By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun
Denver Water may continue shoring up its partially-finished Gross Dam expansion in southwestern Boulder County until a May 6 U.S. District Court hearing detailing long-term safety issues of a permanent injunction against further construction, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals said late Friday.
The appeals court granted Denver Water’s request for a temporary stay of the halt to construction at least through the May hearing. “Denver Water makes numerous allegations of immediate and irreparable harm from the district court’s injunction of further dam construction,” the appeals court order said.
U.S. District Court Judge Christine Arguello had previously issued the injunction against further Denver Water construction on the dam raising, saying the Army Corps of Engineers had violated the Clean Water Act in issuing permits for the expansion without evaluating alternatives or accounting for how climate change might cut the amount of water Denver is able to store. But she then stayed her own injunction to allow Denver Water to take safety measures stabilizing construction, and to appeal the ruling to the Tenth Circuit.
Denver Water officials have said they are prepared to argue for the Gross expansion all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
Opponents of the dam expansion said they were fine with the short-term implications of the appeals court decision.