
    • Institutional Supporters
    • Underwrite WyoFile
  • COVID-19

Dam The Green River: Irrigators Say Wyoming Needs to Capture More Water

November 9, 2010 by Dustin Bleizeffer Leave a Comment

Tweet
Share
Pin
Email
0 Shares
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The dual pressures of climate change and ever-increasing demand for water has brought a new sense of urgency to a decades-old idea: to dam the Green River just upstream of the Warren Bridge in Sublette County, close to its glacial source.

But the idea still faces decades-old challenges. Studies by the Wyoming Water Development Office staff indicate that the cost of the project – which includes new and improved canal systems over difficult terrain – outweigh the economic benefits for the irrigators.

It is this analysis, according to the agency, that makes it highly unlikely the dam and irrigation proposal would meet the “purpose and need” criteria under the federal Clean Water Act.

“Building a reservoir is a wonderful thing. … We need storage, we need customers, but we don’t need this project,” Wyoming Water Development Commission Director Mike Purcell said last week during a joint meeting of the commission and Select Water Committee in Casper.

The commission and Select Water Committee on Friday declined a request by a group of Green River Valley irrigators and county officials for $750,000 needed to collect drill-core samples and conduct other feasibility work.

Randy Bolgiano, member of the Upper Green River Irrigation board, argued in favor of the project. Bolgiano said he and his fellow irrigators are deeply troubled to see large volumes of un-appropriated water flow out of state each spring.

The proposal also faces opposition based on how the dam and reservoir might drastically alter recreation in the area. The Warren Bridge area of the Green River is a premier fishery and destination for river floaters.

“A dam there would destroy a portion of that river,” and change the downstream characteristics, said commissioner William Resor of Wilson. “From a recreation point of view, I don’t think it’s a good thing to do.”

Yet Resor said he’d still oppose the dam proposal based solely on the irrigation portion of the cost and benefit analysis.

“I don’t think it’s going to do for irrigation what we’d like it to do,” Resor said.

Supporters of the dam argue that the reservoir itself would provide additional recreational opportunities and only increase the amount of tourism dollars spent in the area. They say it would improve the fishery by moderating the downstream flow.

Preliminary designs call for a dam 1,000 feet long and 140 feet to 150 feet high located in “The Narrows” portion of the river, creating a reservoir of about 80,000 acre-feet. Local irrigators say the hydroelectric resource created by the reservoir could generate 3-21 megawatts of power.

“It would be possible to produce hydrogen for future transportation fuel cell markets and clean energy market potential,” said Al Radke of Pinedale.

Radke and other supporters say they’re not giving up. There are many other potential sources of money to launch the project, including federal stimulus funds.

Supporters believe a thorough feasibility study would convince the federal U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the need for the project. Sublette County irrigators say they need a reservoir far upstream from the Fontenelle Reservoir in Lincoln County.

“The riparian nature (of the Upper Green River Valley) is not sustainable, so the basin will eventually dry up,” said Bolgiano.

For more on the Green River dam proposal, check out this article “Green River Dam Up For Vote” in the Jackson Hole Daily.


Popular Articles:


Lawmakers weighing study of public lands transfer in 2021


Rancher defends $339K award for stock he claims grizzlies killed


Proposed project would trap, move, track lamb-hunting eagles


Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Policy

Dustin Bleizeffer

About Dustin Bleizeffer

Dustin Bleizeffer has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for 20 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy industry in Wyoming. Most recently he was Communications Director at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, and WyoFile editor-in-chief. He lives in Casper. You can reach him at (307) 267-3327, [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @DBleizeffer.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to join the discussion? Fantastic, here are the ground rules:
- Identify yourself with full name and city. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish and expects commenters to do the same.
- No personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats. Keep it clean, civil and on topic.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Tweets by @WyoFile

Search WyoFile

Become an Underwriter
Sign Up for Free Weekly Newsletters

Recent Comments

  • Harvey Reading on Proposed project would trap, move, track lamb-hunting eagles
  • leslie patten on Proposed project would trap, move, track lamb-hunting eagles
  • Harvey Reading on Cheney rails against plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan
  • John Rinehart on Proposed project would trap, move, track lamb-hunting eagles
  • Mike Dunbar on Cheney rails against plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

Footer

Recent Posts By Date

April 2021
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« Mar    

From The Archives

  • About Us
  • Careers
  • How to Republish
  • Freelancing
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 by WyoFile