Boulder County considers settlement over Gross Reservoir expansion

Boulder County Commissioners Tuesday will consider a proposal to settle a lawsuit aimed at plans by Denver Water to expand Gross Reservoir.

The settlement would require Denver Water to pay more than $10 million to mitigate the impacts of the project in Boulder County. In exchange, Boulder County would not dispute Denver Water’s claim that the project is exempt from review, according to a Boulder County news release.

Completed in 1954, Gross Reservoir serves a combined storage and regulating facility for water that flows under the Continental Divide through the Moffat Tunnel, according to the Denver Water website. Standing 340 feet above the South Boulder Creek streambed, Gross Dam contains about 627,559 cubic yards of concrete, the website states.

Denver Water sued Boulder County in July, claiming the county did not have the authority to review the expansion plans, because the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency, or FERC. approved the dam expansion in 2020. The project is located exclusively in Boulder County and significantly impacts neighbors, the news release states.

“A federal agency approved this project under federal law,” Deputy County Attorney David Huges, said in the new release. “In its lawsuit, Denver Water cited cases from the U.S. The Supreme Court held that state and local governments can’t veto a FERC-approved project. The settlement proposal avoids the legal risk that a federal court will order the project to proceed without any county-approved mitigation measures.”

A federal judge has set oral arguments in Denver Water’s lawsuit for Nov. 4, but those arguments will be cancelled if the commissioners and Denver Water’s Board approve the settlement, the news release states. Denver Water is scheduled to consider the settlement proposal on Nov. 3.

“This settlement proposal ensures meaningful environmental mitigation and assistance for those nearby residents who will be most impacted by the dam expansion project,” Community Planning & Permitting Director Dale Case said in the news release.

The proposed settlement includes $2.5 million to assist Boulder County residents directly impacted by the project, $5.1 million for open space funding to replace lands which will be inundated by the expanded reservoir, $1.5 million to address the greenhouse gas emissions from the project, and $1 million to restore a portion of the South Saint Vrain Creek which will provide important wildlife habitat, the news release states. 

Denver Water will also agree to transfer 70 acres of land near Walker Ranch Open Space to Boulder County. Those additional acres will be added to Walker Ranch Open Space, the news release states.

The public is invited to watch the live webstream of the Nov.2 meeting of the commissioners which begins at 12:30 p.m. In addition, a draft of the settlement proposal is posted on the Gross Reservoir Dam Expansion webpage.