Larimer County judge upholds denial of Thornton Pipeline permit

A district court judge has upheld the Larimer County commissioners’ 2019 decision to deny a permit for the Thornton Pipeline.

In a decision issued Monday, 8th Judicial District Court Judge Stephen Jouard denied Thornton’s request to overturn the county decision and grant the city a permit to build a pipeline that ultimately would be used to transport water from Fort Collins east to Weld County and then south to Thornton.

The Board of County Commissioners rejected the permit in February of 2019, saying that Thornton’s application to build a 75-mile underground pipeline did not meet seven criteria in the county code, denying it primarily because of the impact on private land.

Thornton disagreed, saying the county abused its discretion on all seven of those factors and should have granted the permit.

The court ruling agrees with Larimer County on three of those criteria — that the pipeline did not fit with the county’s master plan, that Thornton did not provide reasonable alternatives for the location or design, and that the project did not provide adequate mitigation to adverse environmental effects.

The citizen group No Pipe Dream, which supported the county in the court case, praised the court’s decision, saying that the commissioners’ decision to deny the permit “put the citizens of Larimer County’s concerns first.”

Thornton was required to apply for a county permit under 1041 regulations, which govern projects of statewide interest including pipelines, to allow counties to have a say on projects that affect their residents.

A statement from No Pipe Dream states that “counties have the duty to insure that (those) applications benefit not only the applicant, but benefit and do no harm to the county and its residents. That was key to the Board’s 3-0 vote against Thornton’s application.”

The other four reasons the county cited for denying the permit, including Thornton’s decision not to consider keeping water in the Poudre River for some of its route, were not valid, the judge ruled.

But because he upheld three criteria, Jouard upheld the overall decision.

“We are certainly disappointed and disagree with elements of the Larimer County District Court’s decision,” Todd Barnes, spokesman for Thornton, said in a written statement. “Although we agree with the court’s decision that the commissioners exceeded their authority to require any consideration of a non-pipeline alternative such as sending Thornton’s water down the Poudre River.”

Many opponents to the pipeline argued, during many hours of testimony during a public hearing in 2019, that they believed Thornton should keep the water in the Poudre River through Fort Collins, starting its pipeline east of the city. They said that would mitigate many environmental problems as well as worries from residents west of Fort Collins about the pipeline being built in their neighborhood.

The commissioners agreed, in their initial decision, and said Thornton should have considered that as an alternative.

Officials from Thornton, during the application process, said that alternative was not feasible based on the cost and the potential loss of water associated with the Poudre River option. And they argued in court that the commissioners should not have even looked at that as a reason to deny the permit that governs pipelines.

The judge agreed with Thornton, saying that looking at an alternative that is not a pipeline “goes beyond the BOCC’s authority to regulate and determine the appropriate siting and development of a ‘pipeline.’”

Thornton bought several farms in Weld and Larimer counties in the 1980s as a future water source for the metro suburb. The proposed pipeline was the city’s vision of how to get that water to its residents.

Barnes has not said what Thornton will do next, whether it will file another appeal in court or whether it will file a different pipeline application. But he did say the city is committed to accessing that water.

“Thornton was hopeful to move forward in Larimer County with the process of bringing the quality water Thornton owns via pipeline to our residents,” Barnes said in the statement. “We remain committed to ensuring the people of Thornton get the water they own and after taking sufficient time to review the judge’s decision we will determine our next steps.”