The Cheyenne City Council approved a new user agreement between Gold King Mine and the Board of Public Utilities that allows the mine to draw water from Crystal Reservoir under an outside-user arrangement, a council member said. "We did approve a new user agreement between Gold King Mine and the Board of Public Utilities," Dr. Mark Rene said in a November update.

The mayor’s office and utility staff previously negotiated a proposal in which Gold King would develop four wells on the Belvoir Ranch and run a pipeline to Southco Reservoir, put that water into the city system, and in return take an equivalent amount from Crystal Reservoir. Under that plan the company would operate the wells for about 10 to 15 years and then transfer the wells to the city.

Those plans collapsed after two landowners refused to grant easements for a waterline through their properties, Dr. Rene said. As a backup, Gold King will draw directly from Crystal Reservoir and pay the outside-user fee (described in the update as 150% of the city rate). He emphasized the company would be subject to curtailment if Colorado River basin cutbacks occur while the interstate compact is renegotiated.

Dr. Rene framed the issue against broader regional water pressure: he noted the Colorado River compact involves seven basin states and that federal authorities have set an administrative timetable for renegotiation. He said that if drought-related curtailment is imposed, outside users may face cutbacks.

The record in the update does not include the motion text, who moved or seconded the approval, or a vote tally. The agreement was described in the update as approved at the council’s November meeting; additional procedural details were not specified in the transcript.

Next steps: the user agreement is in place under the outside-user terms described; any curtailment or future changes will depend on basin-wide decisions under the Colorado River compact process and on operational decisions by the Board of Public Utilities.