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Councilors say reservoir environmental study stalled; city presses for clearer purpose-of-need and federal cooperation
Summary
Councilors described a stalled environmental impact study (EIS) and funding uncertainty for a reservoir project and said they are working with engineers and federal offices to clarify purpose and limit duplicate studies.
City officials told the council that the environmental review and funding for a proposed reservoir have stalled and that they are working with engineering consultants and congressional staff to refine the project’s stated purpose and avoid duplicative federal reviews.
A council member summarized recent meetings with engineers and federal staff, saying the draft EIS contains unclear language about the project’s purpose: “We talked about just the clarification, the clarification, the purpose of need at this lower base and what is what is the purpose?” they said. He added that Horrocks’ draft contains items that the city’s staff feel are not clarified and that the city should be careful before pushing a large funding request forward.
Why it matters: Councilors said the reservoir is a multi‑million-dollar undertaking and that federal funding remains uncertain. The councilor noted the project was “a hundred million dollar project” in parts and discussed which portions had secured funds and which remain unfunded.
Councilors also raised the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) role: staff said the BLM is a cooperating agency on the EIS and that the city expects the BLM to use the EIS material rather than requiring a separate study, but cautioned the BLM may nonetheless request additional analysis. “The BLM is a cooperating agency [and] is supposed to use the information of the EIS,” a staff member said; the councilor added that avoiding duplicate studies could save time and money.
The councilor said the city has briefed congressional staffers (offices for Senator Mike Lee and Senator Mitt Romney were referenced generically in the discussion) about project status and funding uncertainty. He also referenced prior technical assistance from a contractor who had been on contract with a federal agency, noting the project’s many federal interactions and coordination challenges.
Councilors said they have about $300,000 currently allocated to the project’s EIS and that consultants had proposed an additional roughly $1 million and an extension of nearly a year. The council indicated it will continue negotiations with engineering firms and federal partners to refine the purpose-of-need language and to limit additional federal study requirements before pursuing more funding.
