Bill to protect Rocky Mountain National Park moves forward, but hurdles remain

A bill that would grant wilderness protection to Rocky Mountain National Park moved closer to becoming law on Wednesday -- despite an unresolved issue that will likely stall the bill's progress for the coming months.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved the bill on Wednesday in what Sean Conway, chief of staff for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said was merely a move to keep the bill from dying in committee.

Conway said that Allard and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., allowed the bill to move past committee with the stipulation that no further action would be taken without an agreement over the Grand River Ditch -- a hotly contested issue in the designation process thus far.

"I think what happened today was more necessitated out of keeping the legislative process alive as opposed to resolving the issues that still surround designating Rocky Mountain National Park a wilderness area," said Conway in telephone interview.

At issue is an operations and maintenance agreement between Water Supply and Storage Company, which operates the ditch, and an "Act of God" provision that would protect the company when it is not at fault for an incident that damages the park.

Such a provision would have kept Water Storage and Supply Company from having to pay $9 million to help restore the park after an incident that Conway said was not the company's fault. Conway said that if another such incident occurred without an "Act of God" provision in place to protect the company, the company could be forced to move out of the ditch.

The company diverts water from the Colorado River to east of the Continental Divide, thus supplying Larimer and Weld Counties with about 20,000 acres-feet of water a year, which is used to irrigate about 40,000 acres of land. Conway said the region could risk losing such a valuable resource, especially at a time when the region faces a drought and wells continue to close in Weld County.

"The grand ditch provides an irreplaceable supply of water to our communities and our farmers and although there is unanimity within the Colorado congressional delegation that Rocky Mountain National Park should be protected as a wilderness area, we must do it in the right way," Conway said.

Conway said Allard is hopeful an agreement will be reached by the end of the summer. Until then, Conway said, the bill will remain stalled on remain on the floor of the U.S. Senate.