City protests plans to transfer river water

Council letter lists potential environmental impacts

The Yuma City Council is urging the U.S. government to fully consider the environmental impacts of a proposed Colorado River water transfer to central Arizona before the Secretary of the Interior decides the issue.

In a Sept. 15 letter to Sean Heath of the Bureau of Reclamation Phoenix Area Office, the council noted that a full Environmental Impact Statement must be part of the process to make clear the environmental impacts resulting from the permanent transfer of river water and to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

The council approved the letter on Wednesday in response to a request for comments by the Bureau of Reclamation as part of the agency’s effort to gather information for an environmental assessment of the effects of the proposed water transfer.

The environmental assessment will consider the environmental impacts of the transfer on the human environment, including the physical, biological and socioeconomic resources that could be affected by the transfer.

Under the proposal, GSC Farm in La Paz County would sell 2,033 acre-feet per year of its fourth-priority Colorado River water entitlement to Queen Creek to be used in the town’s water service area in Pinal and Maricopa counties. GSC is a subsidiary of Greenstone, whose parent company is Barings, a financial services firm.

The council opposes any transfer of Colorado River water to central Arizona and considers it as an “unwelcome attack on the environment, the water rights, and the continued economic growth and viability of rural Arizona,” according to the letter.

The council listed “potential deleterious impacts” affecting wildlife of the Lower Colorado River Basin, the loss of critical habitat of a number of federally protected species and non-threatened wildlife, and the potential degradation of water quality of the Colorado River.

The letter points to the five national wildlife refuges in the Lower Colorado River Valley “that may be gravely impacted … and may frustrate decades worth of study, habitat restoration and conservation efforts aimed at providing and preserving critical habitat for Colorado River wildlife and plant species.”

The letter notes that the

long-term effects to “endangered and protected species, the potential degradation of their critical habitat, and the cumulative effect on the environment of permanently transferring Colorado River water from off the river are unknown and may threaten the continued viability of the existing federally protected species and hasten the demise of other Colorado River wildlife and habitat on the verge of protected status.”

The letter explains that the lower Colorado River basin provides an habitat for aquatic, marsh and riparian wildlife, including both resident and migrant species, and critical habitat for several species currently listed as endangered and threatened and afforded protection under the

Endangered Species Act, including the Yuma clapper rail, the native bonytail fish, the razorback sucker, and the southwestern willow flycatcher.

It also notes that a permanent transfer of Colorado River water might result in long-term effects to “countless” agricultural operations and river communities dependent on the water and might “irretrievably undermine the socioeconomic resources employed to harness Colorado River water for the benefit of the entire United States of America.”

The council also listed the potential loss of agricultural uses and recreational resources related to outdoor river activities, such as wildlife observation, boating and fishing, and the loss of economic investment opportunities for local communities.

In a last-minute addition to the letter, the council agreed to mention that the Bureau of Reclamation had recently for the first time ever declared a Tier 1 water shortage of the Colorado River, which will bring about a significant decline in river flows, further impacting the agricultural industry and the health of the river.

Members of the public may also provide comments until Sept. 24 via mail, email or through the website during the 30-day

National Environmental Policy Act scoping period through close of business Sept. 24. Comments should be submitted to: Bureau of Reclamation, Attn: GSC-QC Water Transfer EA, 6150 W. Thunderbird Road, Glendale, AZ 85306, or emailed to proposedwatertransfer@usbr.gov or submitted online through www.gscfarmqckwatertransfer.com.