Having created historical context for the pipeline in two previous podcasts, In Site now explores the pipeline itself. Jane Whalen, board member of Conserve Southwest Utah and Coordinator of the Lake Powell Pipeline Coalition, was the primary architect of their collective, incredibly thorough and detailed one hundred and eighty-six page objection to the pipeline (see link below). Quite simply, nobody involved with the pipeline understands it better than Jane.
We focused on the pipeline because the Zion Canyon Mesa intends to actively participate in critical issues directly facing our home here in Washington County. In these strange, unmoored and disturbing times, it seems that part of the problem is we simmer too long in disconnected online ethers, then break into reality off kilter, and with increasing violence. We believe that rooting firmly in our chosen landscapes and communities will provide an immediate level of stability and sanity, and suggest a path forward as well.
We prioritized the pipeline issue because it was one of about sixty projects nationwide that the Trump administration placed on their Fast Track. This greatly compressed some review processes and outright dismissed others; approval seemed imminent.
However, that suddenly and utterly changed when the six other states of the Colorado River Compact (see the previous podcast with Eric Kuhn) submitted a joint letter to Utah threatening lawsuits, saying there were any number of Compact issues needing resolution before even entering a Fast Track. Utah’s two pipeline proponents, the Utah Department of Natural Resources and the WCWCD, responded by immediately withdrawing for at least two years to address the Compact concerns. To Jane’s credit, the issues she helped raise in the Coalition review match those expressed by the other Compact states, so our review here will touch on these comprehensive concerns.
Finally, we want to act as an honest broker for respectful dialogue about such issues. As such, this podcast was originally going to feature a dialogue between Jane and WCWCD representatives Zach Renstrom, General Manager, and Karry Rathje, their Communications & Government Affairs Manager. We want to really thank them for their willingness to participate in this discussion. However, recent events allow us all to step back and take a deep breath. We hope that Zach and Karry will join us soon so they can speak for themselves.
At stake: do we, the citizens of Washington County, collectively want to invest perhaps $2Billion of our tax dollars into this project?