I have been watching the fight over the Kinder Morgan project to develop the CO2 resources in Montezuma County. The opposition of landowners to right-of-ways and the accusations of environmental effects resulting from this project brought back memories from 34 years ago when a much larger project was starting in western Montezuma County to develop the water resources, otherwise known as the Dolores Project.
The Dolores Project also brought about late night county commission and landowner meetings where landowners opposed their land being impacted for right-of-ways and accusations that the project would destroy the environment in Montezuma County.
This project brought us McPhee Reservoir and the system of canals and pumping stations which has provided water for municipal, industrial, and irrigation use that has been vital in sustaining our economy.
The warnings of catastrophic results were proved false.
Today, Kinder Morgan is willing to invest $1 billion in our community and is facing similar opposition. Other communities would be providing incentives to get such an investment in an area that is in need of good jobs and a steady tax base to pay for our schools and other resources.
Unlike during the opposition over the Dolores Project, our commissioners and local leaders are not providing leadership to evaluate the alternatives and develop a plan to benefit the entire community, within the confines of the law, while supporting economic development.
Rather, they whisper behind people’s backs and spread false information to create opposition. The commissioners need to present the legal facts. Tell us the alternatives. If their solution is to say no to Kinder Morgan, they need to present how they will provide an alternative to the jobs, wages, and taxes that will be lost, which are vital to supporting our families and schools.
There is an irony that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Dolores Water Conservation District are decision-makers in the approval of Kinder Morgan’s project right-of-ways, since they were central to obtaining rights-of-way to allow the Dolores Project to be constructed. Perhaps they will come to the same decision as their Dolores Project predecessors.
Michael Hill
Dolores
