Chostner v. Colorado Water Quality Control Commission

2013 COA 111, 327 P.3d 290, 2013 WL 3777196, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 1138
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 18, 2013
DocketCourt of Appeals Nos. 12CA1116 & 12CA1117
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2013 COA 111 (Chostner v. Colorado Water Quality Control Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chostner v. Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, 2013 COA 111, 327 P.3d 290, 2013 WL 3777196, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 1138 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion by

JUDGE DUNN

1 The regulation of water quality in Colorado is the domain of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission (Commission) and the Water Quality Control Division (Division).

T2 These consolidated appeals arise from a decision of the Division to conditionally certify a municipal water delivery project under section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act, 38 U.S.C. § 18341(a)(1) (2006). The District Attorney for the Tenth Judicial District, the Office of the District Attorney for the Tenth Judicial District, and the Rocky Mountain Environment and Labor Coalition (collectively, the Coalition) appealed the Division's 401 certification to the Commission.1

T3 The Commission affirmed the Division's conditional certification. The Coalition then appealed the Commission's decision to the district court. The district court reversed the Commission's final agency action.

T4 The Commission; Steven H. Gunder-son, in his official capacity as the Director of the Division; and Colorado Springs Utilities (Colorado Springs), appeal the district court's judgment.2 We reverse.

I. Background

A. The Southern Delivery System

15 The Southern Delivery System (SDS) is a municipal water delivery project involy-ing the construction of a fifty-three-mile pipeline. The pipeline will transport raw water from the Pueblo Reservoir, through Pueblo County, and into El Paso County. The SDS also involves modifying an existing [294]*294ditch and constructing the Upper and Lower Williams Creek Reservoirs. The SDS is intended to provide a reliable, future water supply to the City of Colorado Springs, the City of Fountain, the Security Water District, and the Pueblo West Metropolitan District. Given its scope and magnitude, the SDS is the most expansive project reviewed by the Division in several decades.

T6 The SDS is expected to impact the Arkansas River from below the Pueblo Reservoir to an area near the confluence with the Apishapa River. The project is also expected to impact Fountain Creek from the City of Colorado Springs to the confluence with the Arkansas River at Pueblo.3 Possible long-term impacts are predicted to result from changing stream flows. In addition, possible groundwater impacts may result from the construction of the Lower Williams Creek Reservoir. Impacts from the construction phase of the SDS, however, are expected to be minimal and short-term.

B. Environmental Reviews

T7 Because operation of the SDS involves federal contracts with the United States Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau), the project was required to go through an extensive environmental review, including analysis of potential water quality impacts, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). During its NEPA review, the Bureau conducted water quality analyses, received nearly 400 public comments on a variety of topics, imposed numerous mitigation measures and conditions on the SDS, and required the participants to develop adaptive management practices. The Bureau conducted its review over a five-year period, resulting first in a draft environmental impact statement. After receiving comments from the United States Environmental Protection Ageney (EPA), in which the EPA indicated concerns about the configuration of the SDS and a lack of mitigation commitments to offset potential water quality impacts, the Bureau requested changes to the SDS configuration and then issued a supplemental information report. That report analyzed the changed configuration and incorporated a revised water quality assessment methodology suggested by the EPA.

18 As part of its review, the Bureau considered seven different alternatives for supplying the participant communities' future water needs, including the SDS. Of the alternatives studied, six were "action" alternatives and one was a "no action" alternative. The latter served "as a benchmark against which effects of the other alternatives [were] compared." The no action alternative represented the most likely future action in the absence of a major federal water development project.

{9 After reviewing the seven alternatives, the Bureau ultimately identified the SDS as the "environmentally preferred alternative" because, in comparison to the other six alternatives, it would cause "the least damage to the biological and physical environment." After the Bureau published its final environmental impact statement, the EPA stated that it was "satisfied with the detailed mitigation commitments ... to offset the water quality impacts that are projected to result from [the] SDS."

110 A record of decision documented the Bureau's entire NEPA review process.

C. Permitting

1 11 In order to construct the SDS, Colorado Springs was required to obtain many federal, state, and local permits. Included among the required permits was a dredge and fill permit from the Army Corps of Engineers under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, 838 U.S.C. § 1844 (2006). In order to obtain a section 404 permit, however, Colorado Springs needed a certification from the state under section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The 401 certification constitutes the state's finding that there is a reasonable assurance that the activity will be conducted in a manner which will not violate applicable water quality standards. See 38 U.S.C. § 134l(a)(1); 40 C.FP.R. § 121.2(a)(8) (2012).

[295]*295D. The Section 401 Certification Process

12 Colorado Springs-on behalf of all of the SDS participants-submitted an application to the Division, seeking a 401 certification. The Division issued a preliminary determination, concluding that the SDS could cause "potential long-term water quality impacts associated with flow changes" in the Arkansas River. In conjunction with this preliminary determination, the Division solicited public comments regarding the SDS.

1 13 The Division reviewed the public comments, including those submitted by the Coalition. It requested that Colorado Springs address issues raised by the public comments. The Division then engaged in a yearlong review of the project. Specifically, the Division conducted antidegradation reviews of certain reviewable stream segments, and considered a host of conditions and mitigation requirements imposed on the project by federal, state, and local agencies. In particular, the Division analyzed the Bureau's final environmental impact statement, record of decision, and associated reference materials; Pueblo County's mitigation requirements; and other agencies' mitigation plans.

{14 The Division ultimately concluded that, given the short-term impacts of the construction activities, and the numerous conditions and mitigation measures imposed by other agencies, "the project [would] comply with all applicable provisions [of] the Basic Standards for Surface Waters, the Basic Standards for Ground Water, surface and ground water classifications and water quality standards, effluent limitations[,] and control regulations." Accordingly, the Division conditionally certified the SDS under section 401 of the Clean Water Act.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 COA 111, 327 P.3d 290, 2013 WL 3777196, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 1138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chostner-v-colorado-water-quality-control-commission-coloctapp-2013.