HomeMy WebLinkAbout20151524.tiff Jennifer Fuller
To: Commissioners
Subject: FW:S.Platte River's rising...again,and I am VERY angry!
Attachments: Recap of April 17,2014 Hickenlooper.docx
From:Roni Bell Sylvester[mailto:ronibell@msn.com]
Sent:Wednesday,May 20,2015 12:02 PM
To:contactweld
Subject:S.Platte River's rising...again,and I am VERY angry!
Please give to our Weld County Commissioners.
Thank you,
Roni
From:ronibell dmsn.com
To:molly.urbinai(state.co.us
Subject:S.Platte River's rising...again,and I am VERY angry!
Date:Wed.20 May 2015 11:31:46-0600
Dear Molly,
Please share with Governor Hickenlooper.
Thank you kindly,
Roni
From:ronibell'grusn.com
To:core ardncr'agardner senatc.gov
Subject:S.Platte River's rising...again,and I am VERY angry!
Date:Wed.20 May 2015 11:23:56-0600
Dear Senator Gardner,
The S. Platte is rising again, and I am VERY angry!
Of course farms (along with ours), homes and waste water treatment plants in my
county of Weld are being subjected to flooding, (not as bad as 2013, but none the less
unnecessary to this extent), here are a couple more reasons why I'm angry:
1) Governor Hickenlooper is grossly negligent. We have letters dating back to 2011,
illustrating the problems and offering viable solutions. The governor hasn't attempted to
initiate 1! Not 1!
Example: April 17, 2014, we (Chuck and I, John and his CSP) physically walked under
the Hwy 85 (adjoins Greeley, CO and Denver) bridge and told him, "Get CDOT, Army
Corps whoever, to dredge this!" He replied hesitantly, "Well, uh, uh, ok, I'll try."
Yj-a-l-15 2015-1524
I couldn't figure this odd response until I learned that because the S. Platte (actually
NONE of the waterways in CO) does not fall under the definition of navigable, Army
Corps and EPA have NO authority over it. Therefore, he has the duty to order EPA and
Army Corps to "get the hell out of the property owners way so they can maintain!"
2) A major contributing reason to this problem: The lower end (of the S. Platte Basin)
Junior water rights owners have obviously worked with state water engineers to
intentionally "overhydrate" the entire upper end Senior water rights owners properties,
in order to ensure an artificial, non-historic perennial instream flow past Kersey, CO
(where it historically dried up), where they're pealing it off to sell, pop new wells etc.
3) Said over hydration (augmentation) of upper end has raised the water table from its
historic approximate 20 feet to 2 feet and surfacing. If the upper end still had its historic
level of the approximate 20 feet, such rains/snow as we're having would have areas to
soak in.
4) Now Gina McCarthy and Governor Hickenlooper are further morphing the definition of
navigable to suit the EPA's gross overreach - aka "Takings without just compensation."
There's more, but I'll stop here for now...
Their actions are corrupt, in collusion with others and it all needs to be exposed. Period!
Thank you,
Roni
(970) 284-6874
C# (970) 430-0222
http: www.nvtimcs.com 2015 05 19 us/critics-hear-cp4s-‘oice in public commcnts.html
2
Governor John Hickenlooper
136 State Capitol
Denver, Colorado 80204 May 1, 2014
Dear Governor Hickenlooper,
Please consider this a brief re-cap of your visit to our farm on Thursday. April 17. 2014.
We appreciate your taking time from your cranky schedule to stop by. We were honored by the
opportunity to show you our farm as a good example as to how agriculture, livestock and energy
production with 3 sources of water can work together in harmony and thrive.
Sorry you didn't get to see how beautiful our farm was pre-Friday the 13th of September flood.
As you noticed, remnants of the floods destruction illustrates how devastating it was. It'll likely
take us years of work before we'll get our 145 year old farm back to looking half-way decent.
Your Colorado State Patrol advance man and driver were exceptionally nice and professional.
Please extend our thanks of appreciation.
We're not too sure why John Swartout and Will Shofroth were with you since their areas are
more in land restrictions (conservation easements), and not floods. So in that respect, please
place us on record as prepared to firmly rebuke any government agency or government funded
entity that approaches us with a conservation easement offer or hint of designation (includes
parks, wetlands, endangered species. natural cultural districts and monuments).
Please find enclosed my "Solutions to Non-historic Flooding and Drying"—written July 2. 2012.
Dr. Reagan Waskom's study. HB 1278 completed December 31. 2013. essentially bore out-
"recommend the pumping of all wells in the described fully appropriated part of the South Platte
Valley."
Within "Solutions..." you'll also read the reasoning behind our request that you withdraw
Colorado from the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP). As I mentioned to
you Thursday, "Governor Mead (WY) has expressed interest, and you two should.just do it! It's
a simple 5 page agreement, signed by Governor's Freudenthal, Heineman and Owens." You
were surprised to learn it's only 5 pages (with a withdrawal clause that should be exercised).
It's tragically unfortunate that no one in the decision making arena recognizes the lawful validity
of our request. "Give Senior Water Owners the right to use their property and pump their Water."
Implementation of"pumping" would have lowered the water table, giving the runoff opportunity
to spread out and saturate, and thereby lessen the massively negative impact of the Friday the
13th flood.
Chuck wrote: Thank you for taking time to walk with me and review underneath the Highway
85 Bridge over the S.Platte River that connects LaSalle and Evans.As you could clearly see,
because the Platte has not been dredged in my lifetime of 76 years,the bridge columns have
collected enough sediment to raise the river bed dramatically.At some points there's only a few
feet between the top of the sediment and the bottom of the bridge.
The flood proved how lack of river maintenance created a backup that developed a lake with
water depths at its highest at the bridge.Our home(a half mile west)basically sat in a lake,for
the water mark on it was 55 inches;a quarter mile west water marks measured 40 inches,and an
additional quarter mile west water marks were 30 inches.
Because our home sat in this lake,it destroyed everything in the basement.and made 17 inches
of river ravage right through the first level.
Had the river been maintained,the Senior Water Owners allowed use of their property by
pumping,and Colorado removed from the PRRIP,in my case alone I would not have accrued the
hard costs of$200,000 in repairs to date.This doesn't even begin to take into accounting our loss
of time,records,files,furniture,computers,equipment,fences,corrals,buildings and more.And
again,mine is just a singular example.
Thank God we have a home to move back in to.Many don't.More importantly,we did not lose
any pets,livestock or human life.
The cumulative,of avoidable losses along the upper part of the S. Platte basin, is immeasurable.
Governor,we pray you will place Water as your priority.Senior Water Owners just want to get
back to work,and South Platte Basin residents should not be subjected to another avoidable Epic
Water Event.
Here's what we are certain you need to do posthaste to avoid repeat of this catastrophe:
a)Identify entity responsible for maintaining the river:Demand immediate dredging under the
Hwy.85 Bridge.
b)Issue Emergency Executive Order:Senior Water Owners immediately begin pumping.
c)Exercise the withdrawal clause in the PRRIP:Remove Colorado from PRRIP agreement.
Governor,by exercising your authority in this most productive,positive,pro-active manner,you
will give Coloradans the promise of a brighter more certain future.We thank you in advance for
this.
We look forward to your progress report,honoring our requests.no later than May 9.2014.
Thank you.
Charles W.and Roni Bell Sylvester
Cc: Governor Dave I leineman(NE),Governor Matt Mead(WY).Senior Water Owners
Hello