From the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Bobby Magill):
In a July 2009 letter made public Tuesday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry wrote that, in its environmental review of Million’s project, the Army Corps should seriously consider the harm the pipeline would do to Soapstone Prairie, which was opened as a city natural area just last year. “At Meadow Springs Ranch, the proposed (pipeline) routing could seriously impact water infrastructure critical to ranch cattle operations and would traverse acreage included in a formal watershed protection program designed to protect the local aquifer as a drinking water source,” Atteberry wrote.
He said the city believes the pipeline would be “highly detrimental” to natural resource values at Soapstone Prairie and threaten endangered species and archaeological sites. The city, he said, recommends the pipeline be routed away from Soapstone Prairie. “In short, it makes little sense to bisect the heart of a previously undisturbed area with a major pipeline when viable alternatives exist,” Atteberry wrote.
More coverage from the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Bobby Magill):
In letters written to Million in January, the Fort Collins-Loveland Water District and the East Larimer County Water District both said they each want 5,000 acre-feet of water from the pipeline annually…
After the city raised concerns about the pipeline’s impact on Soapstone Prairie, Million said he offered to move the pipeline around the natural area. “He indicated he would try to do that,” said John Stokes, Fort Collins Natural Resources director. “If he can do that, that would be great, if in fact they ever build the project.”