f Water for energy By Helene C. Monberg Washington A marriage between a ter conservation district and a rural ctric generating and transmission &T) cooperative on Colorado's Astern Slope is at the bottom of a - ter-for-energy project being propos-for propos-for Northwestern Colorado at no it to Uncle Sam. I low the Federal Energy Regulatory mmission (FERC) here acts on the plication for a license to build this ject is likely to determine whether ier water districts and utilities co-yjrate co-yjrate on similar projects elsewhere the West. ?he Colorado River Water Conserva-.i Conserva-.i District headquartered at Glen-od Glen-od Springs last year made an ap-f;ation ap-f;ation to FERC "for a license to -horize the construction, operation 2 maintenance of the Juniper-Cross Tuntain project" in Moffatt County, in extreme Northwestern part of Col-.do. Col-.do. Cost of the project is estimated bout $95 million, according to spon-s. spon-s. That appears to be an under-imate; under-imate; but in these days of raging in-lion in-lion and a sluggish contruction rket, it's hard to get a precise fix on ject costs, construction engineers e told Western Resources Wrap-up. uniper-Cross Mountain is a proposal construct two dams and reseryoirs it of the boomtown of Craig on the mpa River in Moffatt County. The ap-:ation ap-:ation proposes a start of construc-l construc-l on Juniper dam in January 1982, a rt of construction on Cross Mountain n in 1983 and a filling of both reser-ili'jrs reser-ili'jrs by 1985. icVs being sold as a multiple-purpose .er-and-power project, but it is clear "1 energy developments in ior-talestern ior-talestern Colorado are providing the thfih for the project. The two reservoirs Bit provide close to 1.3 million acre-Ejp acre-Ejp of storage capacity to assure water municipal, irrigation and industrial provide for a wide range of outdoor Ideational activities, and will pro-e pro-e 350 million kilowatt hours of elec-ity elec-ity annually. The hydro-power will 'ised as peaking power by Colorado-Electric Colorado-Electric Assn., a G&T head-Prtered head-Prtered at Montrose. Dlorado Ute's generation is now ost totally coal-fired, so the hydro er from Juniper-Cross Mountain Id complement the Colorado Ute iem. Colorado Ute plans to build the -fsmission slines froiw.theAwo hydro w ts, in addition to buying the project er. The Colorado River Water Conation Con-ation District will build nd own jams and reservoirs. infcjlorado Ute was one of the first itsli"s in the nation to build its own i aerating plants, so major construe-to construe-to is nothing new to this rural elec-o elec-o to! G&T which serves 13 rural electric fjjjieratives in the state. The Colorado n0,;r Water Conservation District is of the strongest in the state. It ,,ild be able to buy construction com- "'nee. 'aiu' iiinitf " -JjINERGY DEVELOPMENT IN 1)RTH WESTERN COLORADO . is no accident that the first lease . under resumption of federal coal ,.iing will occur in Northwestern Col-w. Col-w. Jo directly. Several new coal mines VJjS already opened in the area in re-,' re-,' years. The area is booming. Bet-a" Bet-a" 1970-1978 the population of Craig eC led from 4,000 to 8,000. :IC summary report on the Juniper-Be:s Juniper-Be:s Mountain project put out in Oc-"r Oc-"r said that the U.S. Geological ' J ' '-ey estimated coal deposits in three is "".hwestern Colorado counties Mof-ef Mof-ef ' Rio Blanco and Routt at 32.9 ".)n tons, "the equivalent of more 109 billion barrels of oil. Juniper-iy Juniper-iy Ps Mountain is 30 miles north of the stance Basin oil shale deposit, the leoFist such deposit in the world. The Wsct is bracketed on two other sides chimilar deposits in Wyoming and r W. Together, the three deposits con-iralmore con-iralmore than 4 trillion barrels of shale vhof" teeds'Ioffatt, Routt, and Rio Blanco an Hies already account for more than erior" of Colorado's energy produc-whoM:rude produc-whoM:rude oil, natural gas and coal," . brochure stated. And additional mines, other coal projects and oil 5 projects are developing, sup-, sup-, irs of the project point out. af. critical factor in further energy lopment will be water. The Depart-1 Depart-1 of Interior has estimated total r needs for energy development in , u,rado at 325,000 acre-feet.. .Western taQAo towns Iike Cra'8 and Carbon- have already doubled and tripled , for f PPu,ations since 1970. If it is not 3 me from existing users, this water ran inly come from new water reser-such reser-such as Juniper-Cross Moun-V$ Moun-V$ ' the brochure stated. roli OTHER WATER NEEDS 'le'stern Colorado water needs have ire5S(J projected to increase by 500,000 feet for all uses in the next 20 l' according to federal studies and ne (es done by the Colorado Water Innervation Board. With federal "ly r construction on the decline, the be njd last year passed a resolution sup-Wag sup-Wag the Juniper-Cross Mountain ing Northwestern Colorado's scenery does not compare with that of Southwestern Colorado or the Divide country, so the supporters should meet with less resistence in building dams on the Yampa than in the areas of top scenic value. Juniper-Cross Mountain would serve somewhat the same markets as the Yellow-Jacket project in the White River drainage in Northwestern Nor-thwestern Colorado. Both have relied on a lot of spade-work spade-work in water planning done by the Water and Power Resources Service in the Interior Department and the Colorado Col-orado Water Conservation Board. But Juniper-Cross-Mountain's preconstruc-tion preconstruc-tion planning is nearly completed, while Yellow-Jacket's is just getting underway. Both would be built by nonfederal non-federal interests. The Colorado River Water Conservation Conserva-tion District holds water decrees totaling total-ing 1,221,994 acre-feet for Juniper and Cross Mountain reservoirs, and flow rights totaling 3,200 cubic feet per second se-cond for the adjoining hydropower plants. Supporters claim the project would help alleviate water shortages on the Western Slope. The district explains: ex-plains: "Craig's water treatment plant has been plaqued with heavy silt due to high run-off from the Yampa and Fortification Fortifica-tion Creek. The project gives Craig an additional water supply and treatment option. In time of short supply, Juniper-Cross Juniper-Cross Mountain can be operated to satisfy senior (water) decree-holders downstream by exchange, so that upstream users, such as Steamboat Springs and Hayden" in Northwestern Colorado "can meet their needs. In the event of a call on the Colorado River by the Lower Basin states (California, Arizona, Nevada) against Colorado under the Colorado River Compact, releases from Juniper-Cross Mountain can be used to satisfy that call, enabling users along every stream in Western Colorado to continuerather con-tinuerather than suspend water use." Now the District will have to win FEPC to its arguments.