Fwd: Letter to John Barnet and the Board of County Commissioners
te...@startmail.com
Hi John,
I'm writing this letter after having talked with you about Thornton's pipeline 1041 route request down ECR 56. Brief History: The first assault on our community was by the Department of Wildlife wanting to lease reservoir Annex #8, Windsor, and Elder reservoirs for public access complete with brick outhouses for us to view outside our front windows after they already encountered a teenage death on Rocky Ridge #1 reservoir. I started a petition to lease those three reservoirs by our local residents to protect privacy and control noise from outboard motors and shooting incidences with hunting. We were able to negotiate a contract with Winsor reservoir and Canal Company 30 years ago to present. Next came the oil company fights with the breaking of oil lines on my property and then telling me the oil was good for the alfalfa. Really? An injection water well that was converted from and oil pumping well directly in the center of my property and oil and water lines going out in all directions. Radio towers to the south that were present when I bought my property 40 years ago complete with cell phone dishes. Then there was the fight over where they were going to put those ugly huge electric lines. Highway 1 didn't want then so we got stuck with those. Now you would like us to tolerate a four-foot diameter water line once again because we don't have as many people to fight along ECR 56 as on Douglas Road. Our community knew this was eventually coming our way because we are expected to take-up the slack for all of Northern Colorado as a utility corridor. Enough.
I became placid over the pipeline because as you John wrote in your report this has been going on since 2015. It wasn't until Emily Hunt called me on July 5th 2023 (recording still on my answering machine) asking me to call her in regard to the Thornton pipeline that I became involved again. I called her back and I must say I wasn't very nice to start with because I thought "here it comes. They want to put that pipeline between Mike Anthony's property and mine with a huge corridor down the middle." Emily went on to say they weren't just thinking about but wanted to go ahead and lease the triangular piece of my property that is separated from the rest of my property and is located on ECR 56, thereby, allowing them to join up with their Thornton property on the other side of the Larimer County Canal. I said I would not lease it to them but they could buy it. My initial thought was if they were going to get their way and go down ECR 56 anyway selling the triangular piece was better than having them dissect Mike Anthony and my properties. She talked about wanting to trade property. I offered the triangular piece plus approximately 1.5 acres the other side of the Larimer County Canal which I had wanted to separate from the rest of my parcel anyway since both were detached from my main parcel and would hook up with Thornton's parcel. We talked price and she said she would get back to me. In November of 2023 she Emailed me to say they had decided on another route which is the current route all the way down ECR 56. I asked you John why they would take that route and you said, "I don't know, maybe because it is a straighter route". After some thought I now know the reason. They thought they could get the triangle piece for nothing, and I thought to sell it would be better than letting them eminent domain it. Why try to lease my property if they had a straight shot for the pipeline down ECR 56? My triangle piece is directly west of Windsor Reservoir and Canal Company's spillway. THEY KNEW TO TRY AND ENGINEER THE PIPELINE IN FRONT OF THAT SPILLWAY WOULD BE A TRAIN WRECK WAITILNG TO HAPPEN! Their engineers are going to try to sell everyone on how wonderful they can build that pipeline through there but if they believe that why try to buy my property?? Engineering disasters happen all the time.
I have talked to the two men who run the oil fields in this area. They have multiple oil and water lines under ECR 56. Thornton had not contacted them even though they have water and oil lines everywhere out there. The owner of the oil field to my knowledge has not been contacted either. Gracey Services, Inc (Oil field manager) Cameron Gracey (owner 970-567-6871) Mike Staab (field manager 307-299-0095) Ward Giltner (Owner).
In front of Windsor #8 reservoir's south dam is a very high-water table where even over on my main property (4536 NCR 13 I have hit water digging post holes at a 4-foot depth. The oil company has hit water laying their pipelines which are at a 4-foot depth. In Thorntonl's effort to push this pipeline through where it shouldn't be DO NOT LET THEM RAISE THE SURFACE OF THE ROAD ANY HIGHER THAN IT IS NOW. It buries and makes the properties on the south side of ECR 56 impossible to access. Larimer County has kept adding road base on NCR 13 to the point where now my house is sitting in a hole allowing water when it rains to tunnel into my driveway.
I have read a good part of the decree given to Thornton by the Water Board. Thornton is not limited to Water Supply and Storage reservoir #3 as their takeout point. In fact, and I quote section 11.3.4 of the decree states "No change in point of diversion of the WSSC and JDC water rights will be changed. After water is diverted into Larimer County Canal Thornton will withdraw water by a pump starting at WSSC reservoir #4 (**!!++!!!! not reservoir #3) which is fed by a turnout from the canal located approximately 16 miles down the canal from its headgate or at such other point within the WSSC system as may be agreed upon by Thornton and WSSC, following notification of the division engineer and the objectors identified with an (*) in paragraph 3." Since Thornton owns some of WSSC and part of the Larimer County Canal they can take their water out pretty much anywhere including SOUTH OF FORT COLLINS where they might not want to but just saying it does not have to be reservoir #3 which they are saying and was in fact originally reservoir #4. The oil company has to filter there water as well. It can be done. Quality of the water they get is not in the decree. The decree by the Water board was declared March 9th, 1998. They started negotiations with Larimer County residents in 2015. They sat on this thing for 17 years and are now blaming our Larimer County Board and the citizens of Larimer County for holding them up. The decree also states " ...the project can will be completed with diligence and within a reasonable time." Don't let them push their way into this by all the pressure they are bringing to bear. This is all their own fault.
Ms. King on your panel is correct. Thornton needs to pursue other routes. Along that dam is a quagmire mix of not enough room, eroding soil from the Larimer County Canal, high water table, multiple water, oil, and gas lines, two huge underground tunnels that were just refurbished a few years ago connecting all three reservoirs (Annex #8, Windsor #8 and Elder) that cross under ECR 56, not to mention a spillway that will be right above that pipeline. They are afraid they can't build their 53,000 (?) new homes? What happens after they build those homes, and their people are depending on a pipeline that fails?
Terri Butkovich
4536 N County Road 13
Fort Collins, Colorado 80524